Around the Racecourse, Part 7: Gain at the Gate
Around the Racecourse, Part 7: Gain at the Gate
A crowded leeward-gate rounding is a perfect opportunity to pass boats, and more often than not, the best solution is the path of least resistance. Fundamentals from our September 2011 issue.
Factor in traffic
Now that you’ve determined the preferred gate, based on which way you want to go upwind, and which one is closer, you must factor in traffic. This can change everything. If your desired gate is crowded, the opposite gate can offer an excellent escape route. The more boats at a mark, the more chance for pileups, protests, and general drama. I have seen many people gain by keeping speed and avoiding crowds of boats.
I made a costly gate choice recently at the Melges 24 Worlds because of traffic. While approaching the gate marks, I saw the left gate was many boatlengths downwind, and no one was going there except for Nathan Wilmot, the 470 gold medalist from Australia. But it looked so far downwind that I decided to round the upwind gate with more traffic. It turned into a huge loss, as we got tangled up with another boat, fouled them, and had to do a penalty turn. In the end, we had lost upwards of 10 boatlengths.
Round wide, then tight
Once you have chosen your mark, it’s critical to round it well. A poor mark rounding can cause a downward spiral from which you can never recover. The worst possible outcome is to get pin-wheeled outside into bad air and being unable to tack away. I especially avoid getting pin-wheeled around the right-hand gate mark because everyone on your windward hip is on starboard and you can be pinned indefinitely. If you get pinwheeled around the left-hand gate mark you can foot away and then tack to starboard, painful as that may be.
In a crowded rounding, you want to approach somewhat wide of the buoy and complete most of your turn before your bow passes the mark. In doing so, you pass the mark on a close-hauled course. Exiting tight gives you the best chance of clear air. Most skippers do not start their turn wide enough, or far enough away from the mark. If you start too tight, you end up rounding wide into a bad lane or turning too hard, dramatically slowing the boat.
At the Etchells Worlds, I was amazed at Dennis Conner’s roundings, He did a wide-then-tight rounding with great speed, and then almost went head-to-wind briefly before bearing away to his close-hauled course. His jib was completely luffing for a few seconds, but he used the boat’s momentum to glide to windward just after rounding, giving him a better lane. He lost a little forward speed by luffing, but it saved him from having to tack into the spinnakers coming downwind. It’s all about how you look after rounding the mark that matters.
Crowd Control
If you’re in a crowded situation as you approach the mark, you want to establish your position by communicating with your competitors and rounding in single file, or at least on the inside closest to the mark, if there are overlaps. It’s usually best to slow and wait your turn so you can round wide and tight. Dousing your spinnaker early can help, or you can sail extra wide once your position in the lineup is established: you want to kill time without killing speed. Slowing techniques work well because they not only allow you to round close to the mark, they give you some distance on the boat ahead, giving you clearer air. With a nicely executed leeward-mark rounding, you have the option to pinch and go straight, or tack, which is all you need to execute any plan.
