Well after the day my head kind of hurt from all the thinking that I was doing. I guess the key for the day was to sail to the wind where ever it may be on the course. But I would like to talk about something that I found occurring during last winter frostbiting but have not written yet. Multiple weeks I found that after the start, the first two or three tacks were crucial to getting to the front of the fleet. Which puts an emphasis on windward Port/Starboard situations on a small course with many boats. So this is what I think about each time I tack which might seem like a lot but here it is. At every tacking and port/starboard situation I am thinking ahead to the next move, trying to anticipate other boats, wind velocities, current and wind shifts. I will describe what I do on each tack when a P/S situation occurs. Port Tack- I am going to cross or duck on my course currently? Am I content with the direction I am going or do I want to go back to the left side? Where is the next wind velocity/shift? Am I in a leebow situation? For most weekends on the Potomac it seems to me that the overriding factor is, where is the next wind velocity coming from. If the wind is coming in from the left then I will tack below the starboard tacker but if it is coming in from the right then I will duck the starboard tacker making sure that by ducking him I will not be putting myself in a lower lane beneath someone's bad air. The starboard tacker is control but I am trying to put myself in a position to turn the tables. Starboard tack- Again all the same questions but now your in control of your competitor. If I like the way I am going and a port tacker is in the situation of possibly crossing I will usually tell them to cross. The last thing I want is to have a guy like Steve Yelland tacking below me, heeling his boat over and pointing as high as he can. So let him cross and they are more prone to not tack back in your face. If you want to go back to the right side of the course than think of tacking on/below the port tacker to maintain the starboard tack advantage. Sometimes in college I felt like I was a pinball on the course reacting to my competitors instead of being proactive. The biggest factor regarding the port/starboard situation is to not let your competitors decide which way you go which means anticipating the situation. Be proactive and decide which way you want to go. I find if I am deciding which way I want to go then I sail faster. Supplemental by Bob Wilbur: Thanks Erich, for the good advice on upwind tactics. Let me add something to Erich's remark about the key being where the wind was. For him, this did not happen by luck. At least twice I saw him standing up in his boat! obviously looking for wind. More dramatically: on the first beat of the fourth race, when we could almost lay the mark on starboard right from the start, I looked behind me and saw Erich about four boat lengths behind me (and I was not near the front) sailing the wrong way! on port tack looking as if he was going well above the layline. Of course there was a patch of rippled water where he was heading. I thought about going over there myself, but mistakenly decided that if I just waited a little, the wind would come to me. Of course it came to me too late. By the time it did Erich had sailed past me to windward and was rapidly catching up to the leaders. Great move, Erich! |
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