The 37th America’s Cup final between the Challenger, INEOS Britannia, and the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, is currently underway and revealing a few tactical trends over four races thus far. Let’s take a look at the key decisions teams must make and which strategies are being employed to attack from behind or defend when leading.

Pre-Start Positioning

At the press conference ahead of the 37th Match, a coin flip determined that Emirates Team New Zealand would start the first race on port, while INEOS Britannia would start on starboard. In the age of AC75s, where the priority is to remain on the foils, some of the traditional moves are no longer applicable.

In general, the boat that enters the start box on starboard 10 seconds later and from behind controls the pre-start and is better positioned to attack. Normally, if the starboard-entry boat executes standard pre-start maneuvers, it will end up to windward of its rival during the final starboard approach to the starting line. This gives it the power to decide how to proceed in the final seconds, based on its strategy and race plan.

Regardless of whether the boats approach from deep in the start box or higher than the starboard end of the line, the windward boat can choose whether to push the rival to bear away toward the leeward end, hook them from the leeward side, or stay far to windward to start on the right side, based on various tactical reasons. Only a few races in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series saw the port-entry boat gaining decision-making power in the box, though this didn’t always materialize into a starting advantage.

After the start: Push to the Boundary or Split

Starting to windward generally provides control, allowing the boat to either sail on starboard tack and push the opponent toward the left boundary, or execute an early tack to head toward the right side of the course for a strategic advantage, such as more wind or shift. The latter option is typically favored in southwesterly Garbi sea breezes, where the right side of the course often proves advantageous.

On the other hand, starting to leeward reduces the risk of a poor start, as no other boat can disrupt acceleration or changes in speed at one of the most critical moments of the race. Once across the line, the leeward boat can control its sailing mode toward the left boundary until the windward boat tacks. However, the distance from the start to the left boundary is much shorter than the one the leeward starting boat will have to face after the first tack on the left boundary, all the way to the opposite one.

Consequently, after the tack, the boat going for the leeward start, must commit and be confident that after the first tack will achieve a comfortable relative position to sail potentially from boundary to boundary. Being lifted from leeward by the opponent early after the first tack could result on two extra tacks when close to the port side boundary, that could result on irreversible differences in a very early stage of the race.

In the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli often opted for a windward start, while INEOS preferred the leeward position. Both took advantage of their respective positions without much interference.

Upwind Tactics: Cover or Stay in Phase

Once a boat establishes a lead, the primary goal is to cover the opponent, either pushing them toward the unfavored side in terms of wind intensity, wind shifts phase or toward the nearest boundary, which could force them into two extra tacks on the upwind leg.

Meanwhile, the trailing boat aims to minimize damage by staying in sync with wind shifts and looking for an opportunity to create a split, either on the same upwind leg or during the top-mark rounding. Though a split often only requires one additional tack, if mistimed with the wind shift, it can lead to costly losses, so waiting for the right moment is crucial.

After the Top Mark: Downwind Tactics

Downwind tactics depend on whether the trailing boat rounds the same top mark as the leader or a different one. If both round the same mark, the leader can simply mirror the trailing boat’s moves and stay between them and the next mark. The high speeds of foiling boats also mean the boat behind cannot disturb the leader’s clean wind.

However, if the trailing boat achieves a split at the top mark, and both head toward opposite boundaries, the leading boat will have to execute at least one extra jibe to align and regain control. In conditions where wind pressure and shifts vary across the course, this is a common strategy. In contrast, in strong winds and choppy seas, minimizing maneuvers becomes the priority, allowing for sailing from boundary to boundary with minimal interference from the opponent.

The Final Stages

By the second lap, one boat is usually clearly ahead, while the other attempts to create a split to gain leverage and increase the chances of a comeback. In windy or rough seas, the leader often avoids engaging directly, focusing on sailing cleanly from boundary to boundary, minimizing extra maneuvers and concentrating on boat handling.

In more variable conditions, staying close to the rival becomes more important, even if it means executing additional tacks.

Racing these high-speed foiling boats requires thinking two to three steps ahead before execution and anticipating multiple scenarios that could unfold during critical moments, especially when crossing paths with an opponent, easier said than done when the world is watching, the racecourse is small, and the pace is rapid.

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We are on port coming into the ­windward mark, and I know that the rules are not in our favor. “The starboard layline is crowded; it’s going to be messy,” my tactician tells me. I take a quick look ahead and to leeward to size up the situation, and indeed, it does look dense. Oh, boy. I return my focus back to sailing fast, absorbing what I just saw. Getting closer, my tactician paints the picture. “You have three boats to worry about: Bow 72 is short of layline, then bow 54 is on a tight lay, and 16 is overstood.”

I take a longer look to leeward, identifying those three boats as he continues, “It looks like you will cross 72, likely you will have to duck 54, then tack below 16.” Followed by, “It’s yours.”

“It’s yours” is a simple and clear explicit handoff from our tactician to me, the driver. Now it’s mine to execute. It needs to be mine, because in these moments, things are happening quickly, requiring split-­second decisions with no time for our tactician to micromanage. Besides, the driver is the only one who can possibly know what can and cannot be done within the inches that are necessary for success.

“Copy” is the required response, but it alone is not quite enough. “Copy, I’ll get past 72 and 54, then tack below 16” confirms that I indeed got the message, putting our whole team at ease. But if I missed something, it gives a chance for my tactician to correct me.

The explicit “It’s yours” and “Copy” handoff routine is peppered throughout the race as necessary, but during starts and mark roundings, the driver always takes the lead. These are implicit handoffs because it is always that way.

For starts, this implicit handoff begins at the warning and remains for the rest of the sequence. Because speed is not our primary concern during the sequence, I have plenty of bandwidth to focus on positioning and boat-on-boat tactics. Although ultimately it’s my responsibility, and I know I will have to make quick decisions, there is plenty of time for conversation. We constantly discuss things such as our distance to the line, finding just the right place to make the final tack, and how best to defend our hole. It’s a careful balance, and the tactician needs to know when I need to be left alone to execute without distraction, and when it is appropriate to interject. For example, when we are on the starboard-tack final approach to the line, if all is going to play, the tactician is mostly quiet. But if my time and distance are off, or someone is trying to poach our hole, the tactician better chime in and help.

At marks, the handoff happens just as we are about to round the mark. Unlike the start, where there is conversation, there is usually no time and I need to be left alone. To do that, I need to know the plan from my tactician well ahead of time. For example, before we enter the fray at the windward mark, I need to know if we want to do a straight set or jibe set.

If the tactician says, “We want to jibe as soon as possible after the offset,” he’s telling me that my job is to position our boat on the inside on the offset leg so that we can pull off a jibe. “Straight set” tells me to defend high. Even though it is implicit, the handoff can begin early, such as our example where the tactician paints the picture of the crowded starboard layline, then explicitly hands off the execution well before we get to the mark.

Occasionally I will take control when something unexpected happens and there is not time for my tactician to say, “It’s yours,” let alone paint the picture. This can happen because the tactician failed to look ahead, plan, and communicate.

“If bow 54 tacks, lead them back” prevents this sort of surprise. But something totally unusual could happen, such as a boat that capsizes in front of us, or their skipper drops the tiller and spins out. Either way, I will have to make my own quick decision, with no time for a handoff.

Similarly, anyone can chime in to avoid disaster. When I hear “Crash tack!” or “Duck hard!” from any team member, I react immediately, with no questions asked. Yes, it will be a bad tack or duck. The trimmer will need to sort out the jib, and all those hiking need to struggle to the new side, but it beats the alternative.

