Making the Best of the Worst
Making the Best of the Worst
There's a lot we can learn when fighting our way from the back of the fleet. Jobson Report from our July/Aug 2011 issue.
After a winter with too much travel and too little sailing, it felt great to splash my Etchells in my hometown for the Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD in late April. It felt even better to have a great result, finishing the weekend with five firsts and three more finishes in the top-five. Immense credit for the victory, of course, goes to my crew Jud Smith and Dave Askew.
After we won, a friend called to offer his Bravo Zulu, “Nice going, except for the fifth,” he said. His ribbing made me chuckle because that fifth-place finish was, in hindsight, our best and most important race.
Sometimes winning a race is easy, especially when you pop into the lead after a good start or luck into a miracle windshift. But when you’re well back in the pack, that’s when you’re really challenged, and dealing well with this adversity is often how you win regattas.
Let’s revisit that fifth-place finish: In this race, the fifth of the series, we had an adequate start and rounded the windward mark second of 12 boats. But the wind shifted, and we were late to respond with a jibe. Every boat behind us promptly jibed with the shift and suddenly we found ourselves staring down the backside of the fleet. Ouch.
To make matters worse, the boat in second in the regatta at that point was winning the race. But Jud was brilliant as we approached the leeward gate, declaring, “Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to round last, and then start the race over.”
He delivered his strategy with his typical humor, which helped me mentally recover from blowing a good position. By the time we turned upwind for the third of five legs, our Etchells fleet had caught the 38 J/22s sailing ahead of us. To add to the confusion, the wind strength was dropping, and the shifts were more erratic than ever. We knew there’d be plenty of opportunities to pass boats.
When you find yourself in this position, it’s always tough to decide between sailing in disturbed wind and staying on a big lift, or tacking away to sail in clear air, but headed and sailing toward the wrong side of the course. We decided to work the lifts and ignore the bad air. It was good a strategy. Within a few minutes we had passed five boats, and at the next windward mark we jibed immediately. On the run, we were able to pass another boat. Meanwhile, our rival got tangled up with the J/22 fleet and missed a few windshifts. On the final leg to windward, we moved into fifth while our chief competitor ended up in seventh. A positive attitude, confusion from another fleet, and erratic winds saved our race.
