That Extra 2-3%

Perhaps due to my choice of boats in the past and the waters they've been sailed on, I've become pretty good at getting boat speed. Upwind I can shoot the shifts and oscillations and generally can make places up upwind. My biggest weakness is downwind. Now on small inland venues this is less of a problem due to short legs forcing the route to the next mark, and at tidal venues you tend to find one or possibly two lanes, but on medium/large lakes I start losing the plot. I observed this painfully at the Grad nationals where I was almost always ahead of the eventual winners at the windward mark, but downwind they spotted the pressure often sailing way off the rhum line to get there and then stay in it, only to then pop up infront of everyone at the leeward mark. It's easy to see this as a boat speed advantage but in reality it's simply down to positioning, and clearly many of the fleet, me included either can't see the optimum course to steer to stay in pressure or we are just too nervous of ballsing it up and dropping even further down the running order. It's certainly an area I will be focusing on this year meaning I might have to get to some other venues.

Originally posted by Sam.Spoons Good point, I guess as you fall further behind you also fall into cleaner wind ;) so "last is fast?"

Good point, I guess as you fall further behind you also fall into cleaner wind ;) so "last is fast?"

Originally posted by Sam.Spoons So it's just like the first 97-98%, sail faster, in the right direction and make fewer mistakes than the next guy and Robert is your relative :) I s'pose the difference between first and halfway down the fleet at the Olympics is 2-3% and at the club, probably 20-30% or more. Though, I have to say they do seem to be just as spread out crossing the finish line at the Olympics as they do at a typical open meeting. I guess the races are usually longer mind you.

Many years ago when called upon to give lectures on this stuff, I used to use the analogy of ball bearings and a funnel which is what we are, all trying to be first into the hole. So what is it that makes that first ball bearing enter the hole, and basically it gets down to very very small variations, when you're at a very high level I would say it's less than a 1% error and that depends on when you make the error. Another thing I used to point out, in a fleet of a hundred board/boats, instantly the gun goes the fleet divides into three, then it does it again a few more yards out due to the wind bent through the sails causing lee bow and covering.

So make a 1 second mistake in the first second and you risk losing 60 places instantly, you can make a second mistake later on and it cost you nothing, you could dry capsize near the top mark and you might only lose a couple of places.
We all know they who win most make the least mistakes and if they do make them, they make them when it doesn't matter as much or have the ability to correct them quicker or have other tricks up their sleeves than not many folk know about.

On the sea with big fleets I often postulated that given air is disturbed for five times the height of any obstacle in front of that obstacle it therefore follows that the wind is disturbed ahead of us on the start line for thirty metres or so (5 x mast height) so, it is imperative to get out to the side as soon as possible until the fleet breaks up, which was another reason the starboard end and right was always the favourite if no other more obvious tactical choice were about. A small consideration, not one I've ever seen written elsewhere but a fact nonetheless and just another of the many variables that make everything so damned interesting.

So it's just like the first 97-98%, sail faster, in the right direction and make fewer mistakes than the next guy and Robert is your relative :)

Edited by Sam.Spoons - 15 Feb 17 at 6:50pm