Whether explicit or implicit, the handoff is binding and absolute; only one person can be in charge. For example, if I hear, “Duck if you can’t cross; we want to continue on port,” and I respond with, “Copy, ducking if I can’t cross,” I can’t have any micromanagement from my tactician or anyone else because it’s too distracting. Likewise, when it is not my turn, my tactician is the boss, and aside from infrequent constructive information, I need to just do my job and drive fast.

Whenever I finish my duck, round the mark, or whatever the maneuver is, I don’t say something like “Back to you” to hand back the reins. It’s not necessary because it’s obvious to all when the maneuver is done. But I do like when the tactician makes it clear that they have things in hand, like, “We are still lifted on the long tack, no traffic and no plans to tack anytime soon.” That makes it super-clear that they are back on task and puts my mind at ease.

Other team members have important strategic and tactical support roles, and it is important to acknowledge that. Someone might help the tactician look for wind in the distance, while someone else is reading the compass. A collaborative tactician is a good tactician. I have a smile on my face when I hear the team debating what to do next. But there can’t be more than one boss at a time—it’s either the tactician or the driver. Input is fine, but the rest of the team can’t confuse the situation by making calls.

In rare circumstances, I will override my tactician. I recall a scenario where the tactician could not find the new mark and insisted it must be on the right side. But I could sense uncertainty and frustration, and my gut had a strong feeling that we had been on port way too long. I recall saying, “Sorry, I just need to tack and center up while we look,” as I pushed over the helm to lead a clump of boats back. This is a touchy thing to do; it is not a good thing to undermine your tactician. My tactician has a phrase: “If you override me, you’d better be right!”

I don’t take “you’d better be right” to be literal; it’s just a phrase we use to put it in perspective. When I override, one of us will be wrong. If the mark indeed was to the right, I will be wrong. If it was more centered up, my tactician would be wrong. But neither of us should look at it that way; we both need to be empowered to make decisions and with that, to fail. Strategy and tactics are inexact, and I expect mistakes, even when we are on top of our game. The teams who move on and quickly work on what to do next are the teams who succeed.

I regularly sail a singlehanded boat and often verbally hand off to myself. That might sound silly since I am the tactician and make all the calls, as well as the driver with all the power to execute. But it is a mental cue for me. I need to shift my concentration from speed to tactics and back, which is not easy to do. Saying the handoff out loud helps me define the priority of the moment.

Sailing fast is a driver’s best contribution to tactics because, as it’s widely accepted, nothing makes a tactician look smarter than boatspeed. I am in charge implicitly at the start and mark roundings, and explicitly when handed to me at scattered moments throughout the race. The rest of the time, knowing that the tactician is fully in charge, I put my head down and go fast. I must admit, I look forward to hearing, “It’s yours,” as a welcome break from staring at my telltales. “Copy,” I’ll respond while looking around to assess the situation. I’ll finish that maneuver and then, refreshed from the break, focus once again on going fast.

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Charlotte Rose, a ­two-time youth world champion and US Sailing Team athlete, has boathandling skills that are off the charts, which gives her the ability to quickly shift left or right on the starting line to get into an optimal position. While observing her at a recent clinic, I learned that she has four key starting moves: high build, double-­tack, half-tack and reverse. After watching her execute these moves with ease, I wondered how effective they’d be in boats other than ILCAs, so I brought them to the 2023 J/70 Worlds. My teammates and I spent a few days practicing them, and discovered that they worked well, even in a J/70. These four approaches can be used in almost any small boat—and in bigger boats, to a degree.

The High-Build Start

The high-build approach is powerful in medium to strong winds, when you’re on your final approach and you want to crowd the boat above you to create space to leeward. The setup starts by positioning your boat close to the boat above you and, with sails fully trimmed, steering just above ­closehauled. Be careful to keep the boat moving slowly through the water to prevent stalling. After sailing high and slow and creating space to leeward, just before the start, rotate the bow down and leave the sails fully trimmed. The boat instantly heels over and feels powerful. Then bear away 5 degrees or so, and ease the sails a bit to go for full acceleration. If it’s windy, you need only to turn down to a closehauled course. The boat will get up to speed quickly because there’s plenty of power in the sails. Because you’ve maintained flow across your blades and sails throughout, acceleration will happen fast and require less of a bear away. If you bear away less than those around you, the space to leeward will be bigger and the boats to windward will be unable to bear away to full speed.  

There are a few ­important subtleties. Keep both sails trimmed, and use the jib as your guide. Head up until the front of the jib starts to backwind—usually one-third to halfway back—and the boat will flatten. The key is to keep the boat flat. To maintain the high and slow sailing, trim the sails in and out. For example, if the skipper is having to push too hard on the tiller because the boat wants to bear away, ease the jib and trim the main. This helps the boat continue to track forward. If the boat wants to head up, trim the jib and ease the main. 

At the J/70 Worlds, the wind was mostly 12 to 18 knots—perfect conditions for high-build starts. It doesn’t work well in light air, because in these conditions, you need to keep the speed on and also bear away a fair amount to properly accelerate. Also, if you try to sail too high and slow in light air, the boat nearly stops, and it takes forever to get moving again. But in 8 to 9 knots or more, the high-build is a ­must-have in your tool box.   

Double-Tack Reset

The double-tack is another powerful move that’s underutilized. It allows you to create a ­massive amount of space to your left while filling space to your right. Basically, it’s two quick tacks, first to port and then to starboard, but there’s more to it than that. International 470 gold medalists Matthew Belcher and Will Ryan were masters of the double tack. They got it down so well that they could do it in the final 10 seconds and, in their second tack, would come out racing. Doing it in the final few seconds and with perfect timing also meant that if the boat to their left tried to match them, that boat would be late to start.

Use a double-tack whenever there’s space to your right and someone comes from behind and hooks or overlaps their bow just to leeward of you, or if a boat comes in on port tack and sets up in a lee-bow position. It’s a quick way to get separation and reclaim a hole on the line. On the J/70 or the Etchells, my teammate, Erik Shampain, audibles if the double-tack is an option. Whenever things are getting tight and we need an escape route, Shampain says to me, “Double-tack open,” and we roll into a tack, sail for as long as we need to, and then tack back. 

Most people feel as if they have to have a lot of space to do a double-tack without fouling the boat to their right, the windward boat. In the clinic, however, Rose could double-tack in the tightest space I’d ever seen. When I asked her how she did so, she said that the key is a normal first tack, such as a roll tack in a Laser, and then an instant tack back onto port with no roll. Doing the second tack as a roll tack is OK if you are feeling late, but a flat tack allows you to turn in a tighter space, and you don’t advance on the starting line.  

You need a bit of speed to begin a double-tack. Don’t try it from a stopped position. If you have room and want to sail for a length or two before tacking to starboard, you can. A subtlety to the double-tack is that when you complete that first tack, come out deep, aiming behind the boat to your right, which might make them think that you’re going to go behind them. Then, when you tack back, you’ll end up overlapped with them, with bows even. They’re now “locked” so that their bow is not free to hook you, and you’ve secured a nice hole to your left. 

Another basic rule of thumb is that if the boat to your right double-tacks, match them. When they tack back, lee-bow them. You’ll have created a huge hole, and they won’t have one. 

