Sailing To Win Blog!

TIPS FROM SAILINGS GREATS

Sailing Tips

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24/06/2020

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Tips from Sailing Greats and legends.

CORRECTION TO LAST WEEK’S BLOG.

In my haste to send out my already late Blog, during the paring down to make the article short and easy to read I eliminated the essence of “shifting Gears in a Lull” what should have been included follows in bold italics.

Bearing off to restore luff telltale flow in a lull is a bad habit. Frank Bethwaite recommends you consider trimming in and very slightly feathering down in a lull and unnecessary steering will slow you down. The boat will slow down due to the lull and moves the apparent wind back closer to its direction before the lull. If the lull persists, your final heading might be only a touch lower than your original heading. If you steer down initially, you will then need to steer up again as the apparent wind comes back to its original direction.

Moose McClintock

learned that twings down on a spinnaker sheet or guy is similar to applying vang tension on a mainsail; it closes the leech and stabilizes the kite. He taught this while sailing on Farr 40s with the kite up in big breeze and waves.

Jonathan McKee

The farther away the jib clew is from the lead, the more you have to move it to make a change. An Etchells jib clew almost touches its lead; therefore, small changes make a big difference. On the other hand, a Melges 20 jib clew and lead are much farther apart, so your range of jib-lead movement is greater from light to heavy air.

Dave Ullman

explains that raking your mast forward will give you more power because the wind flows over your sails closer to a 90-degree angle. It also closes your leeches. Raking back generates more up-flow, from front to back, decreasing power.

It also twists the sails and effectively moves the jib lead aft (because your jib clew lowers toward the lead), which also decreases power.

Buddy Melges

says to practice tacks and jibes because they can provide massive gains in short amounts of time especially if you are practising by yourself, spend a lot of time on both.

Vince Brun’s

lesson was that while sailing upwind in flat water you can pinch and get away with it because nothing is disturbing the flow over your sails and blades. But as the chop increases, you have to put the bow down to keep speed.

The choppier it is, the lower you have to sail.

Chop throws the boat around and makes it pitch fore and aft. This causes everything to easily stall, especially when you slam into waves.

Make sure you ease your sails to increase the twist and decrease helm load. This bow-down twisty mode is more forgiving and keeps the boat moving fast.

Skip Whyte,

coach of the University of Rhode Island sailing team knows a lot about sailing dinghies. He preaches sitting upright with good posture so that you can better see the wind and the sails. When you need to scoot in, slide your butt and hips in first.

oing so keeps your head outboard, again helping visibility. Slouching in toward the boom is uncomfortable and less effective.

Ed Adams

explains the importance of setting the foot of your jib — ideally, the majority of the foot — so that it kisses the deck. The seal formed between the sail and the deck forces wind aft.

Rather than allowing it to escape underneath the sail. Capturing and accelerating the wind gives you increased power and lift.

Karl Anderson

preaches the importance of delivering a positive message to the team, especially after a tough day, let them know the team is still in good shape and all is well. Make everyone feel like they’re still in the regatta. This goes a long way, especially if you are respected on the boat.

Larry Suter

explained how, when the pin is favoured by 10 per cent, it takes about 10 per cent longer to get to the line. This is compared to a square line from a given distance. Your approach angle is more parallel to the line.

If the boat is favoured by 10 per cent, it takes about 10 per cent less time to reach the line from the same distance because you are sailing more directly at the line.

That’s why there are more on course sides and general recalls when the boat is favoured. It’s critical to factor in line bias when setting up for the start.

James Lyne,

coach to many top teams, emphasizes the lifted tack. In an oscillating breeze, he says, if you sail a header out of the gate or off the starting line, you end up missing the first shift and often end up missing shifts later up the beat. As you sail a header early in the leg, you rapidly get near the layline.

If you get to the layline early in the beat you have painted yourself into the corner. Later up the leg, if you get headed, you don’t want to tack because you are already on an edge, with not much distance to sail the other way. You have a dilemma because you are still on the long tack, but you are also headed.

You end up sailing through a header or two later in the beat, compounding your losses. Those who sail the lifted tack more often are positioned in the middle of the course and don’t mind tacking on headers at the top of the beat.

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Footing, Pointing and Changing Gears

Boat Speed and Handling

Brett Bowden

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18/06/2020

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Footing, Pointing and Changing Gears

Shifting gears on your boat requires knowledge of your boat, the conditions, and plenty of practice. Gear changing is what separates those with adequate boat speed from those who always seem to be higher and faster.

