The further I am from the mark, or the further I am back in the fleet, the further from the layline I’ll tack to starboard. For example: If I’m on port, 2 minutes from the starboard layline with 10 minutes on starboard, and there are just a few boats ahead of me, I’ll tack onto starboard. If you’re not leading, you have to expect that, in the next 10 minutes, someone will leebow you or someone will tack on you. In a big fleet, that might happen a couple of times. The last thing you want to do is to be forced out early to the starboard layline. So leave yourself enough room to take a couple of steps to the right, if you need to, as you near the mark.

When do you make your move toward the layline? Apart from positioning of other boats, you need to consider current, windspeed, and waves. If there’s current running with the wind, get to the layline earlier, because the current tends to cause boats to stack up on the layline, leaving few openings for late-arriving port tackers. If the current is going in the opposite direction to the wind, it will tend to open up spots on the layline, and you can wait to set up on the starboard-tack layline. In light air, you can get on the layline later, because all the boats in line there will affect each other much more, creating a lot of gaps. But if you’re in perfect conditions—flat water, 12 knots or so of breeze, and no current—you need to get on the layline pretty early. Everyone will go the same speed, and the wind shadows and waves don’t affect the boats that much. There won’t be a lot of spaces into which to tack.