There are other purposes for a double-tack and considerations, other than just closing the gap between yourself and the boat to your right or separating from the boat to your left. If you sense that you’re early, tack, dip really deep to burn off time, and then tack back. If you’re late, tack and sail upwind, then tack back again, fully racing upwind. If the pin is favored and you need to close distance on the line, for example in a last-minute left shift, the port-tack part of the double-­tack will help you close distance on the line because that tack is more than 90 degrees to the line. If the boat is favored, when many general recalls happen as closing speeds are high, and you need to kill time, spend more time on port tack when doubling because it’s closer to paralleling the line, and you will kill time. For those scenarios, it comes down to being confident with your time on distance and your closing speed on the line.  

Half-Tack Reset

A half-tack is used when there’s not enough space to your right to do a double-tack. It works best in light and medium winds when you have speed.

Let’s say there’s a port-tack boat coming your way, and they’re likely to lee-bow you, and there’s a boat just to windward of you. Rotate your bow down, aiming just above the port tacker’s bow, and sail at them, which increases your speed. As you anticipated, they tack just to leeward of you. If you do nothing, they’ve stolen any space you’ve created to leeward, and you’ll be out of luck for this start. But, with your increased speed, do a half-tack, heading up and trimming your sails in, and sail about head to wind or maybe a touch past. Leave the jib in to the point where it backwinds. On an ILCA, the skipper can put their hand or left shoulder against the boom, pushing out a foot or so to backwind the main for just a few seconds. The backwinded sail pushes your bow to the right, opening up space between you and the boat that just tacked to leeward of you and sliding you closer to the boat to your right. Again, be sure you have speed going into this. In small boats like ILCAs, it helps to pull up the daggerboard to help the boat slide. In keelboats, we obviously leave the keel alone, but backing the jib really pulls the boat to the right, helping it slide or track toward the boat to your right. Be careful with this move, however, because you are considered a “tacking” boat. As long as you do not hit the boat to your right, you are fine. Once you’re close to the boat to the right, cut/release the jib, and rotate the boat back down to starboard closehauled to avoid a rules infringement.

To prevent tacking, the skipper must fight the helm, pulling the tiller toward them, keeping the boat gliding at either head to wind or slightly past head to wind. A more common move in the start is to shoot head to wind to get space to leeward. That’s fine, but this backing of the sails adds the slide to the right. While doing a half-tack, or as the ILCA sailors call it, a “slide,” keep the boat flat. The crew might even have to hike on the port side, the jib side, while the jib is backing, especially in medium winds. As the boat slides to windward, you can open up about a half-boatlength on the boat that just tacked beneath you. Now you have a hole to accelerate into. As your speed diminishes, uncleat the jib. We use the command “Cut!” The jib luffs, the skipper rotates the bow down to closehauled or slightly below, and we’re off. 

The half-tack doesn’t work well in big breeze, because it’s so windy, you might not be able to keep the boat from tacking with a backed jib. And if it’s really choppy, you risk losing your speed if you smash into a wave during your slide.    

Drop it into Reverse

Let’s say you have boats close to leeward of you, and you realize that they’re going to prevent you from accelerating because there’s no hole for you to drive off into. Nor is there room for a double-tack or half-tack. The solution is to reverse out of there, backing up until your bow can clear the transoms of the boats around you, and then reach off and find a better place to start. It’s a great move when you really have no other options. Because the leeward boat is probably luffing you, you’re pretty much head to wind anyway, so you’re in a good position to start the reverse.

The most important part of this is to recognize early enough that you’re in a tough spot and need to get out of it. Otherwise, you won’t have enough time for the reverse. In a J/70, it might be with 60 to 90 seconds left; in an ILCA, it’s probably around 45 seconds. The technique starts with pushing the boom out just until the boat starts to reverse, then release the boom and let the sail luff. This point is where a lot of people run into trouble. Rose taught me not to hold the boom out very long. If you hold it out too long, it might cause the boat to tack, and you could lose control of the bow. Also, briefly holding the boom out keeps the boat from going too fast in reverse, which will make it difficult to stop. Again, your goal is to start the reverse to get your bow free, then sail somewhere else.

Steering backward takes time to learn. The tiller loads up, wanting to slam to one side or the other, and the boat will be more responsive to helm movements, so keep the tiller as close to centered as possible, and keep weight adjustments subtle. It will help to hold the tiller or hiking stick firmly in both hands. Once your bow becomes free of the boats to leeward of you, turn the boat down, away from the wind, and you’re now free to reach to the next open spot on the line. Remember, the whole line is open to you; you can exit to starboard or port.  

The “bail out and sail somewhere else” technique works well because it’s better to be going fast in the final minute than to have no good option for accelerating because someone’s close to leeward. That’s death. If you bail and start reaching, you have a much better chance of pulling off a good start than if you just sit there in a tough situation with 40 seconds left. Typically, everyone else is bow up, going half-speed, while you can be reaching down the line with pace, searching for your next spot. And when you do find your opening, you can shoot into it with more pace than the boats around you.

We did a couple of scramble starts like this at the 2023 J/70 European Championships, which we won. Both times, we found a gap in the final 20 seconds, sailed into it with pace, and were able to tack and cross the fleet within 30 seconds after the start because the pin was so favored. You might call that lucky, but we were following a basic rule: When you feel like you’re in trouble, bail and go as fast as you can.

The beautiful thing about these four moves is that they not only help you create a gap, but they also give you more of a lateral game that you might not have otherwise. Practice these moves so that you’re  good at them, and make sure you have the mindset of trying to find open space. A good practice drill is to try to sail a full lap around a stationary mark ­without tacking. We tried it in an Etchells once, and we actually pulled it off. Start by sailing by a mark on starboard tack, leaving it to port, with speed. Shoot head to wind, and do a half-tack. Let the half-tack glide you above and to the right of the mark. Then release the jib, let the boat slow down, and go into a reverse. Once you’ve reversed past the mark, kick the stern out so that you’re now on a starboard reach, and sail back around to the port side of the mark. You’ve now done a full lap around the mark without tacking. It’s also a great drill to practice slow-speed maneuvers. Try it first in 5 to 12 knots. 

With these four starting-line moves, the next time you’re in a crowded spot in the final minute and half and don’t feel like you’re going to get a good start, you now have the option of positioning your boat somewhere else. As my high school students say, “Make your momma proud; don’t start in a crowd.”

As a multiple class champion and longtime coach, Steve Hunt has now expanded his ­coaching services to include virtual coaching at stevehuntsailing.com, a site created for the racing sailor to take their skills to the next level. With video tutorials and in-depth insight, Hunt and other top-level sailors aim to help ­sailors improve their speed, sail smarter, and improve regatta results—one race at a time.

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It seems as if, when boats get near each other, they both lose something. Let’s look at the classic upwind port-starboard crossing. Suppose you are on port tack heading in phase to the right. Along comes a starboard tacker that you are not quite crossing. Short of fouling that boat, you have three options: tack, duck or double-tack (tack, pinch off the starboard-tack boat, then tack back). Which is the right move? The answer is simple: It’s the one with the least loss.

You need to resign yourself to the fact that each of these three options is a loss. There is no option that nets a gain on the fleet. There never is. The tack options will cost you one boatlength, assuming your boat loses that much in a tack. If it’s a bad tack, you lose even more. It follows then that the double-tack option will cost you two boatlengths. The duck option costs you 1.5 boatlengths (a half-boatlength duck gets you bow-to-bow, and then it’s another boatlength from there). Which is the right move? The tack, because it loses only one boatlength.

