Continuation of Racing to Win by Steve Milby
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“Shooting the Mark”

Don’t you just hate it when you are sailing close-hauled toward a mark, and you realize that you are not going to be able to fetch the mark without taking two short tacks to get around it! Often, there is a way of getting around the mark without short-tacking. It’s called “shooting the mark.”

Imagine that you are on starboard tack, and sailing close-hauled for the next mark, and you find that your present course will take you to the leeward (port) side of the mark by about one boat length. Often sailors try to pinch to windward in order to fetch the mark, but the boat loses speed, and they fail to make it around. Instead of pinching, keep your sails full and driving, so that your boat maintains maximum speed. Hold your course until your bow is almost (but not quite) dead downwind of the mark. Then put the helm over quickly and smoothly, and steer the boat straight into the wind. The sails will be luffing, and the boat will be coasting directly into the wind. When the bow of the boat coasts past the mark, turn the boat back to port. The sails will fill again on starboard tack, drive the boat past the mark, and, as soon as you are clear of the mark, you can bear off onto the proper course toward the next mark.

In order for this technique to work, you must keep your speed up, and you must be as close as possible to the mark before you begin to execute the maneuver. The slower your speed, and the farther you have to coast, the less likely it will be that the maneuver will succeed. Therefore, you absolutely must resist the impulse to pinch to windward in order to fetch the mark. On the contrary, when you are within about 1½ boat-lengths from the mark, you should bear off slightly to maximize your speed, so that, when you steer the boat directly upwind, her momentum will carry her around the mark. Before you try this technique on the racecourse, practice it a few times. 

The real value of this technique is that, if you misjudge the layline a little bit, or if the wind heads you slightly after you tack for the mark, you can still get around the mark without taking two time-consuming tacks at a crowded mark where you might have to yield the right-of-way. By having this maneuver in your repertoire, you don’t have to overstand the layline in order to ensure that you can fetch the mark. After you learn how to shoot the mark, you will find yourself using that technique with increasing frequency, because you will become more confident that you can fetch the mark, even if you tack a little short of the layline. As a result, you will begin sailing the course more efficiently. By learning how to shoot the mark, you will reduce the distance that you must cover in order to sail the course.

Cruisers and daysailors frequently find this technique useful. When you are sailing close-hauled, and your heading is taking you a boat length downwind of a channel marker or other obstruction, you can often shoot the mark without having to tack around it.

Racing Rules Applicable to Shooting the Mark

If, as you are approaching the mark, you have an inside overlap on any boats to windward of you at the time you entered the two-boat circle, then those windward boats are required to allow you room to round the mark, even though you have to shoot the mark to get around it. (Don’t forget the general rule that a leeward yacht has the right-of-way over a windward yacht on the same tack. In other words, the leeward yacht has the right to force the windward yacht to alter its course to windward and sail head-to-wind, but not past head-to-wind.) However, don’t assume that the windward yacht will allow you room at the mark. Many less experienced racers are not aware of this technique, and when they see you doing it, they won’t know how to react to it. Hail the other boat. Tell them that you have an inside overlap and that you are entitled to room at the mark, and that you will be shooting the mark to get around it. Usually they will allow you room, and neither of you will go away with hard feelings. 

Putting On the Brakes

One of the most useful racing skills you can develop is the ability to put on the brakes.
I was recently reminded of a racing incident that happened several years ago. We were running downwind, and about 8-9 boats formed a horizontal line across the course, beam-to-beam. They were so close together that each boat couldn’t get past the bow wave of the boats on either side. I was quickly overtaking the line of boats from behind. In about the middle of the line, there was barely enough space for me to steer my boat into, so that’s what I did, pulling in the mainsheet and jib so they didn’t touch the boats abeam of me. Like all the other boats in the line, my boat was captured and held back by the bow waves of the other boats. When the line of boats reached the next mark, the boat nearest the mark peeled off and rounded it, and then the next nearest boat peeled off and rounded it, and so on. The outside boats were far behind and to leeward by the time they were able to round the mark.

Since then, I have thought about it and decided that I could have handled it in a better way, if I had thought of it. Instead of steering the boat into the opening in the line, I should have put the helm over, steering the boat to port and reaching across the sterns of all the other boats. With the additional speed gained by reaching, we might have been able to get an inside overlap on the first boat in the line, and been entitled to room at the mark. In that case, we would have been first around the mark. If we couldn’t get an inside overlap, then by being just behind the first boat, we could find enough room to round the mark between the first and second boats, or perhaps the second and third boats. In a situation like that, with all the confusion, someone is bound to leave some space between himself and the prior boat. 

After we pulled into the line, I thought we were irrevocably committed to staying there, but since then I have figured out a way that we could have backed out of the line, so that we could have reached across the sterns of the other boats, as described above. If I had tossed my yacht bucket off the stern, with line attached, we would have backed right out of the line, and then we could have reeled in the bucket, reached across the sterns of the other boats and headed for glory. (You think I’m pulling your leg, but I’m quite serious.) Obviously, this would not work with a fragile plastic bucket. A collapsible canvas yacht bucket with a rope handle is better suited for this purpose.

This illustrates the importance of learning how to put on the brakes. Racers concentrate all their efforts on making the boat go as fast as possible, but there are occasions when one needs to slow the boat down, so that you can get it into a position to be able to execute a desired maneuver. 

Suppose, for example, you are running downwind, wing-and-wing, and you start to pass another boat on its port side. When your bow comes up even with the bow of the other boat, the wind shifts, so that the wind is now coming across your starboard quarter. Now, you are unable to pass the other boat, because, as you move forward, your sails are blanketed by the other boat’s sails. As long as you remain in that position, you cannot go any faster than the other boat. You would like to reach across the stern of the other boat, so that you can get into clear air, and pass the other boat on the windward side, but you are too close to the other boat, and your boat won’t turn that tightly. If you can slow your boat, and allow the other boat to pull ahead, you can reach across its stern, where you can blanket its sails and pass it to windward, in clear air.

This brings us to the question of how you can “put on the brakes.” If you think about it, you apply the brakes on a sailboat by using the opposite techniques that you use to make the boat go fast. (1) You de-trim the sails, so that you minimize their drive, and (2) you steer the boat so that it sails a longer distance than the other boat. In the above example, if you steer your boat to port for about 30-40 feet, you will increase your distance from the other boat’s beam. That will enable you to put the tiller over hard to port and steer close across the other boat’s transom. In reaching up, your boat speed will increase. If you execute the maneuver well, you can then overtake the other boat and pass it to windward. Another good way to put on the brakes is to “lay to” (i.e., completely ease the jib and main sheets, allowing both sails to flutter). Or, you can head straight up into the wind to kill your speed, and then dive down onto a beam reach to regain speed and momentum. 

If you develop skill in putting on the brakes, you will find that skill invaluable in pre-race maneuvering for starting position (See “Starting the Race,” above), and in maneuvering the boat during the race.