Many in your fleet start a race with a similar setup using a tuning guide or by following class-accepted principles but the faster boats in your fleet are constantly making additional adjustments. and when conditions suddenly change these sailors shift gears smoothly.

Fix Pointing Problems: Footing, Pointing and Shifting Gears

Pointing problems are not only indicated by the angle that the boat is sailing relative to the boats around you but more by the fact that the boat is actually sliding to leeward.

Trying to pinch to maintain height is generally the problem and to solve this we must remember to foot, then point. Your boat needs to go fast so the underwater foils develop enough lift to hold their position in the water.

To regain pointing ability, ease the sails out, bear off slightly, and get back up to speed. Once your pointing has been re-established, re-trim your sails.

Fight the urge to heel the boat to aid pointing and keeping the boat as flat as possible will maintain a balanced helm and ensure the efficiency of your foils plus reduce the drag caused by the rudder.

Fix Footing Problems:

The simplest fix is easing the sails and more open leeches on both sails will help the boat sail lower and faster.

If this results in a pointing problem the first thing you must do is check your helm balance.

First, try to sail the boat flatter, if that doesn’t help, try flattening the main by bending the mast.

Next ease the traveller to balance the helm and lastly tighten the outhaul and apply Cunningham to the mainsail and tighten the jib halyard to move the draft forward in both sails which will open the leeches and remove drag.

Shifting Gears in a Lull: Footing, Pointing and Shifting Gears

Puffs feel like lifts and lulls usually appear as headers.

In a lull, it’s important to bear off as smoothly as possible making sure that the boat remains flat and resist the temptation to add a heel to maintain a “feel” in the helm.

To maintain speed in a lull, ease the main and allow the boat to heel to weather creating lee helm to steer the boat down then ease the jib, level the boat and pull the traveller up if the boom is below the centerline.

If it is a long lull, straighten the mast and ease the main Cunningham and jib halyard.

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Staying Out Of Trouble

Sailing Tips

Brett Bowden

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10/06/2020

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We need to employ the best tactical foresight out on the racecourse for staying out of trouble. We must be observant otherwise we can still often get ourselves into a jam. To that end, I have outlined below some tips to enable you to dig your way out.

Ducking a Competitor:

The main reason that you have to duck is to minimise a loss and a good duck generates extra speed when you bear off.

As a bonus, you also gain a little lift as you cross close behind the other boat. It’s important though, as you cross close behind to get back to closed hauled as quickly and smoothly as possible.

If you do this well, there is a good chance that next time you come together you will be on starboard tack. Now you will have the advantage. This is especially powerful at the top of the course, a few lengths under starboard tack-layline.

If it appears the other boat will leebow you, and for tactical reasons, you want to continue, try a late duck. This will keep you from giving away your intentions. For this to work you must be in a lightweight boat with good manoeuvrability

Avoid The Pinwheel Effect at a Mark Rounding:

As an outside boat in a group approaching the leeward mark, don’t carry on with pace. Not only will you sail extra distance in bad air, but you will also get carried wide around the mark. You will also end up in a terrible lane coming out the other side.

The remedy here is to slow down and let other boats move ahead. Kill speed by taking your spinnaker down early and steer a little extra distance.

If you’re advanced on the group, you can slow down a lot by steering hard, swerving back and forth, and swinging wide to slow your boat and kill time.

The advantage of falling behind is that the group in front push each other wide of the mark and sails in each other’s bad air. There is the opportunity for you to round the mark tightly without fouling those boats and be on the inside track going upwind.

When slowing down and waiting for your opportunity to round inside, there could be boats coming up from behind with no room. If they want to sail into the gap you’re shooting for, be sure to communicate with them that they have no rights.

Recover from Overstanding:

If you find that you have overstood a mark, the key to recovery is to crack off and put the bow down to get to the mark as quickly as possible.

In medium and heavy air, cracking off causes heel, so depower the rig, traveller down, backstay on, hike hard, and move your weight aft.

Set the sails to reduce helm but always keep a little in the bank by sailing slightly high of the mark especially if you’re sailing in current or just in case you get headed or a boat tacks on you.

If you have overstood while sailing downwind, sail high and fast toward the leeward mark. If sailing high puts you in the dirty air from boats ahead, sail low to keep your air clear. Do this as long as possible, then heat it up late near the mark.

At all times, either upwind or downwind, keep the boat flat to avoid going sideways and keep the foils working efficiently.

