How to Make the Most of the Least, Part II
How to Make the Most of the Least, Part II
Light air, heavy traffic: Tony Rey tells you how to outsmart the crowd on your next light-air run. "From the Experts" from our July 2008 issue.
Beware the snowfence
What if you prefer the other side of the track, and your winning strategy calls for a quick jibe right at the mark? In a stronger breeze, this maneuver is relatively simple-pick your spot, jibe, and take care not to foul any boats sailing upwind.
In a superlight breeze, this exit must be planned with care. A wall of starboard-tack boats sailing upwind on their layline will have a snowfence effect on the breeze, preventing it from filling into the top right side of the racetrack. A jibe at or just after the mark will have you sailing through some tragically disturbed air. It's generally wise to wait a few minutes. The fleet will have rounded the mark and you'll be able to get your own boat settled and sailing fast. Watch the breeze on the water to determine how bad the snowfence is.
This snowfence effect can be created by a pack of boats-sailing upwind or downwind-anywhere on the course. If possible, sail on the windward side of packs.
Pack with care
There is an adage among the old salts in the Etchells fleet that you rarely see a group of them going fast in light air. From my experience, this holds true with any class. Among the boats in a pack, it's likely that, in order to keep their respective air clean, many will not be sailing the fastest VMG angle. This often has a domino effect and the majority of boats in the pack will be sailing too low or too high. Additionally boats in a pack are also sailing in disturbed water, as well as disturbed air. Sometimes being part of a clump is unavoidable. If that's the case, make sure your lane is clear, at the mimimum.
When to jibe
If the run is remotely parallel to the wind direction, you will have to jibe at least once.
In very light wind, calling the perfect layline from a distance is difficult, because your sailing angle changes dramatically with every puff and lull. You can estimate your course on the other jibe by subtracting your average true wind angle from 180, doubling the result, and then either adding that number to your current heading, if you're on port, or subtracting it, if you're on starboard. A hand bearing compass is the best tool to sight the layline. If your true wind angle is 135 degrees, then you're jibing through 90 degrees and anything perpendicular to the centerline of the boat will work.
If you are confident your lane on the opposite jibe will stay clean all the way to the mark, a jibe on layline could work well. But your strategy of staying in the pressure, and on the long jibe, is probably shared by most of your competitors, so quite often other boats will be thinking about jibing at around the same time.
So your decision when to jibe may be dictated more by the boats around you than the layline. This is where any extra distance gained to leeward before the jibe can pay off. If trailing boats are right on your transom-or worse, just to leeward of your line-one of them may be able to match your jibe and camp on your air.
Conversely, if there's a boat just in front of you before you jibe, you may have an opportunity to jump onto his air in the maneuver. The ability to jibe quickly and efficiently, with little obvious preparation can really help on these light-air runs.
If you have the room to spare before the layline, and it looks like the boats behind are preparing to jibe, delay your maneuver for a few boatlengths to ensure a clean lane on the opposite jibe. A good rule of thumb is to wait until you can see the flat transom of a boat that is crossing behind you on the opposite jibe. That way, after you do your 90-degree turn, he will be forward of 90 degrees, and hopefully your lane on port jibe will be clean.
If you are not sure you have enough room before the layline for the lane to open up, match jibes with the trailing boats or beat them to the punch with a stealth jibe.