But that is just a baseline. You also need to layer on your strategy. You are sailing to the right side of the racecourse for a reason; in this case, you are lifted on port tack and want to stay in phase. It’s a rough guess, but you need to estimate how much you will lose if you get out of phase. Let’s say for this shift example, you estimate four boatlengths of loss. The tack option sends you out of phase at a cost of five boatlengths (one for the tack and four for sailing out of phase). The loss with the duck and the double-tack options are unchanged because they both keep you in phase with no loss. Which is the right move? Factoring in strategy, the duck is the new least-loss option. At a 1.5-boatlength loss, it wins out by a half-boatlength over tacking twice (two boatlengths) and is way ahead of tacking once (five boatlengths).

Use risk aversion as the tiebreaker. If it’s a close call, the double-tack option loses out to the duck by only a half-boatlength. A duck is straightforward, so that’s low-risk. The double-tack option is dicey because it relies on planting a solid lee bow, successfully pinching off the boat, then tacking to cross. Much more can go wrong with boathandling and a potential rules situation, so let’s call this high-risk. Ducking loses less and is lower-risk. Duck it is. I’m OK with taking the risk when the math says it’s the right thing to do. But unless it is compelling, I avoid the higher-risk option.

The amount of loss is dependent upon both the boat type and the conditions. If you sail a boat that tacks very well, such as a round-bottom dinghy, your tack loss might be close to zero with a solid roll tack in light air and flat water, but it might be one boatlength or more in big waves or chop. A larger keelboat likely won’t fare as well. There will likely be one boatlength lost in ideal (flat water) conditions and three boatlengths lost in waves or chop. Most boats don’t lose much when jibing, but a dinghy dropping off a plane compared with a boat still ripping along means that jibe could be quite costly. The point is that each boat has its own matrix of maneuvers and its respective loss through the range of conditions. You need to know your boat’s matrix for this process to work. You don’t have to identify the trade-offs of maneuvers to a small fraction, but you should know within about a half-boatlength for all maneuvers in all conditions.

Unlike specific boathandling encounters that have a one-time loss—such as tacks and ducks—speed modes and dirty air have a continual loss over time. Pinching to hold your lane off the start might be a slow-burn loss of, say, four boatlengths per minute. If you need to hang in there for 30 seconds or so before you can tack into an open lane, that’s a loss of two boatlengths. Compare that against clearing out earlier into traffic that might require multiple ducks while weaving through a large pack. Waiting for 30 seconds in a tight lane at a loss of two boatlengths does not seem so bad if ducking a large pack or multiple boats costs you five.

Most leeward-mark decisions weigh the loss of going around outside the pinwheel versus the loss of slowing down and waiting to get in line. Slowing down is the right choice if you figure that doing so will cost you one boatlength, while going outside costs you three. The right answer is usually to slow down, but in a situation with a pile of boats jammed up, the outside route just might work. If you figure that it will cost you five boatlengths to stop while you wait for a large pack to round, going outside and losing only three lengths might be the least-loss move.

A windward-mark rounding has a different set of least-loss options. Getting on the layline early is a slow bleed. This needs to be compared to the loss of coming in late on port tack. Is tacking one minute out from the mark better than two extra tacks and some ducks right near the mark? If you expect to lose 10 boatlengths on a long starboard layline, the likely answer is yes. But it is risky, so you need to consider that too. I have found myself coming in late into an impossible situation and fouled, and I have also realized that there was no way in and had to duck 20 boats. High risk, high reward.

Letting people off the hook by waiving your rights is often the least-loss move. In a crossing situation when I am that starboard boat, I often hail the port tacker to cross and wave them through. Sure, I like to make friends by being courteous and letting them go, but it’s a selfish move. A duck will cost me maybe half a boatlength, and I expect that the sacrifice will likely be far better than having to do two tacks to clear, if they lee bow me. As a bonus, they just might return the favor later.

Boat-on-boat interaction is inevitable, and with each engagement, you lose distance to the fleet as a whole. You typically have options, but it’s not always immediately obvious which is best. It’s hard to give up your rights and duck a port tacker, slow way down at a leeward mark, or hang in there above a tough boat holding you high, but you need to understand your boat and have your strategy well in hand so that you can weigh your options and pick the one that is not as bad as the others. The right choice, of course, is the one with the least loss.

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The importance of comparing your performance to another competitor during a race is an underrated part of sailing a boat competitively. We hear a lot about having good onboard communication about what’s happening on the boat. While that’s true, it’s also important to communicate what’s happening outside the boat and what’s happening relative to your nearest competitors. So, let’s cover some techniques to improve this aspect of your next race. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on calling upwind relatives.

It’s best to start calling ­relatives as soon as possible after the start. This first few minutes is a critical boatspeed part of the race, and the sooner your team can get locked in, the better. Oftentimes, the teams that get their performance going the soonest after the start are the teams that emerge from the fray in the best position.

Once you start calling ­relatives, do so with confidence, announce that you are calling relatives, and identify who or which boat you are calling relatives against. For example, “I have us with (name of boat).” Knowing who you are gauging performance against is important.

On a boat with true wind direction displayed somewhere, announce that number. For example, I might say, “Starting wind direction is one-eight-five.” If the wind direction changes during the lineup, this will be valuable information to provide accurate comparisons.

If there’s no TWD displayed on your boat, or you don’t have instruments, you can use your compass heading instead and say something like, “Starting heading is one-four-six.” It’s not quite as accurate as TWD, but it’s better than nothing.

Always refer to your boat first. For example, I might say, “Higher, same speed.” To avoid any confusion, don’t refer to them first. If they are higher than you, state, “We are lower.” Be consistent and always use the same process, no mumbling. Remember, the goal is to let your teammates know how you’re doing.

Some examples of ­describing clear-cut VMG differences are “higher, faster,” “lower, slower,” and “same angle, same speed.” However, if the speed and angle are split, you will need to judge which VMG is superior. For example, I might say, “Higher, slower, VMG them,” or “lower, faster, VMG us,” or “higher, slower, VMG even.”

Accurately and confidently judging performance and VMG differences takes time and experience, so if you’re new to it, there is no time like the present to start practicing. And speaking of practice: A great opportunity to get in the rhythm of calling relatives is during your pre-race tuning-partner ­lineups. (Of course, you do that already, right?)

At the beginning of an upwind lineup, try this technique: Imagine you were to tack. Where would you end up? Would you be behind them? Would you cross them? Would you hit them at their mainsheet winch? Their front hatch? Start every relative performance call with this information. For example, I might say, “If we tacked right now, we would miss them by 6 meters.” One minute into the lineup, I might say, “If we tacked right now, we would hit them on their transom; we have gained 6 meters since the beginning of the test.” Another minute later, I might say, “If we tacked right now, we would hit them at their mast; we have gained one boatlength since the start of the test.”

If you are clearly outperforming a competitor above you, or if they are in a compromised position, make the announcement that you are switching relatives to another boat. For example, I might say, “(Name of boat) won’t live there for long, switching to (name of new boat or sail number).”

If there are no boats above you to call relatives with, announce you are going to hike instead. This lets your team know why you’ve gone silent. For example, I say, “No gauges above us; I am hiking.” Or take it a step further and challenge your teammates to hike even harder. I say, “No good gauges above; showing the young guys how to hike.”

Having been a pro sailor and coach for a long time, I’ve experienced my share of situations where a lack of calling relatives or poor calling in general leads to unwanted outcomes. To prevent this from ever ­happening on your boats, let’s run through a few common scenarios.

