The Leeward-Mark Tack
1. As he approaches the leeward mark, Lindberg intentionally slows in order to exit the mark in the high lane—a textbook wide-then-tight rounding. Presti, meanwhile, knowing he wants to tack around the mark, doesn’t worry about having his bow below the transom of Lindberg. Presti’s crew drops the spinnaker early enough so that everyone is in their positions and able to trim the sails during the rounding. Presti and his team enter the rounding with a powerful setup: the genoa is eased, the main is coming in early to help turn the boat, and they trim the sails for maximum speed as they round. Keeping the main slightly over trimmed in respect to the boat’s angle, and keeping the genoa slightly undertrimmed, helps the boat turn without too much rudder movement, which will slow the boat.