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Strategy For The Upwind Leg

Upwind, Downwind and Reaching

Brett Bowden

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03/06/2020

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Strategy For The Upwind Leg

Question:

The wind has just shifted left so it has headed all boats around you on starboard tack – Should you keep sailing into the header, or take the instantaneous gain and tack?

As always with sailing, the perfect answer begins with ‘It depends’

Possible scenarios for you to consider: Strategy For The Upwind Leg

The wind has headed, but you are still certain there is more wind on the left-hand side of the course, and that is going to make more difference. You will keep heading towards the pressure, but revisit the decision if all the boats on your hip tack off before you get there.
You are still above your mean heading for starboard tack and you believe that the wind is still moving left. As soon as you are down to mean numbers you’ll tack onto port, and duck the boats on your hip if necessary.
You have no confidence in what the wind might do next, therefore positioning is your first priority. If you are getting closer to the port layline you need to look for an opportunity to head back to the centre of the leg.
The header has given you a gain on the boats to your right so you are going to tack to put that gain ‘in the bank’ right now.”

The Big Picture:

You should have an informed opinion gleaned from a practice beat before the start and that will usually narrow the basis for ‘staying’ or ‘going’ to one or two key factors.

Questions To Ask Yourself: Strategy For The Upwind Leg

Can you see more pressure on either side of the course?
Is there tide or current affecting the course and the time of tide change?
Will there be a wind direction bend caused by land at either end of the course?
Is there a possibility of a persistent shift in wind direction?
Is the water less lumpy on one part of the course?
If the wind is shifty, are the shifts likely to be small or large?
Are the shifts oscillating, regular and repeating or completely random?
How many shifts do you expect per upwind leg?

Further Considerations:

Do you want to risk everything to win the race by a leg, or just be happy to arrive at the windward mark in touch with the leaders?
If you’ve spent most of the upwind leg chasing gains or tacking on the shifts, positioning rules should take over as the leg progresses.
If you are less willing to take a chance on a big gain on your own, the position of the next mark and the rest of the fleet must take a bigger part of your “tack or continue” considerations.

Tack or Continue: Strategy For The Upwind Leg

Don’t get pushed around by the other boats, take every opportunity to work toward the favoured side of the course.
If there is a regular pattern and you are confident that there will be at least two cycles per beat, tack whenever you are headed below the average heading on that tack.
If you are not confident about what is going to happen next, start on the tack that takes you closest to the mark, keep away from the laylines and tack and cross or close gauge on boats to windward whenever the wind heads.

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Using a Compass For Course Racing

Boat Speed and Handling

Brett Bowden

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20/05/2020

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When racing around a set or fixed marks course, a competitive sailor uses the compass to plan and then implement their race strategy. Using a Compass For Course Racing

If you are sailing in a crewed boat, one crew member should be responsible to watch the compass. This establishes what the wind is doing leaving the helmsman to concentrate on boatspeed.

The compass should be mounted so that all on board can easily see it from their normal sailing positions.

Non-Electronic Compass

With a non-electronic compass, it is easier to work out tacking angles without having to resort to arithmetic. With an electronic compass, it is easier to write on the deck when you establish a median heading.

Generally with a coloured and segmented compass remembering headings seems to be easier.

Whichever type of compass you use, paint or Magic marker on the boat near the compass a large – sign on the starboard side and a large + sign on the port side. These remind you that when upwind on Starboard tack if the heading is going down you are being headed and if on Port tack upwind the heading is going up, you are being headed.

Communication is paramount and when sailing upwind, the crew should read aloud the variations away from the port or starboard mean either up or down as the breeze swings, the skipper will know ahead of time if he may need to tack or continue on.

Calling The Compass

These calls need to be evenly spaced. About five to twenty seconds is best so that an accurate picture of the swings or oscillations is established. This way the skipper knows whether the swing is on the way “up” or on the way “down”.

Only if there were a tactical or strategic reason for giving away distance, would you sail on when the reading is bad. You may be heading towards a shore where a known lift occurs through the bending of the breeze. You may decide to give away ten to gain twenty later. Tacking may put you on the wrong side of the fleet or in somebody’s bad air.

Where a compass is particularly handy, is if the wind increases suddenly and you don’t lift. This means the true wind has headed and you should seriously consider tacking.

It is vital once rounding the top mark that you look for the compass angle to the gate or wing mark. This depends on the type of course you are sailing if it is a triangle, you would be looking for the wing mark.

Compass Downwind

When heading downwind you tack on lifts and carry on when knocked. This is assuming that the shift doesn’t take you closer to the mark. This can happen when the course has not been set true.

