File - Canadian Wayfarer Association

4.3 What not to do: how to lose a sailboat race 46
The Start:
1 Do not find which end is favoured. Give the other boats a two or three boat length lead
at the start! To find the favoured end, sail on a reach to the pin end of the line and head
straight to windward outside the pin. While sitting head to wind, sight across the pin
toward the committee boat. If the boat is forward of abeam, the boat end is favored.
2 Do not hoist the spinnaker before the start to make sure it is rigged properly. You were
embarrassed to beat everyone to the first mark anyway and you want them to drive over
you on the first reach so that you can try to play catch up. Run the spi up and down at
least once before the start. Then store it on the port side so that you can fly it on the
first reach of a buoys to port course with no twisted lines, missing pole, etc.
3 Do not time the line. You may be forced onto the line early and have to reach down the
line. If you do not have enough space to reach down the line, you will have to jibe around
and go off on port below the whole fleet. Instant last! Sail from the committee boat to
the pin, noting the time required. This will usually not change during the starting
sequence.
4 ander away from the line in light air. It may take you two or three minutes to get back to
the line if there is no breeze. By now the rest of the boats are gone. In light weather,
never be more than 50’ or so from the line, preferably close to the favoured end. Be
luffing in the right area with about one minute to go. No one can move you if you are not
moving very fast and on starboard tack near head to wind.
5 Do not know how long it takes to get from where you are to the line. Guarantee that you
will be early or late. Get a feel for how fast your boat accelerates from a luffing
condition and know how long it will take to get to the line from where you are luffing. You
can practice this at the committee boat early in the pre-start manoeuvres. Many good
sailors hold such a position and accelerate to the line with just 5 seconds left;
6 Start at the port end of the line on starboard tack. If the fleet is headed after the
start, you are ahead but sailing in the wrong direction and will get to tack last. If the
fleet is lifted, the rest of the fleet is ahead of you; Find a way to start somewhere in
the right-hand 25% of the fleet. This will allow you some freedom to move up the centre
of the course
7 Be going slowly as you cross the line. Give everyone else a nice feeling while they grind
over you as they cross the line. Instant second row start. Eat bad air for half the first
leg. Make sure your boat is moving at or near top speed as you come across the line. Luff
up before the start to get some room below you so that you can reach off a bit to get
some speed up. Go for speed over pointing at the start. Once it is safe to do so, you can
shift into pointing mode.
First Beat:
1 Stay on starboard and go left. Guarantee that every boat you meet after you tack back
will have the right of way. Three or four ducked transoms and you are now three of four
boat lengths behind the leaders. Tack to port when the wind is right and the opportunity
presents itself. If everything else is equal, favour the right side of the course. When you
meet boats as you come back into the middle, you can force them left or tack on top of
them. Either way, the odds are in your favour.
46 Earl Schnur USWA Chief Measurer and WIC representative, March 1995 Whiffle & UKWA
News #77/Spring 1998, ed. note: What you should only do if you want to lose the race is shown
in italics. The winner’s approach is shown in regular ‘print’
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