2021 Olympic Sailing Team members Steph Roble and Maggie Shea cover all aspects of starting and gave us several good tips to get that front row start. The youth sailors also had lots of good questions.

The ILYA, Roble/Shea Sailing, and SailZing, LLC are partnering to develop a series of videos for youth sailors with insights from ILYA’s Olympic qualifiers, Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea. The videos are edited recordings of live webinars conducted in spring 2020. This week’s topic is starting strategy and tactics .

Watch the full video, or use the timings in the video description to go directly to the topics that interest you. Or, read a summary of the key insights below, with links to resources for more information.

Starting Strategy and Tactics – Outline and Video Timings

1. Starting Strategy – two goals (01:30)
2. Pre-Start Homework (03:02)
3. Pre-Start Checklist (05:25)
4. Where to Start (10:16)
5. Line Bias (11:53)
6. How to Check Line Bias (13:39)
7. Divide the Line into Thirds (16:21)
8. Line Sag (18:41)
9. Line Sights (22:29)
10. Get Your Line Sight Where You Want to Start (24:30)
11. Q&A (25:20)
12. Final Approach (28:35)
13. Managing Your Gap (31:46)
14. Snatching & Defending (36:00)
15. Boat Thoughts at 30 Seconds (40:17)
16. The Acceleration (48:04)
17. Sailing distance to the line changes in shifts (49:07)
18. The starting sequence – minute by minute (51:56)
19. Lane Management After the Start (55:48)
20. Mentality (57:40)
21. Q&A (1:02:35)

Starting Strategy and Tactics – More Information

Want more information about these topics? Here are some links to SailZing.com articles:

Execute the Start – Time to Get Aggressive
Starting Line Approach: What Kind of Creature Should You Be?
Starting Strategy and Tactics: Where to Start
Using a Line Sight to Give you Confidence on the Starting Line
Lane Management After the Start – Tips and Drills

Keep up with Steph and Maggie’s campaign and consider donating.

Roble-Shea Sailing

ILYA foundation – donate here or directly at Roble-Shea website