Silence is deadly

What happens: We start the race and nobody says anything.

The result: We come off the line in a low mode that is not optimal VMG. The boats above us are able to live in an otherwise compromised position all the way to the layline, which costs us a lot of places.

The fix: Identify immediately who you’re calling relatives against and make it clear how your team is going against them.

Head in the clouds

What happens: We don’t take note of the TWD or heading when we start the relative calls. We state we are losing a lot to the boat above us, oblivious to the fact that the wind has lifted us 15 degrees.

The result: We start changing settings, away from what we know, to try to improve based on the feedback, but we only perform worse and lose a lot.

The fix: Announce the TWD or heading when you start the relative calls. Then you can allow for TWD/heading changes in your analysis of performance. For example, “We are doing well against the boats above considering we’re in a 15-degree lift.”

Comms breakdown

What happens: We say, “They are lower.” The helmsman puts the bow up to sail a higher mode because he only hears the words “are lower” (the other words err out in the wind), and the helmsman and trimmers assume we are the lower boat.

The result: We sail too high and slow, and get rolled by the boat above us.

The fix: Always talk about your boat first, not the other. In this case, we were already higher and should have said, “We are higher.” Instead, by switching between us and them, we ­create confusion.

Stay on task

What happens: We aren’t going well, so we stop calling relatives.

The result: At a time when we need to be honest and identify there is an issue with our performance, we go quiet. Nothing is done to address our performance issue, and we go backward because of it.

The fix: No one wants to be the bearer of bad news or a Negative Nancy, but this is an important part of the race. Be consistent. Be honest. Keep the process the same, rain or shine.

Lost in translation

What happens: We say, “Higher, slower.”

The result: Our skipper responds, “Is that good or bad? Are we gaining or not?”

The fix: If the speed and angle are split, finish your call with whether that mode is a gain or a loss.

Attention deficit

What happens: After a very long lineup, you are unsure as to whether it has been a gain or a loss over all the changes that have come and gone.

The result: You don’t really know how you have gone over the long term and just make something up.

The fix: From the beginning of the lineup, announce where you would be if you tacked. Five minutes later, you will know how you have gone by checking in using the same method. Maybe you haven’t gone well in the last 30 seconds, but overall you have moved forward by two boatlengths.

Hang up and dial again

What happens: The boat above you has a poor start, and now they are in your quarter waves going even worse. You keep calling relatives on them because they are closest to you.

The result: Your team thinks they are going very well based off your calls. But the boat you are calling is compromised. The next boat up is outperforming you, and you have not identified that your team needs to change modes to match.

The fix: As soon as the boat you are calling relatives against is compromised or going really badly, look for the next boat above them to keep improving your mode.

Lost in space

What happens: All the boats above you tack away. There are no other nearby boats to call ­relatives against, so you go silent.

The result: Your skipper yells, “Please keep calling relatives!” and loses focus in the rage.

The fix: As soon as there are no boats above you to call relatives against, announce that fact. And hike your butt off.

The takeaway from all these scenarios should be that it’s critical to continuously call your relative performance against your competitors, and when you do so, be clear, confident, accurate and consistent. Doing all of the above will help relieve tension on the boat and improve performance. If there is no one left to call relatives against, hike hard and do the rest of your tasks well. Enjoy yourself. And don’t forget to call your mom or dad after racing to tell them how well you went. If anything, it’ll be the most important call of the day.

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Some tacticians like continual input, while others prefer a quiet boat, but the majority of tacticians at least like small amounts of accurate and timely information. In other words, provide the input only when appropriate. Before racing, and especially if you’re new to a team, always discuss the type of information the tactician wants to hear once, and follow these tips after the race is underway to make your input useful.

Sketching Out the Prestart

The tactician will certainly want to know if you spot a last-minute windshift. Indicators are if you notice that you are sailing deeper or higher up or down the line than you were before, or even watching another boat going head to wind or tacking. In a left shift (pin favored) it will take the boat longer to get to the start line. The inverse is also true if there is a right shift or if the boat end is favored. I’ll say something like, “Eyes out of the boat; looks like left shift; it will probably take a little longer to get to the line.” If possible, I’ll add whether it’s a small shift or a large shift.

Traffic is also important to communicate. During the last minute of a start, it is often hard to see everything and everyone. I will often report “shark” or “bogie.” A bogie is someone coming at us that we will have to deal with. Bogies are usually the biggest threat when there’s around two minutes to go and you’re sailing down the line on port. Sharks are boats approaching from behind, like a shark getting ready to bite. When you tack to starboard for the final approach, watch for both sharks and bogies.

The third bit of helpful prestart info can come in the last five seconds. This is where, in all likelihood, the bow person or someone else forward in the boat can let the tactician know if your boat is hidden from the race committee’s view. Sometimes this will let you get your nose poked out in a congested area. Be extra confident with this one, and remember your bow is poked forward of your line of sight. The consequences of getting this one wrong are costly. We only make this call if we are quite sure that boats above and below us are poked well forward and exposed.

Brushstrokes Around the Course

Immediately after the start, you’ll be looking to communicate boat-on-boat relatives. The driver and tactician are looking for comments like, “same speed, higher” or “same height, faster.” With these calls, the trimmers and helmsperson know they are in a good mode upwind. If they hear, “same speed, lower” or “slower, same height,” they know they need to make a change to keep up with the pack.

Where it gets tricky for the person calling the relative modes is when you say things like “faster, lower” or “slower, higher.” In these cases, the commenter must quickly evaluate the VMG and decide if it is a net gain or net loss and make that call. For example, if we are going upwind with a big gap to weather and I say, “Higher, slower, net gain,” the driver and trimmers know that it’s OK to be a little slower because our high pointing is letting us gain on boats around us. The rule of thumb is always talk about your boat when communicating relative speeds and angles. It’s best this information comes from someone in the proximity of the trimmer and tactician so the conversation can be quiet and not too distracting for the rest of the crew.

As we sail upwind, I like to let the tactician know where he is in relation to the laylines. This helps avoid getting too close to a layline from too far away. Many tacticians avoid the laylines early because once you arrive at a layline, your tactical options are limited. This communication also reminds the tactician to start looking at laylines when you’re closer to the mark. I refer to the laylines in percentages with whatever layline we’re headed at stated first. If we are directly downwind of the weather mark, I will say, “50‑50 on the course.” This means that there is equal time to spend on port and starboard before arriving at the weather mark. As we continue up the course on starboard, I’ll look upwind and perhaps say, “30-70.” The tactician will then know that he or she has 30 percent to go to the port layline or 70 percent to the starboard layline. Many tacticians will tack before getting within 10 percent to a layline when they are still far from the weather mark to take advantage of a windshift or leave room to tack back out if you get tacked on.

Calling puffs and lulls helps the tactician decide where to tack, but more importantly, it helps the trimmers and drivers. The trimmers can anticipate and adjust power in the sails, and the driver can pinch or foot slightly to keep the boat tracking properly at maximum VMG. “Short-lived puff in 3…2…1…” lets the driver and trimmers know that only a small change will be needed keep the heel angle the same and the boat sailing along properly. If they hear “more pressure consistently in 3…2…1…,” they will know that a more long-term setup will be required to keep the boat sailing optimally.

RELATED: Downwind Tactics For Planing Conditions

Calling chop and flat spots will help the tactician decide on where to tack as well, but equally important, the calls will help the helmsperson drive the boat. In a choppy section, you often need to foot, and you can really point in flat spots because there is less chop or waves to slow you down. We’ll use verbiage such as “chop in one boatlength,” or “chop continues” or “flat water for a bit.”

