Continuation of Racing to Win by Steve Milby
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Develop a Plan

Whenever you round a mark and establish your course toward the next mark, observe all the indicators available to you, and develop a plan (which, of course, you might have to discard, if the plan doesn't work.) Watch the boats ahead of you, and see if any of them are being lifted or headed by a wind shift, or if they are encountering a significant change in wind strength. If they are, then plan your course so that you make the most of the conditions. For example, when the reaching mark is set close to shore, boats will sometimes be either lifted or headed as they get close to the mark. If you see that other boats are being headed off to leeward of the mark as they get close to it, then adjust your course closer to windward, aiming high of the mark, so that, when you get headed, you will still be able to fetch the mark without tacking. 
A lot of racers sail the entire course without a plan. They react to what they encounter. Every time you round a mark, you should quickly develop a plan for the next leg of the course. Ask yourself, “What objective do I want to accomplish on this leg of the course, and how can I accomplish it?” If I am in the lead, my objective is to stay there, and perhaps increase my lead. If I am behind, my objective is usually to overtake one or two boats. If you establish little, achievable objectives on each leg of the course, you will improve your chances of achieving your main goal of crossing the finish line ahead of your opponents.
In developing a plan, think about: (1) what course you can take between this mark and the next one that will get you there in the shortest amount of time; (A straight line is not necessarily the fastest course.) (2) what wind conditions and wind shifts you are likely to encounter on the next leg of the course; (3) how you can overtake the boat(s) ahead of you; (4) how you can prevent the boats behind you from overtaking you; (5) how you can keep your air clear; and (6) how you can get into a puff more quickly than the other boats, and stay in it longer, and use it to gain the maximum progress toward your destination.

Know Your Competition

In devising your plan, one of the first and most important things that you must do is to identify which boats represent a significant threat to you, and which do not. If you sail equal to, or better than, your handicap, then all of your opponents must sail better than their handicap in order to beat you. If you are racing against members of your own club, you soon learn which of them are ordinarily capable of beating you, and which are not. Although you must be aware of the position of every boat in the race, you should only use the most aggressive tactics against the boats that have a chance of beating you. You should not waste time taking a boat to windward, or lee bowing it, or slam dunking it, or blanketing its sails, if it is incapable of beating you. While you are wasting time gratuitously impeding a boat that cannot beat you, you are permitting a boat than can beat you to catch you, or to gain time and distance on you. You must identify the opponents who can beat you, and you must focus your attention on their boats. You must maintain a large lead over slower boats that are allowed more handicap time than yours. You must stay in front of any boats that have a handicap approximately equal to yours. You must impede faster, well-sailed boats that are allowed less handicap time than yours. If you are going to impede a boat that is faster than yours, you have to do it early in the race, because after it draws ahead of you, you will not get close enough to impede it. If you can force a fast boat to tack at the starting line, or shortly thereafter, you will add to the amount of elapsed time that it takes for him to sail the course, and make it more difficult for him to make up his handicap.

When a plan works, you usually gain a lot, but when it fails, you are seldom penalized for having tried it.

Starting the Race

The Vanderbilt Start

There are a number of different techniques for starting a race. Most good racers favor using the timed Vanderbilt start, because it is fairly easy to learn and it brings you to the starting line with speed. The Vanderbilt start is based on the fact that a sailboat goes the same speed on a broad reach as it does when close-hauled. Therefore, if you broad reach away from the starting line for one minute, and tack 180 degrees, it will take you one minute to return to the starting line on a close-hauled course. (You must add 10-20 seconds to the timed run, to allow for the time it takes you to tack 180 degrees.) The problem with the Vanderbilt start is that only one boat can use it to win the start in any given race, and, if another boat tries to use the Vanderbilt start, it is often squeezed out at the starting line. 

