The Great Escape

As I think back to regattas that I have won or did well, there was almost always one or two races in those series where I had a bad start and had to do some serious scrambling to get back in the race in order to stay in contention.

This was certainly the case at the Laser Master's NA's. I had a couple of starts that were 2nd or 3rd row. This was probably due to my desire to be ultra conservative with the "Black Flag" rule in effect and a current that was trying to push the fleet over the line early.

In both of these races, I was able to find an escape route that was so tight and narrow that if one bad wave or one unexpected maneuver by one of the other boats would have completely slammed shut my window of opportunity to get off on to port tack.

In the Laser, the single sail and the size of the boat does not create a lot of water and wind turbulence when it goes through the water so it is possible for the boats to stay closely bunched in bad air for a fairly long time.

In boats like J-22's, J-24's or J-80's, there is enough turbulence created by the heavier displacement hulls and the sloop rigged nature of the boats with their overlapping sails that the speed differences between a boat sailing in bad air and lots of chop is huge when compared to a boat on the opposite tack sailing in relatively clean air and smoother water.

In the Laser Master's NA's, there were a couple of times when my situation looked pretty hopeless and I really could not see any reasonable means for an escape that didn't require ducking 50 starboard tack boats.

What I have learned over the years is how to anticipate openings occurring before I actually make the decision to tack. This involves trying to get into the heads of the boats on my starboard tack hip and trying to determine what their situation is and what their motivations are for continuing on starboard or tacking on to port.

I try to assess what level of bad air they are encountering, how long before they can tack and cross the boats on their hips, etc. If it looks like the crew on the boat to weather of me is getting anxious and starting to talk to the boat on their weather quarter, I am guessing that they are motivated to get out of there and perhaps if I am patient, an opening will be created for me. If the boat to weather of me has relatively clear air but can't cross the boats on their hip by tacking, I will deduce that they are going to be there for a while and I am going to have to make something happen in order to get clean air.

In that case, I will try and create some separation by bearing off slightly to get a little more to leeward of the weather boat to give myself room to tack and duck the boat on my hip.

In doing so, I will probably come out of the tack very fast and have to be in a position to make a big ease on the sails in order to duck the starboard tack boat but I will also need to be able to trim back in and get the boat flat in order to have a chance to cross the next starboard tack boats that will be quickly approaching.

I am always amazed how things tend to open up at the last possible second. As long as I can duck the first boat and be able to sail for a boat length or two before possibly having to tack back, I think that is risk worth taking. A couple of things can happen. Either I will get a boat to tack to port in front and below me and act as a blocker for me, or I will find a narrow gap to squeeze through on port tack.

It doesn't take much because once I am on port tack, I will be sailing almost twice as fast as the starboard tack line up. It only takes a boat length or two of separation to squirt through the gap. Quite often you will find a slight lift on port tack as you are ducking the starboard tack boats. I think the back-wind off the starboard tack boats bend the winds slightly to create this lift.

The keys to making it through these very tight openings is anticipation, great boat handling and guts. If you make it through and can cut the grain early in the first beat, chances are you will be right back in contention. I think almost all major regatta winners have found themselves in this situation and the teams that can scramble even after a bad start are the ones that will find themselves on the winners podium.