Lastly, in some areas, ­calling weed or kelp in the water is important. This can be a little complicated. I like when people keep these communications simple. “Up one, up five, down one, down five” are four of the only six calls I like when I’m driving. If I hear “one,” I know to turn a little; if I hear “five,” I know to turn a lot. I also like to know “clear,” meaning I can go back to driving normally. It can be important to know what mode you are in and where boats are around you. If there is a boat close to leeward, saying “down one” is probably bad when you could have said “up one.” Also, pay attention to boatspeed. Rarely should you say “up five” when the boatspeed is already low. The final two calls are “no lower” or “no higher.” This simply lets the driver know that he can stay on course as long as he doesn’t turn toward the debris.

As with upwind, calling puffs on the downwind leg is important. When soaking, the helmsperson and spinnaker trimmer can work together to make some gains. For ­example, if they know that a puff is coming, they can soak deep a little longer. Normally, after soaking deep, you have to head up to build speed. But if you know a puff is coming quickly, you can stay deep and let the puff help you accelerate rather than heading up and burning distance.

The tactician will likely want to know whether they are in clear air or not. This also helps the spinnaker trimmer. I will often call how many boatlengths of clean air we have. For example, I will say something like, “We have three lengths of clear air,” meaning there is bad air from a competitor three lengths behind us. Then later, if I say we have two lengths of clean air, everybody knows that we need to speed up or sail slightly higher to avoid bad air. Then if I say, “One boatlength of clear air,” the crew knows we are in danger of being rolled.

The rule of thumb is always talk about your boat when communicating relative speeds and angles.

Again, like upwind sailing, it helps to communicate relatives between boats. In some boats, such as the Etchells, the bow person can look behind and make these calls, almost becoming the boat-on-boat tactician themselves. If the trimmer, who is ideally talking to the driver about angles, hears “lower, slower, net gain,” they know their mode of sailing slower but lower is gaining on the competition and they can continue sailing in that mode. However, if they hear “lower, slower, net loss,” they know they need to change modes to achieve a better VMG. The tactician may be interested to hear “lower, slower, net even.” This means that you are simply sailing a different mode, but you are not gaining or losing overall. In this case, the tactician can decide how they want to sail for future positioning. The tactician may want to sail low and slow across someone’s bow so that after a jibe, they are again in clear air.

Last but not least, as you come into a leeward gate or finish line, the tactician can benefit from input on which end or mark is favored. Remember, it is OK not to have all the answers. However, even that should be communicated. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” It’s better than giving false information.

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As the sailing coach at Point Loma High School, I spend a lot of time talking to the team about crewing. I also crew almost exclusively in my role as a professional sailor, so between those two experiences, plus sharing information about crewing with other pro sailors, I’ve been able to boil down the essence of a great crew into three manageable parts. Keep in mind that these are “big ­picture” characteristics.

Let’s first start with mindset. In the morning, before you even get to the boat, you should be thinking: “I’m going to help out today in any way I can to help the boat and the team be as successful as possible. I’m going to work really hard; I’m going to have a great attitude; I’m going to show up early, stay late, and figure out how I can contribute all day long.” To do so, research what your job is going to be before you go sailing. Find out who’s in charge of the boat. Ask them what you’re going to be doing, when you’re going to be doing it, and the steps it takes, whether it’s trimming the sails, doing the bow, calling the time or whatever. And ask what you can bring—food, water, etc.

Next, show up early to help rig the boat. Showing up early allows you to check out the boat and see how everything works. And when the rest of the team shows up, you will feel more confident and in the know. Then work hard—help rig the sheets (or at the least offer to help), pull out the sails, and do whatever is necessary to help get the boat ready to leave the dock. While rigging, you can earn bonus points by being safety-conscious, looking around to make sure there’s no chafe on lines, missing ring dings, or anything that looks like it may break.

When it’s time to get the sails up, take great care in handling them. Gently flaking them out or unrolling them before attaching them to the boat is key and takes coordinated teamwork by two or more people. Taking great care with the main and jib is not only fast, preventing wrinkles and encouraging longevity, but it also shows the boat owner that you understand sails are expensive, like to win, and are grateful for the ­opportunity to be on the boat.

If you’re not sure what you’re doing while prepping the boat and putting it away at the end of the day, ask someone in charge or watch the veterans on the boat. Learn what they’re doing so you can offer to help them next time. Eager and attentive crewmembers are hard to find and always asked back.

The positive mindset used when preparing the boat for the day is even more important once on the water. I’ll never forget sailing in an alumni regatta with one of the best high school crew I’ve coached. I had noticed that anyone she sailed with did better at practice, and in that event, I found out why. She was always happy and positive, even after a tough race. At that event, we started with two great races, but the third wasn’t so special. But we passed a few boats before the finish. After the ­finish, it would be easy to be a little bummed out, but instead with a smile she said: “Great race, Steve! Way to pass four boats on the final downwind leg! That was awesome.” She kept the vibe in the boat so happy and positive that we went on to have some good races and won the regatta.

Sometimes a good mindset means keeping the mood light. An example of doing that at just the right time was when sailing with my buddy Erik Shampain. After I made a bad tactical call, and then we had a poor leeward mark rounding, the skipper and I digressed into a nonproductive discussion about past events. Although we didn’t notice it, that discussion was distracting us from sailing well. After a couple of minutes of this conversation, Erik, having had enough, interrupted us by saying, “Hey guys, hold on, I have a goldfish.” We both paused and with curiosity asked, “What?” He said, “Oh, I thought we were talking about stuff that doesn’t matter!” We quickly got his point, and we all started laughing.

With the mood lightened and our focus back on racing well in the moment, we went on to pass 20 boats and finished the race on a positive note.

Here’s another way to think of maintaining the mindset of helping out and contributing: The skipper often has the most pressure and typically has invested the most time and money into making everything happen. Their reputation is on the line, and they feel it. So, when I show up as a crew, I think, How can I help the skipper do really well? How can I help ease their stress and help them succeed? That’s my main focus. I use all the skills I have to do that: sailing skills, but also people skills by being positive and a psychologist, saying the right thing at the right time, and keeping the mood light. If you can do the same, you’ll be asked to come back—probably forever.

Now, let’s talk about skills. In small, two-person boats, your job may be pretty straightforward: trimming the jib and using your weight to keep the boat at the proper heel angle. On bigger boats, like Lightnings, J/24s and PHRF boats, you may be trimming, have other jobs, or a combo of both. You may be doing bow or simply calling the time in the pre-start. But regardless of what you’re sailing, knowing what you’re supposed to do and when to do it. By doing those jobs skillfully, you can add value to the team.

One skill that everyone needs to be aware of, and probably one of the most important, is weight placement. Moving your weight around to keep the boat at the proper heel angle is everyone’s job, and it’s critical for boatspeed. If you grew up racing dinghies, you’re probably tuned in to this already, but if not, be sure to ask the skipper or whoever is in charge on the boat where your weight should be at different points of sail.

Terry Hutchinson likes to remind his crew to “mind the boat.” In other words, pay attention to what the boat’s doing—its heel, its speed though the water, and how it feels. Tune in and let the boat tell you what it needs. At the end of the day, as Buddy Melges always says, we are presenting the boat to the wind, from the time the sails go up until they come down. Our job as crew is to affect its heel angle for optimal performance and trim the sails well while the skipper controls the angle the boat is to the wind. These three attributes determine our speed. Therefore, always be thinking about the boat, minding and paying attention to it, and feeling and listening to how it moves through the water. Try to get to the point where no one has to tell you to move.

