After the mark

Whenever I read an article about downwind sailing it always starts with some ridiculous sentence about how the windward mark is not the time to break out the sammys and crack open a beer. Really, can you imagine that
some people need to be reminded. So I won't start this discussion in the usual manor.... Oh... I guess I already did.

Successful downwind tactics are much more subtle than they appear. But it is the first part of the leg that is most critical.

The windward mark is one of three places where your fortunes can change rapidly. The two other places are the start and the leeward mark. The race course narrows in these places and then expands rapidly. During these periods of rapid expansion opportunity is available. So lets take a careful look at what happens as you turn the corner. First of all there are two
choices. Stay on starboard gibe, or turn left to gibe. All things being even there is an advantage to not gibing right away. This is because the starboard layline is usually cluttered and therefore gibing means you would have to sail through a period of disturbed air. This effect is magnified when there is an offset mark because there will be more boats on starboard tack and the disturbed air zone will be wider. There will also be shift to the left
within the zone. The Coriolis effect causes this, but trust me there will be a left shift.

Rounding a crowded windward mark with an offset, and gibing right away, will leave you with almost no wind and lifted ... not a pretty picture. You also won't have the option to gibe back because that will put you directly to leeward of the boats rounding the offset. In the mean time the boats who
rounded behind you will be screaming toward the mark with plenty of wind and a better angle. I wish I could tell you that I didn't learn this the hard way, but that wouldn't be truthful.

There can be a lot of temptation to gibe right at the offset. As boats file around the mark they all want clear air. As the boats with clearer air gain on the boats ahead the whole pack tends to sail higher and higher angles as everyone searches for clean air. Since no-one wants to sail higher than they have to, the temptation to gibe grows. Eventually the lead boats will get far
enough away from the dead air zone where they feel that they can gibe away from the pack and sail a proper angle towards the leeward mark.
However, if they wait too long the boats behind can gibe first and then they will have lost the option to get back to the middle of the race course.

Another complication is that whenever they do gibe they will be at the mercy of any starboard boats they can't cross.

I can't count how many times I have heard people complain " we were right next to XXXX at the mark, but..." Unfortunately, we don't give credit to how close we came. The trick is knowing how the game is played and what the high percentage moves are.

Good Luck and feel free to make any comments.

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* Geoff Moore *
* Shore Sails Ltd *
* 7 Merton Road *
* Newport, RI 02840 *
* 401-849-7700 *
* fax 401-849-7952 *
* gmoore@shoresails.com *
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