In most races, there is at least one racer who is fairly skilled at using the Vanderbilt start, but you rarely find a racer who can consistently execute it with perfection, because there are too many factors that can interfere with his timing, including interaction with other boats, wind shifts, puffs and lulls, and just plain misjudgments.

Ideally, at the precise instant when the gun goes off signaling the start of a yacht race, your boat should (1) cross the starting line, (2) at full speed, (3) at the favored end of the starting line, and (4) so close to the starting mark as to foreclose a competitor from passing between you and the starting mark. It is important to understand that it is very difficult to steer the boat and to time the start of a yacht race so that you perfectly achieve all four of those objectives. I operate on the assumption that, in most races, none of the other boats will accomplish all four objectives perfectly.

When I see another racer using the Vanderbilt start, I have to decide whether I should also use the same type of start, or a different type of start. If two racers use the Vanderbilt start, one is often the victor, and the other is often vanquished. Moreover, if two racers are using the Vanderbilt start, then the two boats will have to engage in America's Cup-type maneuvers before the start, to see which one will get in the controlling position. When they do so, the direction and timing of their approach might be off. Often, I will see two or three boats approaching the line, all using the Vanderbilt start, and all yelling at each other and fighting for position. I know they are not likely to hit the line perfectly, because all that fuss messes up their timing and causes them to vary from their course. That is bound to open up an opportunity for me to slip through, if I am in a position to take advantage of it. If nobody else is using the Vanderbilt start with skill, then I might use it. But, usually somebody else is using it with reasonable skill. That's when I think my starting strategy is helpful. I think it is a good, aggressive way to attack someone who is using the Vanderbilt start.

I prefer to allow the other racer to use the Vanderbilt start, trusting that he will not consistently and perfectly achieve all four of the above objectives in every race.

Yacht races are never won, and are seldom lost, at the start. No matter how good a start you might achieve, you must out-sail the other boats on the racecourse, after the start, in order to win the race. Likewise, if your start is less than perfect, you will have many opportunities to make up for it on the racecourse. Therefore, my principal concern at the start is to get a good start (not necessarily the best start), with clear air, and to avoid fouling any other boat. I have found a technique that enables me to consistently cross the starting line at the gun, with good speed, and to be in a commanding position for the first leg of the race. For reasons that will become apparent, I will call it the “Ad Lib” start. 

The Ad Lib Start

When the starboard end of the starting line is favored, I try to position my boat so that, at about forty-five seconds before the starting gun, she is to starboard of the committee boat, on a starboard-tack beam reach, on a heading that is approximately parallel to the starting line. If we are a little too early, we can “lay to,” (completely ease the jib and main sheets, allowing both sails to flutter) to kill a little time. If we are much too early, we can head straight up into the wind, on the starboard side of the committee boat, and then dive down below the committee boat to find an opening. Be careful that you don’t put yourself in irons. (See “Putting On The Brakes,” below.) From this position, you are poised to initiate your starting run, after going through the following thought processes.

My strategy is to quickly evaluate the positions of all the other boats as they approach the starting line, to determine which one of those boats is the closest to meeting all four of the objectives listed above, and to put my boat in a position so that I can take advantage of any imperfection in the approach of that one boat. Then I pay only peripheral attention to all the other boats, and focus my attention on that one boat. If I can beat that one boat across the starting line, or maneuver my boat into a more favorable position, I will have the best start. If that boat beats me, then the likelihood is that I will still have the second or third best start.

Usually, the other boat will not achieve all of those objectives. It might hit the line too early or too late, or, it might not be up to speed yet, or, it might be more than a boat’s width to leeward of the starting mark as it passes it. If the other boat is late in getting to the line, then I dive in ahead of it. If the other boat is early in getting to the line, I duck in behind it, knowing that it will be forced to fall off and run down the starting line to avoid going over early. (When the other boat falls off and runs down the starting line, that leaves a clear pathway for my boat to close-reach for the line.) If the other boat doesn’t pass closely enough to the starting mark, then I sail between the other boat and the mark. 

