Racing Strategy

[KevinMc]

OK, I am not a racer. I have a couple of friends who decided to get together and have a "sort of" race. The course that we decided on before we got to the lake was directly up wind from where we started. My first question is this: What is the best strategy for sailing up wind. Taking short tacks or going for longer distances before making the tack. There is a great deal of milfoil (sp? -- under water weed that just breaks the surface of the water) and several fishing boats that hindered us at some points, but for the most part we were free to make short or longer tacks.

So what works best?

Thanks

 

[Tim R.]

Depends

Every time you tack, your boat slows down. So less tacks is better. However, sometimes you tack a lot to stay in a narrow band of wind or to to deal with currents.

On Wed, we made less tacks than some of the other boats and it made a huge difference. We also made a sweet move around a mark by doing a 270 and using the headsail to backwind the boat around the mark.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Kevin, if you forget about currents and courses and other boats for a moment, and just think about wind direction AND distance to the mark:

1. NO, repeat NO course is EVER perfectly dead to windward. Therefore, one tack must be favored compared to the other. That's called the LONG tack (or long board) and will get you closer to the upwind mark than the other tack. Draw it out on a piece of paper.

2. The closer to the mark, the more tacks are usually required. Hiscock, in his cruising guides, talks about the 20 degree cone of tacking angles projected from the mark, or you could figure if your VMG goes to zero, it's time to tack.

Thats' pretty simple for starters and you should get a book on racing tactics if you want to learn more. Took me a few years to figure those basics out...

 

[Tim R.]

Hmmm

#1 I agree as long as you do not pass beyond the layline for the mark. For most good racing cruisers, this is about 90 degrees relative. I can usually make the mark when the mark is directly abeam of my stern.

#2, if you are making more tacks as you get closer to the mark, you will lose the race. Maybe I am misunderstanding you Stu.

Given unlimited sailing room and constant wind conditions the quickest way to and around the windward mark is to cross the start line on the same tack that you round the mark on(port tack for a port rounding). Sail on the first tack as far as you need to in order to have enough room to round the WW mark on your next tack. This also assumes there are no other boats. Next insert some other factors like boat traffic, dirty air, currents, wind shifts, etc and things can get very complicated.

 

[s sauer]

Before a race, check the compass course to the 1st mark, then take the boat head to wind on the starting line check if you are pointing at the mark or if one side is favored.

Sail the favored tack watching for lifts and headers. A header takes you further away from the mark,a lift takes you closer.

If you tack when you experience a header, you should most always be on the favored or lifted tack sailing a shorter distance to the mark.

Obviously with other boats around you, you may need to consider tacking to get into clear air, or if you see greater wind on one side of the course you may chose to sail toward that side of the course. With current on the course you add another factor; sail in deeper water with faster current if it is going in your direction; stay out of the current, posssibly in shallower water if the current is against you.

As you gain experience you should read up on racing tactics and performance / sail tuning tips. No matter how much experience we each have we can continue learning and improving our sailing skills on the water. Racing is probably the quickest way to do that as you have other boats to learn from.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Tim R, #2 is for long distances, and once close to the

mark, you'll end up outside that cone. Just a good starting point for not going too far on one tack.

 

[tommays]

Well

We spend a lot of time before ever start checking are bearing on each tack and because of the currents we pop out the current book and factor that in as in are area the current can be from 0 to 1.7 knots


After trying to get a clean start if were out front we we see how we can cover and mess up faster boats (with in the rules :naughty

If we are behind we will within reason try and break the lee of any leading boat (get to windard for clean air)

It goes on and on much like chess

Tommays

 

[filthy liberal scum]

try to be on the lifted tack as much as possible.

obviously the wind always shifts. first and foremost don't stray to far from the rhumb line to the mark or you may find your way into whats known as the coffin corner with a shift then you'll be on the headed tack back to where you want to be. the bottom line is keep a close eye on your compass and when there's a shift then tack. on long distance point to point races don't stray very far from the rhumb line unless there is a real compelling reason to, such as foul current or you want to take advantage of fair current giving you a big boost. staying close to the rhumb line, dennis Conner says gives the best percentage of being in the right place at the right time. from there you are in the best position to take advantage of shifts.