Put these factors in order ....

For me, it keeps coming back to boatspeed. The best tactical sailor in the world won't win races if his speed is poor, cos everyone will just run away and refuse to play! Try covering tactics when the boat you want to cover is faster than you, and therefore ahead of you.

I don't honestly think it makes any difference whether we are talking about the front, middle or back of the fleet. The priorities are the same, and speed is king.

OT - you know my thoughts on rig tweaking. If it's not right, do something about it! However fast you may be, if the boat under you is not working you have to fix it. Otherwise you might as well tie off all controls on shore and just sail. Doesn't sound much fun to me!

Neil

A bad tack looses 150m a good one does not. 

Handy that Starboard was lifting. 

But as I said, the "slightly slower boat" is better than the rest of the fleet so they will be starting to windward (you forgot to mention that bit) so they will know that the shift is coming, be at the right side of the line and get the best of the shift.  The others are desperate for clear air and foot off after being beaten at the start and just make their position worse as there is a port shift coming.  As they have control of the fleet, they get to tack first when the port favored shift comes and so gain a little more;  The shifts are fairly large so they are gaining on each tack (their tacking is also better as this is more important); they round 200m ahead.

Pop the kite quickly (better boat handling) and then spot a good header (they are better at tacktics and condition spotting) and belt off down the run (they are now 300m ahead).  Further down they spot another gust and lift coming down the course so they gybe (quickly) onto what will become a header (good down wind) and gain another 50m in the gybe; extra pressue gains them 4kts speed and they are also sailing lower than the rest of the fleet. 

They round the mark 500m ahead and don't tack as they spot a lift coming which is good for them and bad for the rest of the fleet as they are not around the mark yet and are now being pushed high.  Up the next beat the wind is unstable and shifting every few minutes (enough to make it wrth tacking on each shift) so they are gaining on each of the 10 tacks they make, 30M on each tack; they are no doing a horizon job and are  800m ahead!!!!

Remember we are talking about small speed differences here.  If someone has a 5% jump in boat speed on the fleet, they then can just sail away !

Indeed. Even the 1% difference Bruce is talking about is a massive boatspeed advantage in the classes I've sailed lately. A 1% boatspeed advantage just isn't there to be had. In some of the offshore classes where you continue on the same tack for long periods, it isn't unusual to sail for 30-40 miles and only gain or lose a boatlength or two. Owners will pay large amounts of money to change boats to save 0.1% percent on their handicap.

The last Fastnet I did in Sigma/38s, after 600 miles and four days of racing, four of the class (us included) finished within a couple of minutes. That is how small the boatspeed differences are in some classes.  

These issues are quite troubling in a single handed boat ...

Singlehanded sailors are split into to groups, those who would be crews and those who would be helms.

Crews in singlehanded boats are the ones that shout and swear at themselves for getting the tack wrong.

The helms are the ones who wait patiently for themselves to finish what they are doing and then queitly berate themselves at an almost inaudible volume for failing to predict what they wanted to do, then they check for weed on the rudder.