All the post above are right in explaining how to do it.

Without getting into too much detail, the wild thing started in the A class and too my knowledge it was an Aussie thing as well. we do try silly things over here and sometimes they just pay off.

Two things happen while doing the wild thing; Firstly as you lift a hull out of the water you reduce your hull drag by about 30% - 40%.

Secondly as the drag decrease and the boat accelerates the apparent wind moves forward and allows you to sail lower. The net result is a better VMG.

The wild thing will defiantly not be fast on all cats. Everything from sail profile and configuration to hull design and PWR (power to weight ratio) will have an effect on whether the wild thing will work for you.

I say just give it a go... go swimming.... try again. It'll soon be obvious if it's faster.

I came accorss it years ago on the Tornado and believed it was Mitch who came up with it, and it started in the T. Mitch used it to wind the worlds

I'd be interested to find the where it started first. 100% it started in Aus.

Simon,
10 years or more back I read a report about the claimed beginning.
Mitch B and John F sailing the worlds race in a light weather, one trapped off the wrong sise of the boat raising the windward hull and won the race by 3 mins. The name "Wild Thing" came from the song they sang while doing it.

At least that in my recollection of the report.

http://www.aita.asn.au/tornado-info/38-how-to-do-the-wild-thing--with-the-old-rig

I stand corrected.... I like being proved wrong.

Mitch and John used the Wild Thing to convincingly win the 1989 Tornado Worlds in Houston, Texas on AUS260, The Tornado I later bought.

I first saw Chris Cairns and Scott Anderson sailing wild on their A's in practice during the 1983 Forster Regatta. (Central Coast of NSW Australia) We all thought they were mad and it would never work in a race. How wrong - If you don't sail an A wild in all wind above 8 knots now you get left way behind. Anyway, Chris and Scott used the technique to get bronze in the 1984 LA Olympics on the T. Mitch also grew up in A's and followed Chris and Scott in T's. He no doubt also learned a lot from them as they sailed in a lot of the same regattas in the early 80's. They're all pretty special sailors to this day and I consider it a priviledge to have sailed with them over the last 25 years.

Cheers
John Dowling
AUS9

I loved to fly hulls "Cowboy" so I learned early that somes times you had to be on the low side to make it fly I didn't care if was going upwind, downwind as long as I was fly it high - good practice for the wild thing just go out and "Cowboy".Make sure your beer cooler is tied down and the lid is fastened hate to eject beers as you you tip.

Hey I was doing it in the 70's told my crew to hang out the low side to see if we could go faster, just thought it up because the heel angle was not optimum, and it worked really sweet on the NACRA 5.2 That comes from the handbook of "Big" guy sailing 101 - make the boat tip the correct way when you get on it.

Now the "wild thing" thing we never sang a song about it and it was not a national venue just Midwest sailing in a lake. Somebody may lay claim to coining the phrase but I bet sailors have been doing it some form or fashion since the Polynesian days when they first tied two logs together.

Try it and the NACRA 5.2 is a great Cat to do it solo and you can sing whatever song you want perhaps something from the Jimmy Buffett shelf.

Yep, that is a legendary story in my part of the world.

Here ya go!

I always wondered if it could be done effectivly up wind, I guess we know now!

That's it! When there is not a crew you have to go on the low side of the mast ---Funnnn sometimes on all fours Knees and Hands so you could scramble back to the high side! The old NACRA had mine fields like the center tube in the tramp, low boom, and the scalp reducing mast rotation limiting bar under the boom.

You do what ya need to do to get that hull out of the water!

haha... thats the position i occasionally take after a failed douce of my spin (lee bow, fishing sheets and sail off the bow)
what cat is that?

Dont forget the 4way jib adjuster.. thats the one that makes my knees bleed, and what i get stuck between my toes when i am scramblin around...

Hey Andrew, why/how do you "douce" with a spinnaker?

Curious minds need to know....

damn spell check... hahah
thanks for pointing out my stupididty
I CLEARLY meant Douche

/sad git mode......

We did some testing of the effect of crew trying to pull them selves up the tramp when going too wild and decied that it just made things worse (crew just pulls the boat over on themselves); so we decided it was simpler for me to just stay hooked on and go out on the wire if going a little high.

We were talking about bigger winds, say when we were going wild in 15+.

We would alsio use it if we got a big gust or over stood the leeward mark.

got other people thinking too!

I think that the word is Douse