Your compass is a major contributor to eliminating “guesswork”. Once you have mastered it you will wonder how you ever sailed without it.

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Solo Training

Drills, Training and Coaching

Brett Bowden

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13/05/2020

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Having a tuning partner is one of the best ways to get value from your on-water practice sessions. In these times of no racing, and fewer boats out sailing, keeping your skills sharp means solo training.

Have a Training Plan – Solo Training

Before you head out, it’s important to have a plan but it is just as important to have a debrief when you hit the beach. The debrief is where you can go over what went right or wrong and what you need to do to get even better. Make notes and refer to them when you are planning further training.

Part of the planning process will be to analyse past races or regattas and to talk about problems that were encountered and then to prioritise what you will be practising and what will give you the biggest win.

If improving your downwind speed and maneuvers is your goal, put in a lot of gybes. Make sure you have upwind goals as well so you can make good use of your time getting back uphill.

Focus – Solo Training

The best practice sessions involve a variety of things but the majority of focus might be on, sailing downwind where you concentrate on weight placement and the steps necessary to catch waves or practising sailing by the lee for those situations when you are in close proximity to another boat and need to stay clear or where you may want to lay a mark to avoid having to gybe twice.

If you are concentrating on upwind skills, shoot for a total of 10 to 20 minutes of really intense work for each skill you’re wanting to improve. If your tacks are normally around a minute apart, tack every 30 seconds. Do that for 5 minutes, take a break and then do it again and again until you are comfortable.

During your training session don’t be shy to stop sailing, take a rest having something to eat and drink. Go through the same practice again or if you are satisfied with that, go to the next drill.

Don’t Lose Sight Of Other Skills – Solo Training

You may be practising tacks, gybes, powering up and down or something else, don’t lose sight of other skills. These include keeping the boat flat, looking for pressure or watching the compass for shifts.

Another good way to cement the improvements is to keep in touch with fellow crewmates. Do it via email or text in the days following the practice. If you think of something afterwards that is related to what you were trying to achieve and was not covered off in the debrief, communicate immediately, as quite often by the time you get back to the boat it may be forgotten.

Other things that you can practice on your own could be time on distance for starting. Then mark rounding, timed spinnaker sets and drops, the list is endless.

Only you and your team know what it is that will give you the greatest gains.

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Improve Your Sailing While in Lockdown

Drills, Training and Coaching

Brett Bowden

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06/05/2020

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Improve Your Sailing While in Lockdown. If you are like me, you have been spending time away from the boat. We have used that time to get all things computer and home office up to date. Those jobs that have been carried forward in your diary for what seems like years.

While this has been great, one downside of all this “office” work has been the gradual decline of fitness. There is also the rapid increase of waistline which is even more worrying for those in the older age bracket.

Youth seems to regain fitness and “fighting weight” much easier once regular exercise (read sailing) is possible again.

See below for a couple of tips to get us all ready for the coming easing of isolation and back to on-water activity.

FITNESS –

Fitness is one thing but Sailing fitness is especially important. Just because Gyms are closed there is no excuse not to keep your fitness levels up at home.

There are apps available online which will enable you to stay focused by putting a daily routine in place or there are plenty of trainers who understand the needs of sailing athletes that can put together a training routine for you to carry out in your home.

Exercise at the start of the day. When exercising first thing in the morning, your body will be more energised for the day. Do that rather than relying on a daily dose of caffeine for stimulation.

KNOWLEDGE – Improve Your Sailing While in Lockdown

From the aforementioned computer or even your mobile phone, browse the internet. Look for YouTube for videos or articles to improve your sailing.

Browse for articles that specifically look at areas of your sailing that you are weak in. Things such as upwind speed, rules or the myriad of other things that go towards making our sport one of the most complicated there is.

There are sites such as https://sailingtowin.com which have a wealth of tips and articles that are free to browse and download and a few minutes of browsing Google results will give you a wealth of sites that will suit your needs.

Many of us have bookshelves full of books on sailing which we have promised ourselves that we will read someday. That someday has arrived and there will certainly be better long-term value to you in reading about sailing than reading the doom and gloom that is presented by the press every day.

If you don’t have a library or if there are holes in it covering subjects about the type of boat you sail, the type of sailing that you do, or the skill you want to hone, go on the web to the Australian site Boat Books https://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au, or Google Amazon, Booktopia, or one of the many sites on the web selling sailing books, many at a discount.

When we are finally allowed to get back on the water, you won’t get flogged out on the racecourse.

