The Racing Rules of Sailing only demand that we hail our competitors in two situations: when we need “room to tack,” and when we feel we’ve been wronged with “protest.” But somehow ours is still a noisy sport. All around the racecourse we have verbal exchanges, which are inevitable when a lot of boats are in the same patch of water all trying to win the same race. But somehow, and somewhat gracefully, our rules actually cover 90 percent of common situations without any need for a single spoken word. There’s good strategy behind it: We should avoid distractive chatter and concentrate on our boatspeed instead. The communication we need to use at critical points should be quick, concise, effective, and most importantly, limited. A few common situations come to mind where brevity is key, and with the exception of these, along with our two mandatory hails, we should generally just “shut up and sail.”

Leeward marks

Here is where we’ll find much debate about whether boats really do in fact have room. Sometimes exchanges can be civil and organized, but when there’s more than two boats involved, that’s rarely the case. To make the best of a crowded mark rounding, assess the situation, and think it through before you speak. For example, you might be thinking: OK, we’re not going to catch boat A, we’re going to round inside of boat B, but we have to make sure that C and D know they don’t have room. Once you collect your thoughts, share them with the boats around you early on—before you reach the three-length zone. You’re always trying to avoid surprises. Saying “hey B—we’re overlapped, and we need room” with the right authoritative tone will get B’s attention and let them know you’ve got it figured out. The worst-case scenario is that B responds, “You’re crazy, you don’t have any overlap, and I’m not giving you any room.” Or, “!Oye amigo, no tienes agua!“

If you start the conversation far enough out, you can react to either scenario. If B nods and starts clearing out, you round cleanly and sail away. If they say “no” then you need to assess whether continuing the conversation is worth the potential distraction. More talk means less time to set up a decent rounding. While you’re talking, never lose sight of the goal: to round the mark with a clear-air lane upon exit. Sometimes finding out that B doesn’t want to give you room early can provide you with the time to rework your plan. If you wait until the last minute, you’re more likely to have to make a crash maneuver, or you might find out that your Spanish isn’t as good as you thought. Regardless, don’t let the conversation distract you from your racing strategy.

Crowded situations

When there’s a group of tightly clustered boats on port approaching a starboard-tack boat, the leeward-most port-tack boat must choose its language carefully. This means giving the boat immediately to windward a “heads up” call well out from a starboard-tack opponent (maybe as much as 20 seconds ahead of time). The windward boat may not be able to see the starboard-tack boat, and that’s why there is a mandatory call in Rule 20.1 (“Hailing and Responding”). The leeward boat can ask for “room to tack,” and the windward boat must either tack or respond with “you tack,” at which point they must keep clear. The leeward boat, by hailing for room to tack, is then required to tack and keep clear of starboard. If the leeward boat delays in alerting the windward boat, they risk having the windward boat become a major obstacle. Remember, the back and forth of the mandatory hails can take a good 5 to 7 seconds to complete. If the windward boat hasn’t been given fair warning and isn’t ready to tack, they may end up fouling the leeward, which means neither team is sailing as effectively as possible. With anticipation, however, a quick shout over the shoulder 30 seconds out from the potential incident will help tremendously: “Hey, we’ve got a starboard-tack boat coming. I’m probably going to want to tack.” Then the windward boat can effectively prepare to respond, and because the language was clear, leeward is not yet obligated to take any action. Likewise, the windward boat is more likely to tack quicker when you ask for “room to tack,” increasing that small buffer to leeward after you put a tight leebow on the starboard tacker.

In a similar line of thought, the starboard tacker can put everybody’s mind at ease by shouting “cross” early on. Nothing inspires a port-tack boat to put the bow down and get out of your way like telling them to cross.

If the boat to leeward isn’t going to exercise their right to ask for room to tack, as a windward boat it may be necessary to remind leeward to leave a little extra space. “Room to duck” is an unnecessary but friendly reminder that a leeward boat doesn’t have the right of way when it becomes overlapped outside of an obstruction such as a starboard tacker. A quick “make sure you give us a little space” is all the windward boat needs to say to remind the leeward boat that they might have to bear away to keep clear of their windward opponent.

Similarly, as the starboard- or port-tack boat nearing a weather mark, a quick chirp of “don’t tack; you’re too close,” to your opponent, who’s using a close cross as a chance to plant one on your bow, can be just enough to get them to stop their turn and take a look to make sure they’re not going to foul you. That hesitation can ensure that no foul occurs and may allow you to squeak your bow even with them and into clear air as they finish their tack on your windward hip.

Clear intentions

Sometimes, around the leeward mark or in the middle of a beat, you might want to clear out but not spook the boat next to you in the process. Saying “I’m going to tack, but you’ll cross” can be precisely what the windward boat wants to hear to know that they don’t have to crash tack right on your face when you’re clearing out. Likewise, on the run, if you see breeze coming down the other side of the leg, you might want to jibe without taking the whole herd with you. Announcing your intentions might do just that, but more likely saying “I’m going jibe and go behind you” is enough of a concession to convince the other boats that they’re getting a sweet deal where they are allowed to cross you, avoid an evasive maneuver, and keep sailing straight. In that case, you’re free and clear to sail your own race.