An easy way to think of weight placement and how much you should be moving is to break it down into two conditions: telltale sailing, which is in light to medium air, and hiking conditions, which is when the boat is overpowered. When telltale sailing, the skipper mainly drives to the telltales, and it’s up to the crew to move around and keep the proper heel angle, hiking in puffs and scooting in during lulls. Once the wind is up, hike hard and let the skipper drive to the heel angle while the trimmers ease and trim sails. Knowing the difference between the two modes makes it easy to define your weight-movement goals. You’re basically asking, “Should I be moving around and paying attention to the wind and heel angle now, or should I just hike really hard?” Knowing the right time to do each is super important.

Another consideration while moving your weight is the view of the skipper. Top skipper Greg Fisher tells his crew: “Don’t sit in front of the TV.” For him, the TV is the telltales, the forestay and the waves. The skipper wants to see what’s coming, and they want to watch the telltales, so as you move in and out, don’t get in their way. When you scoot in, especially on a dinghy, you should slide in with your hips first, keeping your shoulders out and down so you don’t sit right in the skipper’s view. On keelboats, when you scoot in, you might lie backward to keep the skipper’s view open.

When you’re part of a well-oiled machine—maybe you’ve been sailing with the same ­people a while—you can get to the point where weight placement rarely has to be communicated; everyone understands what you’re searching for most of the time. With that said, it’s also something the skipper should talk about based on the feel of the tiller. If the skipper’s not doing it, ask: “Hey, how does the boat feel? Tell me what feels good, and I will try to keep it in the sweet spot for you.” And if you do that, the skipper will love you for it because you’re helping them make the boat feel right—and go fast. On larger boats with more crew, it’s best to have a skilled sailor call weight movements for the group so the whole team can move as one unit.

About that communication: Once you feel your skills are pretty good and you are doing your jobs on the boat well and at the right time, you can start to add more value by communicating. There is a lot you can say and, just as important, should not say at any given time. On ­bigger boats, it should be defined who should be talking and who should not. On smaller boats, the communication may fall on you, so knowing what to say and when is very important. If your job requires communication, follow this basic rule: Communicate what is important based on the current situation, and realize that the situation often changes.

For example, on the way out to the racecourse, the discussion might center on what sails you’re putting up. Then, while warming up on the course, the discussion is on boat setup and racecourse features. In the pre-start, it’s calling time and communicating threats coming during your final approach to the line. Once the race is underway and you’ve had a good start, the focus will likely be on boatspeed; if you’ve had a tough start, it will probably center on escape routes.

Let’s say we just started the race, had a clean start, and we’re going to sail straight for a while. Communication might focus on puffs and lulls, or our speed in relation to others. Then, later, after tacking onto port, the best communication may be ­identifying right-of-way starboard-tack boats. Once there are no more starboard threats and your lane opens up, the attention shifts back to the most important thing, which is simply to go fast for a while. Later in the beat, as you get close to the top mark, you may ask the skipper the downwind-leg plan, then shift into calling traffic to help get around the top mark clean, with no drama or fouls. That’s what I mean by communicating what’s most important at any given moment.

You may have heard that a fast boat is a quiet boat. Jimmy Spithill spoke to our high school sailors recently, and they asked him about communication. He said, “You want to be as concise as possible and convey ideas with as few words as possible at the right time.”

So, your job may be to be quiet in the pre‑start, or it may be to call the time, and you should do that really well. You should focus on being great at it. Ask the skipper or tactician, “How would you like me to call the time?” Is it every 15 seconds down to two minutes, then every 10 seconds down to one minute, and every five seconds down to 30 seconds, and then every second down to zero? Again, you’re communicating what’s important at that one moment in the race and working to be as concise as possible. Not overcommunicating during a race helps the skipper and tactician concentrate on making the boat go fast and making good decisions. And in Jimmy’s world, when you are foiling at 40 knots, things are happening so fast, there’s ­literally no time for long communications.

I heard one of the coolest tips for short and sweet comms while on a US Sailing team call. Tim Wadlow, a two-time 49er Olympian, mentioned his team had a communication for going straight. They just say “happy.” It comes from one of their favorite movies, Happy Gilmore. “If we’re ever in a situation where we’re in a big lane, sailing toward the mark, and we’re not thinking about tacking, our goal is just to go fast for a while. So, basically, we’re in our happy place,” Wadlow said. “So, we say ‘happy,’ which communicates that we’re going to focus on speed and heel angle, and simply go straight for a while.”

Knowing this, the crew can get low on the wire and fully focus on heel angle and sail trim—concise and in the moment. He also gave an example where they’ve just rounded the bottom mark, the lane’s kind of thin, and they’re pinching. “I’m thinking about tacking, but I’m not sure I need to yet, so I just say ‘looking.’ That one word lets the crew know not to get super low on the wire and be ready to tack because I’m looking around and considering bailing out.”

These two words convey a lot of meaning, and they mean something to the people on the boat. Come up with your own words for short and sweet comms, and have some fun with it.

In sum, know each step of your job and have a repeatable process that you follow every single time. If you do your job at the right time in harmony with everyone else, the sails will go up and down well, the heel angle will stay consistent, and the boat will go fast. Olympian Dave Hughes, who is one of the best crew in the world, says: “Be a student of the game. Ask questions, be curious, work hard, and you’ll always be invited back.”

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After two years of ­campaigning the Olympic 49erFX, I recently returned to the Laser Radial (now known as the ILCA 6), and my enthusiasm for speed was ripe on one day of training in Fort Lauderdale. With the breeze pumping at 18 knots, I trimmed the sail for the first lineup of the day, feeling the load in the deck and the power in my quads. Then, with a big smile on my face, I eased the mainsheet 5 feet or so and let the boat rip. It felt awesome until I heard my coach, Erik Bowers, yell at me from the RIB, “Erika, it’s not a skiff! The boat’s not going to take off. Bring it back up!”

As much as I was enjoying essentially reaching around, Bower’s reality check was a good reminder for me to recalibrate what we all call moding, which is sailing the best angle for the given wind strength. The top sailors know how and when to shift between three different modes: high mode, velocity made good (VMG) and low mode. Each mode has its unique features and applications on the racecourse, but the key to speed is to select the correct one at the right time, so let’s explore how.

On an upwind leg, consider your high mode as the closest angle you can sail to the wind without the luff of the sail starting to break. Your best indicators in this mode are the windward telltales dropping slightly and the leeward ones streaming straight back. This mode sacrifices some forward speed and is similar to walking a tightrope; you have to balance speed versus height, and the sea state is especially critical because one small error in sheeting or steering will make you “fall off the rope” immediately.

The VMG mode is defined as the quickest way to make distance toward the mark. In other words, this can also be thought of as the best average speed toward the mark. This mode is a bit more forgiving because its boundaries are somewhere between the high and low modes. Oftentimes, true VMG touches both modes as you sail upwind.

The low mode is just below your VMG angle and somewhere above tight reaching. Placing the boat in this mode increases the load in your sail(s) and hull appendages, thus increasing your overall boatspeed. However, if there’s too much force over the sails and the underwater foils, drag increases and your boatspeed drops. Finding a low-mode sweet spot is important because having the same speed but sailing a lower angle than another competitor on an upwind beat never ­produces a good outcome.

