Author: David Dellenbaugh

It has become commonplace, in many fleets during recent years, to sail windward-leeward courses with a gate for the leeward mark. Personally, I like this course a lot because it emphasizes tactics and strategy, eliminates reaching parades (particularly in light and moderate air) and keeps the fleet closer together. But racing with a gate offers a whole new set of tactical and strategic challenges. It means you must make a choice about which mark to round, and…

When there are no other boats around, it’s easy to execute a good windward mark rounding. But unless you’re near the front (or back!) of the fleet, you normally have plenty of company as you approach the mark. And they’re all trying to beat you! In order to implement your mark-rounding strategy (i.e. to have an optimal rounding), one thing you need is good tactics. Tactics are the boat-on-boat moves you make to follow your chosen course…

When it comes to strategy on a beat, my most valuable guiding principle of all time has been to sail the longer tack first. It’s amazing how often this works and how much you can gain by doing it. The geometry of your racecourse is one factor you must consider in any strategic plan. And the most important geometric question by far is whether one tack is longer than the other. Here are some things to consider….

Many sailors misjudge the strategic importance of current. They either make current too much of a priority when choosing their first-beat strategy, or they underestimate the effects of current as they approach the first mark. Here are some strategic tips that should help you go with the flow. • Seeing and measuring current. Before you can include current in your strategy, you must know the current set (direction of flow) and drift (speed) across the race course….

One of my favorite things about sailing is that no two races are exactly alike. Every time you sail out to the starting line you find a unique set of wind and weather conditions. If you want to be successful in this environment, you must be smart and well prepared. One of the best ways to get ready for a race is to develop a strategy. This is your plan for how to get around the racecourse…

When you get near the top of the first beat, think ahead about the mark you are just about to round. Is it a temporary, inflatable tetrahedron or a permanent, bulletproof government buoy? Each type of mark has its own particular characteristics that you must consider in order to have a fast, efficient rounding. Here are some things to think about for the two most common types of marks.   Inflatable marks • There is often a…

Race committees usually try to set their finish lines square to the wind direction, but windshifts and other factors often skew the line and favor one end. It’s not uncommon for this favored end to be two or more boatlengths closer, and when you’re trying to gain every inch to beat your competition, this can make a huge difference. Theoretically, a good way to understand the orientation of any finish line is by visualizing “ladder rungs,” or…

The layline is a critical part of any windward leg because every boat has to get there eventually and, once they do, it’s a tactical dead-end. The closer you come to a layline, the fewer options you have, so you need smart tactics whenever you are approaching (or avoiding) it. When you’re behind Going to the layline when there are boats ahead of you is like running into a dead-end alley while you are being chased: there…

One thing you can say for sure about the wind direction is that it’s always changing. Even when it seems like a nice steady day, the wind is constantly wriggling back and forth at least a little bit. And whenever the wind shifts, it creates a large opportunity to gain distance on the other boats in your fleet. Wind shifts are generally the most significant strategic factor of all. Each time the wind changes direction it re-shuffles…

Once you get good at using crew weight and sail trim for turning your boat, you can think much more about the shape of the course that you steer around marks. When it comes to carving turns, I imagine that sailing is a lot like racing a car. Both sailors and race car drivers want to travel the shortest distance possible, but they can’t cut any corner too sharply or they’ll lose a lot of speed. Therefore,…