This category develops your ability to sail smart, focusing on racing strategy and tactics. Subcategories include strategy principles, tactical principles, and specific strategies and tactics for starting, upwind, downwind, reaching, marks and finishes.
You can gain or lose boats quickly while approaching, rounding, and exiting the windward mark. There are plenty of things to worry about, so we’ve compiled a windward mark preparation checklist to help you think ahead and consider everything. We’ve pulled together…
Dave Dellenbaugh’s Speed and Smarts, Issue 130 (May/June 2014) has a very informative diagram showing how to use apparent wind clues to sail faster and smarter downwind. We present Dave’s diagram as a quiz, with his answers reprinted in the…
In winds up to 10 knots, the impact of shifts downwind is enormous… A boat working the shifts will gain 10% versus a boat that ignores the shifts. Bill Gladstone, Performance Racing Tactics Playing the shifts downwind is one part…
Is it true that on some lakes in most conditions, you have to pick a side, rather than play the middle ? SailZing asked some top sailors to discuss their lake sailing strategy at the MC Southeast Regional Regatta at…
You can increase the percentage of decisions that lead to successful outcomes. For example, if you make the right decision 70% of the time, it might be possible to increase that to 75% or 80%. Even this small increase of…
My favorite rule of thumb, and one that I have used with great success many times, is to ‘sail the long tack first.’ This is a simple, nearly foolproof guideline that is easy to use and often comes with great…