Sometimes, the boat upon which you have focused will be forced to alter course, or to go over the line early, and that might require you to quickly modify your plan. You might duck below the other boat, or you might tack for clear air. This approach requires quick thinking and decisive action, because opportunities appear and fade very quickly during the start of a race. You need to quickly devise a plan, you need the courage to adhere to your plan until it appears that it is not working, you need to be flexible enough to quickly revise your plan, and you need to ensure that you always have a viable escape route, in case your plan fails, as it surely will from-time-to-time.

Let me describe a recent example of my starting technique. A Hobie 33 using the Vanderbilt start was approaching the starting line at full speed, near the pin at the committee boat end. His track was far enough to leeward of the pin that I thought I had a chance to get through it. If he held his course, he would probably hit the line right at the starting horn. I started to accelerate and head for the opening. When we were about 2 boat lengths from the line, the Hobie hailed me and came up to windward, to try to squeeze me out at the pin. At that time, my bow overlapped his stern by about 5 feet. I put on the brakes and steered up into the wind briefly, and his stern pulled clear of my bow. But, when the Hobie came up to squeeze me out, it threw off his timing and he closed on the starting line more quickly than he had planned. He hit the line early by a couple of seconds, so he had to fall off down the line to avoid going over early. When he fell off down the line, the gap re-opened between the Hobie and the pin at the committee boat end of the line, and I steered back into the gap and started to accelerate again. I hit the line at the starting horn, in the most windward position, at good speed, with my sails trimmed close hauled. The Hobie was a boat length to leeward of me, and he had to harden up to windward 45 degrees and start accelerating after the starting horn. All the other boats started to leeward of us.

My starting technique has no name, but I call it the “Ad Lib” start, because, although I have a general plan, I don’t decide on my specific moves until I see my competitors approaching the line. Until about one minute before the start, my “plan” is simply to position my boat near the favored end of the starting line, and to keep her at a sufficient speed as to enable her to quickly accelerate or decelerate, and to keep her highly maneuverable. After I see the flaws in the approach of the one boat that is making the best starting run, then I decide upon my final approach. By using the Ad Lib start, it is usually rather easy to achieve the second-best start, and, if you are satisfied with that, then it does not cause you great anxiety to know that you have not yet decided on a specific starting approach until just before the starting horn. If you are fortunate enough to win the start, that makes it even better. 

The Vanderbilt start makes for a very fast start, and, if none of the other racers are using the Vanderbilt start effectively, then I would use it in preference to the Ad Lib start. When a boat is using the Vanderbilt start, its course and speed are fairly predictable. The Ad Lib start works best against an opponent who is using the Vanderbilt start, because the predictability of the course and speed of the Vanderbilt starter makes it easier to see any flaws in its starting run.

If the starting line is especially crowded, and the stakes are high, I usually use another alternative, with the idea of just staying out of trouble, and getting a decent start. When the starting line is crowded at the favored end, there is a significant risk that you will get buried in the wind shadows of other boats, or that you will be caught in a barging violation. It would be a shame to lose an important race or regatta because you committed an infraction at the start, or because you were over early at the start and couldn't overcome the time that you lost in going back and re-starting the race.

In The Racing Edge, by Ted Turner and Gary Jobson, the authors describe a variety of starting techniques. However, the ad lib start has enabled me to establish a very good record of starts in four national regattas and countless club regattas, and I have rarely found it necessary to resort to an alternative type of start.

After the start of the race, if you cannot out-point and out-sprint a boat that is disturbing your wind, then tack for clear air. When you watch all the other boats sail down the course while you sail off on a different tack, you cannot help thinking that you are watching the race slip from your grasp, but later, when all the other boats come about onto port tack, you will be back on starboard tack, and if you have made up some of the time that you lost in tacking early, then you will be able to force some or all of the other boats to either tack or to cross behind you.

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