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RoundTheBow View Drop Down
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Posts: 15 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RoundTheBow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: 'racecraft' tips
    Posted: 28 Jun 15 at 12:10pm
A while back I remember watching Sir Chris Hoy explaining how his switch to car racing isn't as silly as it looks as he re-uses a lot of the 'rcecraft' techniques from cycle racing.

It's taken me a long time to get my boat up to speed. Finally seem to have got there this season after refitting almost everything, asking everybody for tips and nosing around other people's boats.

Now I'm further up the fleet, I notice a distinct lack of expereince in terms of getting around the course quickly in the presence of lots of other boats. Aka 'racecraft'.

Examples:
* thinking about which boats you're going to slot in between at the next mark, as you are rounding the current mark
* when it pays to go round the outside of a mark
* when you should be cutting in and trying to go round the inside (e.g. gybe mark) - or OK to round outside (e.g. leeward mark)
* boats that you can take on vs ones you can't (e.g. anything with an unstayed rig that can be on starboard seemingly in any wind direction)
* when to slow the boat down by sheeting in - to stay on someone's transom
* avoiding trying to slot in between two boats on a run - they'll close you out
* generally looking around and prediciting as far ahead as possible where everyone will be and how to avoid them and stay in clear air

The starts have been a little more simple to get vaguely right, the key there is just to make sure you're in the viscinity of the line when the gun goes off.

Anyway - any more 'racecraft' tips welcome...
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Woodburner View Drop Down
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Posts: 332 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Woodburner Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 15 at 4:40pm
What you're talking about is called tactics, there are basically two key functions to racing, one making sure the boat sails as fast as it is possible to sail it, then sailing the shortest possible course around the marks.

As to other boats, they are a secondary issue, you're not there to sail at their convenience, they are obstacles so you need to learn the rights of way rules, if you are forced to come into contact with them learn what tactical measures and physical properties your boat has that will impede their progress whilst enhancing your own, but the best thing, is to avoid them and focus on the marks, making sure you have an inside line for roundings and that the wind shift you are on is always the one taking you closest to the next mark.
Read books, like that Eric Twinames start to win, excellent book even in this day and age. There's a guy who posts on here now and again, Clive Ephlet, he's written a book within which most of your questions will no doubt be answered. link here


Edited by Woodburner - 28 Jun 15 at 4:45pm
Foil fun
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Posts: 8956 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 15 at 10:12am
Amazing. I was, as usual, looking for things to disagree with in a post from grumph, and can find nothing. Nothing really to add, either. Just read those books, and any others you can find. Then go sailing. A lot. What you read in the books, look for on the water. Act on it. Most who read the books, don't, so you'll quickly get ahead of them.
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RoundTheBow View Drop Down
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Posts: 15 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RoundTheBow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 15 at 1:42pm
Thanks chaps :)
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Mike Holt View Drop Down
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Posts: 58 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Mike Holt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 15 at 10:53pm
A couple of easy tips to remember, in wide out tight on mark roundings. Have a plan for the race before you start.
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Alistair426 View Drop Down
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Posts: 201 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Alistair426 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 15 at 10:41am
Originally posted by Mike Holt

Have a plan for the race before you start.
...and stick to it! The number of times I've got the first beat right in my head before the start and got pushed the wrong way and not fought my way towards my intended side. That's why you will often see top helms ducking lots of transoms to get to where they want to go after an average start.
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Posts: 8956 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 15 at 11:05am
Learn to use a compass when sailing on the sea. I haven't, and the lack of landmarks means I'm pretty much blind when it comes to picking the correct side upwind. 
Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686
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JimC View Drop Down
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Posts: 6661 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 15 at 11:05am
Originally posted by Alistair426


Originally posted by Mike Holt

Have a plan for the race before you start.
...and stick to it!

Hmm. Von Moltke's maxim springs to mind. If you stick rigidly to your plan you may well be beaten by those who successfully modify theirs according to what actually unfolds on the course.
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Alistair426 View Drop Down
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Posts: 201 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Alistair426 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 15 at 11:12am
And the first rule of warfare is that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. However, 'got to head out of the tide' or 'noticed a wind bend when we sailed the beat before the start' are fairly fundamental.
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Posts: 8956 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 15 at 11:14am
I suppose the trick is to know when the plan is being modified without your consent (ie, you are being dictated to by others) and when you need to modify the plan yourself to improve your chances. 
Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686
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