Tradecraft topics: Top tips for racing

Next in a series of postings concerning sailing tradecraft, offering various tips on technique, is top tips for racing. These are inspired from the Speed & Smarts newsletters by Dave Dellenbaugh - America's Cup tactician, sailing instructor, Olympics coach, and author. He explains principles of sailing strategy, tactics, and performance in a simple, clear way. Here are some top tips for racing success...

STARTS

Avoid congestion - On the start line, putting yourself in dense population offers low probability for a good start. Being closer to the unfavored end of the line with clear air is often better than being in the third row at the favored end.

Use a sight line - Get a line site or range for the starting line by sighting through the race committee boat and the pin and identify landmarks on shore. This helps you know exactly where the start line is.

Identify favored vs. upwind - The favored end of the line may not be the upwind end. Consider also current, wind direction and pressure across the course, position of the first mark, which side of the leg supports your strategy.

Open a leeward gap - Successful start often depends on space to leeward to foot off and accelerate. Open space from a leeward boat by luffing up toward windward boats. This also offers an advantage in being able to pinch them off after the start. But don't create too large a gap that tempts other boats in there. 

STRATEGY

Play the odds - Choose strategies and tactics with the best chance of success and avoid those with high risk. Assess your risk tolerance and accept risk carefully, when justified by circumstances. Minimize mistakes. Conservative strategy wins in the long run.

Avoid corners and laylines - On both beats and runs, corners and laylines cause problems like: overstanding the mark sailing extra distance, unable to take advantage of lift or header, susceptible to other boats who tack or gybe above you and blanket you.   

Sail the longer tack first - On either upwind or downwind legs, the longer tack is helpful in: keeping you further from the layline, flexibility in taking advantage of shifts. 

WIND

Sail toward the shift - In the upwind leg, positioning the boat in the direction of the next shift puts you on a higher ladder rung to the mark.

Identify velocity lifts - Increase in wind speed moves apparent wind angle aft. Take advantage of the extra pressure but don't confuse it with a shift in true wind direction.

Look for puffs upwind - Wind velocity changes in the direction of the true wind will pass behind the boat if you are moving. Instead, look in the direction of the apparent wind to see puffs and lulls that will affect you.

BOATSPEED

Get speed before height - Pointing ability is linked to speed. Get the boat moving to target speed to allow foils to generate better lift, then point to best angle.

Trim by the middle telltales - The upper jib telltales are where the sail section is small, and the lower telltales are closer to the boundary surface layer with generally less wind.  The middle telltales offer a best average reading.

Shift gears early and often - Take advantage of changes in the wind to improve acceleration and pointing ability. Most effective quick adjustments use the mainsheet, main traveler, jib sheet, and backstay. Check out this tradecraft topics post on shifting gears.

Trade off waves and wind - There is more effect from leftover waves compared to wind in a dying breeze or a big wind shift. However, wind is more significant than waves in a building breeze. Waves and wind inform trimming for pointing and speed. 

LIGHT AIR

Avoid the middle - Especially in light air, wind velocity in the middle of an upwind leg is perturbed by sails of all the boats. More clear air is usually found at the edges. 

Avoid wind shadows - Sailing in bad air is slow, and in light wind, very slow. Each boat's wind shadow covers a larger area, and bad air has more adverse effect when wind is light.

Prioritize pressure - In light air, wind pressure can be more significant than wind shifts or current to gain speed and pointing ability. Puffs are more valuable.    

Adjust your weight - Reduce or induce heel angle with crew weight. If the boat is too flat in light air, no weather helm is present, making it hard to stay in the groove. Weight affects fore and aft pitch, too, keeping bow and stern sections out of the water to minimize drag.

Increase weather helm - Besides weight distribution, other factors can increase heel and useful weather helm: less rig tension, fuller shape in sails, traveler to windward, mainsail trimmed harder.

Use crew weight to turn - Using leeward-side weight to induce heel helps turn (roll) the boat and reduce drag from the rudder because heel changes the shape of the hull where it meets the water. Heeling to starboard turns left; heeling to port turns right.

DOWNWIND

Steer for low spots - Look at the waves just ahead of the bow and steer for the lowest section. This reduces pitch and optimizes surfing down the front of the wave.

Sail away from the shift - Unless the pressure is much greater, sailing away from the shift downwind puts the boat on a lower, better ladder rung to the leeward mark.

Go up in lulls, off in puffs - Head higher in the lulls to keep your speed up to get through the lull quickly. Bear off in puffs to maximize VMG to leeward and keep you in the puff longer.

Minimize helm downwind - An off-center rudder creates unwanted drag downwind. Use the sails and weight positioning to keep the rudder centered and helm neutral. 

Trim with a curl - Over-trimming a spinnaker too flat is slow. Ease the sheet until a slight luff curl occurs, and carry this with small adjustments, keeping the kite as full as possible.   

Opposite gybe angle - An easy way to visualize a boat's approximate course on the opposite gybe is to look at the inverse of the apparent wind direction.

BOATHANDLING

Minimize maneuvering - Tacks, and to a lesser extent, gybes cost distance. When a wind shift or tactical situation warrants it, tack or gybe, but not without good reason. 

Use sail trim to steer - To head up, trim in the mainsail to change the center of effort aft, pushing the stern down and the bow up. To bear off, ease the mainsail to change the center of effort forward, pushing the bow down and the stern up.

AT MARKS

Beware the port-tack layline - Approaching the windward mark on port tack can avoid a potential crowd on the starboard layline, but has risks having a gap to tack. Make the port-tack approach farther from the port layline to keep options open.

Slow down for advantage - Rounding a leeward mark, avoid the bad air of another boat's close transom or being forced to sail to leeward of her. Slowing down in advance may put the boat in a better position.

Round strategically or tactically - The fastest way to round a downwind mark is to pass the mark on a beam reach, then head up - strategically. But when traffic is present, turn wide of the mark and pass it beating. This gains maximum distance to windward as you exit the mark - tactically.

Delay non-essential clean-up - Heading upwind just after rounding the leeward mark, the crew should focus on sail trim, weight placement, steering, and boat positioning. Avoid distraction by delaying clean-up of the foredeck. 

Shoot the line - At an upwind finish, luff up head to wind for the final boat length, letting momentum carry you across the line. At a downwind finish, bear off nearly dead downwind for the last boat length. These techniques use your residual speed to maximize VMG to the finish line.    

TACTICS

Minimize tactics - When tactical situations require maneuvering near other boats, you lose distance and time to every other boat in the fleet who has clearer air and no interference. Follow your strategy and apply tactics only when necessary.

Cross with confidence - When sailing on port tack converging with a starboard tack boat, before deciding to try to cross ahead, realize that if the starboard boat has to alter her course at all, the chances are high you will be found to have broken rule 10: port-starboard.

Be willing to bite the bullet - When your strategy is to follow persistent shifts to one side of the course, don't delay getting on the tack that takes you toward the shift, even if it means crossing behind competitors. You will gain in the long run.

Cover boats behind - Positioning your boat on the imaginary line between a competitor and the next mark makes it hard for her to get an advantage you don't. But covering is unwise when it's early in the race, you are trying to gain on boats ahead, you miss how other boats behind are gaining, or you are on a lift sailing toward the next shift.

Use a blocker to hold your lane - When you want to keep sailing upwind on starboard tack, another boat on starboard tack who is to leeward and clear ahead serves to block boats that approach from port tack from crossing ahead. 

Finally, be a goldfish - Football coach Ted Lasso contended that goldfish have extremely short memories. If circumstances put you back in the fleet during a race, ignore dwelling on problems that got you there, and psychologically start the race over from this point forward.