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The Start

Starting

Brett Bowden

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29/04/2020

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The Start. Starting is one of the most complex aspects of a boat race with many moving parts, sail trim, team communication, competitors’ attack and defence moves and the overall strategic view. All aspects have to flow and come together all at the one time on the go Signal.

Preparation

Many teams spend huge hours working on perfecting crew work and purchasing the best sails. But every weekend we turn up to the start line with 15 minutes to go. We all are aware of how this picture turns out.

Like anything, the preparation needs to be happening well before your start time. You need to do this just to have an even chance with the opposition.

The amount of information gathering alone, like your head to wind reading and the favoured end of the start line, will take a minimum 20 minutes, so allow yourself the time to collect the data. It is not possible to collect the data and have some practice runs if you have not allowed 1 full hour before the start time.

The other aspect top teams have at start time is they are very relaxed and composed. You need a clear relaxed outlook to start well. Any raised voice and emotional output during the start period takes your mind away from the critical speed and time on distance calculations. You cannot make clear decisions under emotional pressure and load.

Key data collection points.

 Port and Starboard tack compass headings sailing upwind, are a critical part of the tactical information decision-making process.

 Start line compass bearing was taken from the start boat end heading towards the pin end. eg. 90 degrees.

 Head to wind reading taken from the middle of the line. eg. 190 degrees a square even start line would be 180 degrees so with the wind at 190 degrees we have a 10-degree bias to the boat end. This is informing us to start towards the favoured end.

 The time it takes to sail from start boat to pin end – this is critical information in big fleets. The start line at the Brisbane 2018 Etchells Worlds was 1 nautical mile long. That’s a long sail in an Etchells at 4 knots.

 3 x practice runs at the line in full race trim.

Advice From John Cuneo

Many, many moons ago on my first ever World Championship attempt, our then Dragon Olympic Gold Medallist at my home club, Mr John Cuneo, gave me some great advice and I still use it today with all the people I coach.

There are only ever 3 boats in a sailboat start; you, the boat to Weather and the boat to Leeward. At all times you must be bow forward on both these boats to have a fighting chance. He would always say “make sure you win the small start first”.
The second point John expressed was starting is like being a boxer; if you stand flat-footed you will get hit. You need to duck, weave, and change speed – it makes you harder to catch. One area John expressed is you need to duck move and mostly watch and look around for the openings or attacks.

We have seen it so many times in the starting area if you sit and luff your boat you will be a sitting duck and a target for others.

Keep your eyes dancing all around just like the boxer watching for the knockout punch. We must be aware at all times of the other competitors.

In the last 15 seconds in most sailboat starts it’s key to be getting to maximum speed. When the gun goes you need to be at max speed.

Reproduced with kind permission of RBYC Melbourne, Australia and Head Coach Adrian Finglas

Adrian has won many Australian National championships from Sabot, 420, 470, 505, Youth Nationals, Pre Olympic selections in 1992, Win in the Sydney Hobart race,

He has an extremely diverse sailing background from professional racing to teaching young children’s Tackers.

Adrian travelled the globe for 20 years of his life chasing the sailing challenge either racing himself or coaching. He coached 2 Para-Lympic medals for Australia at the 2008, 2012 games and was the Olympic coach for the Yngling at the 2008 Olympic games

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Making Reaches Work

Upwind, Downwind and Reaching

Brett Bowden

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23/04/2020

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Making Reaches Work

In this day and age of mainly windward and return races, the art, and skill of sailing a reach is becoming a distant memory for many of us with symmetrical spinnaker boats.

Please note though, that a lot of the tips below are also relevant to two-sailed and single-sail boats as well.

If you do get a reaching course or if a planned run becomes a reach due to a wind shift, you will need to draw on your memory to enable yourself to get to the leeward mark in the quickest possible time.

Close Reach: Making Reaches Work

As you bear away from close-hauled to a close reach, the forces on the sails rotate forward. Next speed jumps and heeling forces are reduced. To make the most of the wider wind angle you must retrim the sails for the new course.

You will ease the jib and if your set-up allows, you will move the jib lead outwards. The halyard will not be adjusted thus keeping the draft forward and also preventing the back of the sail from becoming rounded. If the lead is not moved outboard, the top of the sail opens and the bottom will hook which increases drag.

The mainsail will be eased, traveller dropped but the vang should remain firm, one of the ways to set it initially is to just snig the vang on whilst travelling upwind and when you ease off to the tight reach, it will stop the boom from lifting and leech from spilling the wind and costing you power.

