Your SailZing editors served as the Race Committee gate boat for the C Scow NNN Beulah Challenge on September 24, 2017 at Lake Beulah, WI. We captured many leeward mark roundings on video and paired some examples with a great article from Speed and Smarts.
Mark Rounding Principles
Dave Dellenbaugh’s Speed and Smarts Issue #131 on mark roundings has 31 “plays” showing everything you need to know about windward and leeward mark roundings. For this article, we focused on four of Dellenbaugh’s “plays” related to our leeward mark observations at the regatta.
Strategic or Tactical Rounding? – Plays #15, 16
Wide and tight – the tactical rounding – is best if you have boats close ahead or behind. Exiting tight to the mark gives you the best chance for a clear lane to windward. However, to make a smooth turn and exit close to the mark, sailors typically go past the mark downwind, thus sailing extra distance. (See the diagrams in the Dellenbaugh article.) That’s why Dellenbaugh recommends a “strategic” rounding if no one is near you.
A Tactical rounding: wide, then tight
Only set up wide before the zone if no one is close behind you. Once you reach the zone clear ahead, a boat that sneaks inside later isn’t owed room.
In a strategic rounding, you approach the mark without being so wide, pass close to the mark on a beam reach at the bottom of the arc, and get to close-hauled after you pass the mark. This type of rounding is also discussed by Andy Horton in a 2008 Sailing World article.
B Strategic rounding: the apex turn
Slow Down to Round the Mark Faster – Play #5
If you have boats inside of you, don’t remain outside of those boats as you round the mark. Slow down and/or go wide before you round, so you can then turn up and round tight to the mark, right behind the inside boats. This gives you a better chance at clear air and the freedom to tack.
If Blue doesn’t slow down, she’s stuck outside both boats. She has to give them room, so she sails the widest rounding and comes out in their bad air.
C1 Slow down with S-turns (stay near your line, handy in a modest breeze)
Blue is still overlapped outside Grey when Grey reaches the zone, so Blue isn’t owed room: she must give Grey mark-room (rule 18.2(a)(1)) and keep giving it after she drops clear astern and later slips inside, which means staying out of Grey’s way all the way around the mark. If Grey needs to come down toward the mark, Blue has to let her.
One reason you might choose C1 is that you want to stay close to your line but slow down. It’s also handy in a modest breeze, when sailing lower would add distance you can’t make up.
C2 Drop low, then reach in fast (more breeze makes the reach pay)
One reason you might choose C2 is that you have more breeze, so the faster reach can pay for the extra distance.
Choose the Best “Exit Strategy” – Play #29
After you round behind someone, getting clear air is a big deal. You have three main options: 1) use some speed to pinch up and try to hold the lane on the tack you rounded, 2) tack soon after rounding, or 3) foot off on the same tack to get ahead for clear air.
D1 Exit: pinch up and hold your lane
D2 Exit: tack immediately after rounding
D3 Exit: foot off to build speed
C Scow Examples
The video shows examples of each of these principles from the regatta.
Related Content:
Top C Scow Finishers Share Keys to Success – Race Course Notes
Speed and Smarts Issue 131 had a good discussion of mark roundings
Sailing World: A Better Way to Round the Leeward Mark
Sailors Helping Sailors
Will you share your knowledge with your related Comments below?