Understanding the ­limitations of each mode is critical, but knowing when to exploit specific modes in different wind strengths is how the best sailors win the boatspeed race. For example, in light air, a high mode always trumps a low mode because sailing a lower angle doesn’t create fast-forward speed toward the mark. Thus, in underpowered conditions, the objective is to go the same speed and higher than other boats. When the wind increases in velocity, the challenge becomes finding the shifting point from forward speed in a low mode to optimal VMG. How to get to this point is different for every boat in different wind strengths and sea states. In the ILCA 6, for example, the transition to a low mode becomes favorable at about 13 knots. At this wind strength, the boat is able to pick up enough speed to overcome the benefits of a high mode. In the 49erFX, this crossover happens much lower in the wind range. At around 8 knots, or when both skipper and crew are fully trapping, the skiff wants to take off and tap into apparent wind sailing. During 49erFX races, it’s easy to identify boats stuck in a high mode off the starting line as they immediately drop back because the speed difference between high and low modes is colossal. In this case, the low mode produces the optimal height toward the mark without sacrificing speed.

Races are most often sailed in transitional wind strengths. On a single upwind beat, there can be moments where the high mode is the dominant VMG, and then a 1- to 2-knot puff causes the low mode to take command. The skill is realizing the subtle change in wind strength and instantly adjusting your mode while considering your tactics. A good rule of thumb is that your high mode will be your best VMG until your low mode becomes significant enough to be a real boatspeed weapon. For example, if you’re able to put the bow down to then promptly tack and get a cross in, the low mode becomes the best VMG to the weather mark.

Using relatives from other boats to check in with your mode selection during a race is extremely helpful for deciding which mode to maintain. The sailors on top of the results page have their mode selection dialed in. Though practicing these nuances before an event is great, the best VMG angle for a race can easily be determined during the pre-start. Going upwind and teasing the extremes of each mode only takes a few minutes, and testing what you find against another boat will confirm or deny your hunch. No matter what, establish a feel for the limitations of each mode. Once you have a good feel for them, find your room to play.

The post How to Find Your Speed Mode appeared first on Sailing World.

Sailing World contributor Mike Ingham explains the tactical nuances of ducking as well as the basic techniques of a fast duck.

The post The Tactics and Technique of a Duck appeared first on Sailing World.

Anytime the wind picks up enough that we get to plane downwind, there’s huge opportunity to make gains. When boats start to plane, differences in speed between a fast and a slow boat could be in excess of 4 knots, or 6 feet per second. In other words, you could gain or lose 300 feet in less than a minute. Therefore, it is important to have in mind the following priorities when planing conditions are in play.

1. Set yourself up for a clean hoist and exit at the weather mark

Mark roundings are where the most gains or losses happen. When you get tangled up with another boat, it’s easy to get stuck sailing below target speed while other boats are planing away at full speed. It is, therefore, important to anticipate the exit and have this conversation with my team (or yourself, if you’re sailing a singlehander) in the last third of the upwind leg. Ask yourself the following questions: Is the top mark going to be busy with traffic, or is the fleet spread out? What’s happening on this upwind beat and what side of the downwind is priority to defend? Is jibe setting an option? It could very well be that a jibe-set will keep you on the favored side of the downwind leg, but also think about staying in clear breeze and how far there wind shadow extends, especially if there’s a long offset leg. Sailing across a long wind shadow might be too big of a price to pay, so assess these factors, make a clear exit plan, and execute it successfully.

If it’s going to be a straight set, look around while you’re on the offset leg. If there’s space and you are not overlapped with boats around you, a clean bear-away and hoisting the kite at a low angle will work. If you are overlapped with boats to windward as you round the weather mark, delay the hoist if necessary and continue sailing on a broad reach across the offset leg. The key here is to make sure the boats to windward are not going to roll you before bearing away. As the leeward boat, you will decide when to put the kite up!

If you’re overlapped with boats to leeward, or if there is a big pack close ahead, holding a high-lane hoist becomes super powerful. I call it the high-road set. Hold for a few seconds and set yourself up to windward of these boats, this becomes very powerful when straight setting and holding a lane is the only option. Boats ahead of you that set early will have a difficult time trying to head up to get to your lane and any little gust of wind will favor this higher lane, allowing you to sail fast all the time.

If the goal is to jibe set or jibe early, make sure you are not overlapped with boats inside you as you round the weather mark. It will be a priority on the offset leg to break this overlap (either by rolling over the top of the boats to leeward or slowing down to let them get ahead in front of you but not overlapped). This will allow you to have the option to jibe at the mark or beat them to the jibe later on the run.

2. Always anticipate the next move

Think ahead because things happen fast at the top of the run and you should always remind yourself about what is coming next. Ask yourself: When are we going to jibe next? Do we want to lead this jibe, or wait and go to the layline? Keep in mind that maneuvers at high speeds are usually costly. So, jibing a few times down the middle of the course does not pay in most cases.

3. Be very confident with your layline judgement

For any boat I sail, I like to pick my references for laylines for each true windspeed. It is important to do this during training. In planing conditions, knowing exactly where the layline is will be crucial. You can use parts of the boat to determine this exit angle. I usually eyeball the downwind mark and try to align it with some part of the boat. For example, if the mark is aligned with the lower shroud in planing conditions, I know the layline is imminent. Make sure you always call the layline from the same exact position onboard so references are trustworthy. A good way to refresh this is by doing this exercise before the start, or on the way to the racecourse when going downwind. Use the race committee boat, a channel marker or any other fixed object as a mark to judge your layline call before the race starts. It is surprising the amount of boats that will fail to judge this correctly, opening up huge passing opportunities, especially at the bottom of the downwind leg.

4. Prioritize pressure over shift

If you want to plane, you’re looking for dark-water spots, so the goal is always to pick a good lane and make sure you jibe into dark spots. On gusty days, a good trick to know when to jibe to stay in pressure is by eyeballing your exit angle on the opposite jibe. Will there be dark water there? Maybe waiting to jibe another 30 seconds will keep you in more wind for longer.

5. Set yourself up to plane into the weather mark

Just like at the upwind mark, the same concepts apply when rounding a gate or a leeward mark. Again, assess the situation based on traffic around you, clean breeze and wind pressure. If you’re planing, which is the goal, you want be able to hold that speed for as long as possible. So, often it’s better to take the less favored gate mark as long as it keeps you in clean wind, clear of wind shadows, and in less traffic, which will allow for a better rounding in more wind, getting your team to upwind target speed in a shorter time.

About Carlos Robles

Robles, Born in Barcelona, Spain in 1995 is a 27-year-old sailor based in the USA. Son of a Spanish father and a Brazilian mother, Carlos was introduced to sailing at age 5 by his dad in their 30 foot family boat. From being part of the Spanish Sailing Team since the age of 9 and later on the Brazilian Olympic team, the passion to become a re-known professional sailor was always his primary focus. At his young age Carlos’s resume includes three World Championships and a European Championship in the 29er class and an Olympic Campaign in the 49er class representing Brazil, where he became North American Champion in 2016. Since transitioning into professional sailing in late 2019, Carlos is already a two-time North American Champion and European Silver Medalist in the J7/0 class, he finished second at the Melges 24 World Championships this year and second again at the J/111 North Americans. He also enjoys going offshore in bigger teams, racing around Europe in 2021 in the Volvo 65 class and finishing second at the Newport to Bermuda Race in the Pac 52 class this year. You can find him at @carlosrobleslorente and on Facebook as Carlos Robles.

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