Use The Vang To Control Twist

The vang is a critical control of twist. If you find yourself overpowered ease the vang which will reduce heel and balance the helm.

Fine trimming is done by adjusting the sail and traveler to keep the leech telltales streaming and the helm balanced.

For a close reach on a symmetrical spinnaker boat, the pole should be close to the forestay. but the pole height can be fine-tuned. On a close reach try lowering the pole so the tack is lower than the clew. This pulls the draft forward, and opens the leech, for a faster-reaching shape.

For best performance, with a symmetrical spinnaker, the luff should always be trimmed to be on the verge of curling.

With an asymmetric spinnaker, you have the ability to play the tack line up and down. and this serves a similar purpose to raising and lowering the pole height which can drastically change the sail shape to conform with the angle you are sailing to the wind.

Broad reaching: Making Reaches Work

As you bear off further, ease the sails using the telltales to match the angle of attack. Trim the jib to keep the middle of the sail working. With the mainsail, ease it out to just before it luffs. Keep the vang firm so that the top batten is parallel to the angle of the boom.

As you sail down, the spinnaker pole should be lifted to keep the clews of the spinnaker level and in heavier air beware of flying both corners too high, this lets the spinnaker get too far from the boat and will make the boat less stable.

If the boat is rolling side to side, try lowering the pole. Next, pull the pole aft and/or choke down the sheet lead.

With an asymmetrical on a broad reach, ease the tack line and allow the tack to lift. Then ease the luff which lets the assy roll out from behind the mainsail. This assumes a more powerful spinnaker-like shape.

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Windward Mark Roundings

Mark Rounding

Brett Bowden

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16/04/2020

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Windward Mark Roundings,

As sailors we put an enormous amount of thought into the start, and so we should, and next, we talk a lot about upwind speed and observing and playing the shifts but planning and thought seems to go out the window when considering rounding the windward mark and transitioning to the downwind leg.

Having a clean windward mark rounding can gain valuable boat lengths and the keys to rounding the windward mark are to make sure that you get there without sailing extra distance or fouling someone but even more importantly, ensuring that you’ve prepared for and have a plan for the next leg.

Before the start, make sure that you know where the windward mark is, and as you’re sailing up the beat, you should periodically check to see where you are relative to the mark.

Laylines

Pay attention to the laylines and if you will be approaching the mark on starboard tack, you will want to tack as close to the layline as you can, sailing beyond the layline means that you waste time sailing extra distance and you leave the opportunity for an opponent to come in, tack below you, and still make the mark.

Once you’re on the layline, keep sailing fast but also start planning ahead for the next leg. Make sure that your mainsheet is not tangled and is free to run, if you’re racing a boat with a spinnaker or gennaker, do any final preparations and at the same time think about your strategy for the next leg.

Reaching Leg

Will you want to work high or low on a reach? If the next leg is a run is there a reason why you might want to gybe around the mark perhaps to take advantage of more pressure or to stay in phase with the shifts you have observed on the upwind leg?

Don’t forget about current as you calculate the layline and if you are approaching the mark on Port tack be aware of your rights, read and learn Rule 18 which makes it very difficult to tack inside the zone without fouling another boat.

A quick summary of Rule 18 and windward mark roundings:

If you’re approaching the mark and you will not need to tack, an inside boat that is overlapped when the first of them enters the zone gets room to round the mark. That can mean pinching up or shooting head to wind, and a boat outside will need to keep clear, so if you’re that outside boat, don’t bear off just yet!
The trickier situation involves tacking inside the zone. A boat that tacks inside the zone needs to first complete its tack without fouling, and then, if you are in a lee bow position, you must not force the other boat to sail above close-hauled, so in that situation, you can’t force the other boat to pinch or shoot head to wind.

One way to avoid this sticky situation is to make sure that you complete your tacks outside the zone.

Protect Your Position On The Layline

It’s important to protect your position on the layline and make sure that you maintain clear air. If you’re on starboard tack and a port tacker is approaching, you may want to foot off a bit (well before they’re close so you’re not hunting) so that if they lee bow you, you can head up and maintain your lane.

If you’re on port tack crossing a starboard tacker and if in doubt, you can avoid fouling by fully crossing them, and then tacking after you’re clear of them.

In this case, you might round behind that one boat, but will not foul, too often, port tackers try to jam in a tack on the layline or at the mark, and foul because they do not keep clear while tacking.

You may lose that one boat, but sailing clean is sailing fast. Similarly, if you realize that you’re not laying the mark, the sooner you can tack out and re-establish yourself in a decent lane, the better.

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