By Andrew Kerr

One of the many challenges that a team faces is coming up with a game plan or set of priorities for the different conditions that each race or series can present. Here are some ideas, both general and specific, that your team can utilize to help simplify what can be very often difficult and challenging scenarios on the race course. Let’s look at a fairly wide variety of wind and seas conditions and also factor in the location, be it a lake or the ocean, flat water, choppy, or big waves.

For your own team’s location I would suggest you add in your own localized considerations and priorities, be they local knowledge, established weather patterns, geographic and current influences, and other tactical influences where applicable. We have just touched very briefly on current. That is a whole article unto it self and thus we have concentrated mainly on velocity and wind shift considerations.

Let’s look at each condition with a check list series of priorities and tactical considerations.

At the start: Full speed and clear air is the maxim. Start in an area of the line that gets you to the most velocity. Where is the most velocity? Keep scanning upwind constantly. Observe current, how is it changing the lay lines? As you sail up and down the line watch your sail trim carefully to detect a shift later in the sequence. Remember the estimation that 1 knot of current is equal to approximately 5 knots of sailing wind. Factor this in to you decision making process.

Stay near the line. Don’t wander away, it’s easy to be late! Avoid any sharp turns on the final approach. Don’t tack within a minute and 30 seconds. Build speed and trims the sails for every point of sail. Roll tack and jibe around the line to maintain speed. The team should be as smooth and deliberate as possible.

The beats: Sailing in the velocity is the top priority. Minimal tacks, sail toward velocity and tack in velocity. Ignore minor oscillations to get to more velocity. Avoid packs of boats: sail in wide lanes with plenty of space. Don’t lee bow anyone, you will get rolled! If in doubt duck! When you do tack, roll tack the boat as smoothly as you can.

The downwind legs: Sail in the velocity: what worked upwind velocity wise? Go to that side downwind. How is the current effecting us? Are we being set? Take a bearing on the leeward mark to determine this. Don’t sail too low in the lulls or too high in the puffs. Constantly talk about the pressure on the spinnaker sheet to sail the correct angle. Work to keep your air clear from boats around you: avoid packs of boats sailing unusually high.

Gybe to stay in the velocity. When you gybe try to do it in velocity to minimize the loss and roll jibe the boat smoothly. On the jibes the goal is to keep the spinnaker filling all the time or as much as is possible in the conditions and to come out of the jibe at the right angle with enough pressure on the spinnaker sheet.

Protect the inside on the approach to the leeward mark.

The start: Research the line: how long is it? Which end is farther upwind? Do a minimum of 5 head to wind readings in clear air to track the wind. How do the other fleets that have started ahead of us look? Who is crossing from which side? Where are the safe lay line approaches? Stay within these lay lines

Pick a section of the line that gets you going to the better side of the course. If the wind is persistently shifting in one direction then pick a section on the line that gets you going that way. If the wind is oscillating the option to tack and get in phase with the wind shift is likely the biggest priority. Consider a mid line start to avoid being damaged by a shift. Always remember that the start is a means to an end; where do we want to be 4 minutes after the start?

The Beats: Work on speed and pointing as hard as you can. Don’t pinch if you don’t have too. Focus on going faster than the boat to leeward and the boat to windward so you can jump out into a space in the front row with tactical options.

Pay attention to the compass: tack on the shifts and keep your bow pointed toward the weather mark as much as you can. The angles you sail are now becoming high on the priority list. When you tack look ahead and make sure you are not tacking away from velocity.

Keep in touch with the bulk of the fleet. Don’t go to a corner by yourself. Consolidate when you can: tack and cross as many boats in your area as possible to consolidate your gains. Stay between the fleet and the next shift. Go to a later lay line to make your judgment of when to tack for it better.

If choppy or with bigger waves: Tack less and when you do tack either tack in flat spot or on the top of the wave if possible. If you are going to lee bow another boat in chop you need to be able to cross them to be able to make it work otherwise your team gets rolled. Usually a duck is a safer option!

The downwind legs: Get yourself on the headed gybe. The angles you sail are becoming more and more of a priority. Monitor the compass: gybe on the lifts and watch the velocity behind you to stay in it. Keep your air clear. Avoid luffing duels! Negotiate early! Avoid packs of boat, gybe away if you have too and the gybe angles are fairly even, in order to maintain clear and keep the boat moving fast.

Go to a later/ closer lay line to the leeward mark to avoid misjudging the approach. Protect the inside on the final third of the leg. Take the spinnaker down early and capitalize on the errors of other boats. Your leeward mark rounding practice will pay dividends here !

The Start: Make sure you are perfectly set up for the beat with sufficient rig tension, Backstay and Jib Halyard tension. Avoid boats that appear to be out of control! Pick a section of the line to start on, defend it. Really work on sailing the boat level to maintain a gap to leeward off the line. Consider dumping the vang to be able to slow down and maintain position on the line. Hike harder than the other teams.

The Beats: Minimize tacks, particularly if it is choppy. Focus on a constant minimum angle of heel and anticipate the blasts and big waves. Monitor the compass, the angles take precedent over velocity as you have more than enough wind for max performance. The shifts can be subtle, sometimes substantial too, and the compass will help a lot with this. Avoid an early lay line to the windward mark so you can play the shifts and reduce the tendency to over stand the mark.

If ducking consider dumping the vang to help the boat bear away, particularly if you are caught with the Genoa up in 20 plus knots the boat is very difficult to bear away quickly and smoothly without both sails being eased a lot and very often the vang as well.

Downwind: Keeping the boat under control is the key element! Consider easing the vang slightly to help the boat bear away around the weather mark. Watch behind you very carefully for the gusts and shifts. Make sure you are on the correct jibe.

Do a delayed set to make sure everyone is ready. If very windy leave the jib up, no need to douse it. Weight back, way back and take the tail end of the vang back with you. Minimize jibes. It may possibly be better to douse, jibe and then consider resetting. If simply too windy consider another mode of sailing; wing on wing with the jib on the correct gybe can be perfectly acceptable taking in to account the experience of your team in 30 knots plus. Get the spinnaker down early, very early!!

Leeward Gate marks: Here is a quick checklist to help decide which one to round: Go to the leeward mark which is closer, further upwind. Go the mark that takes your team to the favored side of the course. If in a pack of boats, go to the mark with the least traffic for clear air and freedom.

The Finish: Finish at the closest, most downwind for upwind finishes and most upwind for downwind finishes, end by shooting the line; avoid finishing in the middle of the line. Good time to judge which end of the line to finish at when going upwind is when you are directly downwind of the line. Where are other boats finishing?

Conclusion: Each location will have it’s own set of priorities that you will need to add in the various conditions your team sails in. The important aspect though is to try and have a set of consolidated priorities, both boat handling and tactical so that your team can get more of an overall grasp on what to focus on. We have found that particularly as we travel to new locations that this is a never ending process of constant learning, note taking and observations that keep us all coming back for more! It is very easy, way too easy, to make the same mistake numerous times. Another intriguing aspect of the sport!

Best of luck and have fun at your next regatta!

Andrew Kerr