The second beat, and in this example, the final leg to the finish, is your opportunity to string together everything you’ve learned throughout the race and finish strong. Your top priorities should be to sail on the lifted tack, and stay in the most wind on the racecourse.

To quickly determine if you’re on the lifted tack, check your compass after you round the leeward mark and compare your heading against the numbers you’ve seen throughout the race. If you’re not on the lifted tack, look for a good lane and tack as soon as possible.

Once you’re sailing on the lifted tack and aiming at the finish, you can relax a little, sail your own race, and start looking around for any other significant racecourse features, i.e., more wind or favorable current. You must also consider how satisfied you are with your position. Top sailors win regattas by having a series of low scores, or “keepers.” If you are up in the front of the fleet, you want to keep it that way. The farther ahead you are the more you should minimize your risk by covering nearby boats.

If you are having a bad race, you may want to take a little more risk and focus solely on sailing the course as best you can given the available lanes. Let those ahead of you make mistakes.

If you’re doing well, say top third, evaluate how you can pass boats ahead, and whether boats behind can pass you. Often, the front of the fleet is pretty spread out, so evaluate possible scenarios before making any decisions. For example, if you are leading the fleet out of the leeward mark, and the next eight boats tack and go the other way, tack and go with them.

We typically have varying levels of confidence in our tactical decisions, so you can factor that in, too. In theory, you should always sail the fastest route around the course in the absence of other boats. But what if you like the right, and everyone behind you goes left? Should you sail right by yourself? No way. If you’re leading the group, position yourself to the right of them (since you like the right), and go left with them.

What if the next group goes right, forcing you to decide which group to stay with? The answer depends on how far back that second group is, and how favored the right is. At some point, if that second group starts gaining on the right, you can tack and go back right since you had confidence in that side to begin with. If the right side really is better, that group will now be closer. It’s all about balancing what you think is right and not splitting too far from potential threats.

If you’re trying to protect your lead, or your place in the fleet, the safest position you can put yourself is ahead and to windward of the competition. From this covering position, you are safe if the wind shifts either direction. In doing so you’re putting your boat between the fleet and the finish line, minimizing risk as much as possible.

Let’s say you are having a tough race and round the leeward mark 15th of 20 boats. Here it does not make sense to cover the few behind you because you need to pass boats. To do so, simply revert to the top two priorities: sail the lifted tack in the most wind available. By doing so you’ll pick off anyone who does not follow those rules.