What a great day of sailing. The planning reaches where the most fun I have had all year frostbiting. This week I will talk about the reaches because we very seldom do them. The golden rule of reaching is: Up in the lulls and down in the puffs. If the reaches are long enough and if they are set properly then there is an option of high or low road. First Reach One of the major factors of figuring out which way to go is where you round the windward mark and how the reach is set. If you round in a pack of boats or there is someone directly behind you want to protect your breeze in most situations which ends up leading you to the high road. If this happens you want to make sure that by the middle of the leg you haven’t let boat(s) get underneath you. So protect your wind but try to keep the pack going lower so you can work the inside overlap at the jibe mark. However, if you round without someone directly behind you then you have a choice of high or low because you don’t have to protect your wind. In this situation I usually go low of the jib mark or point directly at the jibe mark. If the boats in front of you go high you usually gain by sailing a shorter distance and at a better sailing angle over the length of the leg. If the reach is set too tight then the low road option I usually out so in this situation I protect my wind and sail at the mark as much as possible. If the leg is a beam or broad reach then there or options high or low. The first reach this Sunday was a beam to broad reach. Either way you go, you want to make sure that your inside at the jibe mark. So if you go high road then by the middle of the leg you want to start thinking about the mark rounding. Second Reach Usually during the second reach there is more of an option of high or low road. After the jibe mark boats are usually trying to protect their breeze so there is usually a high road line however that leaves the low road open. A boat usually casts about a six or more boat length shadow to leeward so if you decide to go the low road make sure you go low enough. One situation that comes to mind this weekend in the puff condition was when Nabeel caught a puff at the end of the first reach leg, got inside overlap and jibed and started sailing high in a puff of breeze. I took this opportunity on the outside to jibe with Nabeel and take the puff low of the leeward mark while he headed up with the rest of the fleet. In doing this in a puff I was able to extend to leeward of the fleet and gain separation (low road). I gained on Nabeel and a few boats in front of him. Towards the middle of the leg the wind was a little ligther I just maintained my position. But at the end of the leg there was another puff just in time for me to catch a few more boats. The boats that took the high road where now sailing down wind while I was planning in on a reach. So the the low road paid in this instance. The major point is that sometimes during a reach leg there are opportunities for gains and sometimes it just positioning your boat to maintain position. It just recognizing which situation your in. Thanks to Jim Klien for running seven great races. Go Giants! |
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