Another time when it’s advantageous to be vocal is to alert others of your presence. Anticipation is a sailor’s strongest asset, and surprise can be their biggest enemy. When boats race downwind, especially with asymmetric spinnakers, there’s often a blind spot to leeward, either under the mainsail or behind the spinnaker. If you are converging with that blind spot, as the leeward boat, you have the right of way. The trouble is that the windward boat can’t keep clear if they don’t see you. While the onus is on them to keep an eye out for you, sometimes a quick “heads up” is all the downwind-sailing boat needs to duck under the boom, get a gauge on the impending collision, and then take avoiding action.

Shut up and drive

Three cases come to mind when it might be better to shut up and drive instead of wasting time being distracted by chatter.

First, unless you want the port tack boat to leebow or avoid you, please don’t yell “starboard!” Everybody knows you’re on starboard tack. And if they don’t, you’re not going to solve the problem by yelling the word. Instead, let the port-tack boat know your intentions by telling them to “cross.” If you want them to tack, say “tack” and then continue on your way with a friendly smile.

Secondly, when the lead boats go around the windward mark, they often set and try to sail as low as possible to extend down the leg. Each respective boat behind them sails a little higher to exert pressure on the boat ahead as well as to defend a clean lane behind them. Then we hear the pained voice of the leader pleading: “C’mon guys. Go down!” Such pleas tend to embolden the trailing boats because now they know the pressure is getting into the leader’s psyche. Instead of complaining, give the trailers some incentive to sail lower: “Hey, mark is low.” Better yet, don’t worry about speaking at all and concentrate harder on extending low and away from the fleet.

Lastly, after an incident, why rehash the entire situation with your competitor when you should be racing instead? Yelling and screaming at other sailors after a possible foul never did anybody any good. The rules demand that you hail only one word: “Protest.” Take the incident in stride, assess your risk in the foul, and either exonerate yourself, or hail “protest” and sail away. Instead of continuing to yell and be distracted, all the while sailing off course, go and try to win the race. That’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it?

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When you cross the finish line you’re not done racing. Hold off on any debriefs. Instead, get right into cleaning up the boat and getting it ready for the next race (even if it is the last race of the day). If this will be a new routine for you, make a checklist that includes things such as flaking the jib and bagging it, running the spinnaker tapes, coiling lines, and tuning the rig if you have any changes in mind. Once you’ve done all of this, only then can you make your way to the starting line and break out the food and water. Stay close to the race committee boat in case they fire off another race quickly.

Once everything is set to race and everyone is relaxed, you can have a quick debrief—focus on what needs to be improved for the next race, even if you finished first. If you had a bad race, figure out why and make a plan to improve it. If you had one obvious thing that went wrong, there is no need to over think the situation, understand what went wrong and move on.

To do well consistently, it’s important to have an honest look at how you’ve just sailed and what paid on the racecourse. It’s key to have an open mind: the tactician may blame boatspeed for bad results while the speed team (trimmers) may say tactics were to blame for a poor result. Either way, look at what is actually going on before you can address specific issues.

When reviewing your race, break it down into three simple categories: the start, your speed, and then your tactics—in that order. Did you get off the line? Were you going fast? Did you go the right way and make good decisions? Answering these three questions will shed a lot of light on your race. Usually, to finish in the front you have to do well in all three categories. If you’re lacking in one of the areas, but do well in the others, you can still pull off a good finish, but your goal should be to nail all three.

An effective post-race debrief might start off with something like this: “We had a bad start and got forced right, the left paid and we got behind. Our speed seemed fine so if we can get off the line we will be OK. What do we need to do to improve our next start?”

Or it may sound like this: “Our start and speed seemed OK; we just missed a few shifts. We need to do a better job of playing the shifts.”

Debriefing in this logical, and factual approach helps get to the bottom of what needs to be addressed, and can help you think about the racecourse for the upcoming race as well.

Let’s assume you have “issues” that need to be dealt with. If you had a bad start, figure out what you have to do to start near the favored end in an open space. Think about your final approach and how and when you need to accelerate. Practicing a few starts, with timed runs, and doing more line research can help improve for the next one.

If you had tactical issues, determine whether you were sailing in the most wind available on the course. Make sure you know which is the long tack—is your bow aiming at the mark most of the time? Evaluate whether there were any other racecourse features such as current or a geographic shift that you missed. How was your lane management: did you keep the boat in clear air as much as possible?

And finally, talk speed. You must be fast to do well in sailboat races—there’s no disputing that fact. And speed can be the most illusive of the big three. If you have speed, you can make a few tactical mistakes and still be just fine. Without speed you have to be perfect in all other areas and you still might not do well. When addressing speed issues you should quickly discuss how the helmsman is driving, how the sails are being trimmed, and whether the rig tune is correct for the conditions. If the wind changed velocity and you got caught out of tune, or you were not going well upwind, adjust the rig and make sure you note how many turns you made—if it ends up being an improvement you can add it to your tuning guide. The simplest way to quickly improve is to copy those faster than you. Don’t be afraid to ask the fast guys what they are doing and then imitate their settings or technique.

Once you’ve tackled these three elements you can get right into the mechanics of your first race pre-start routine. While the race committee gets ready, use that time to do wind shots and short sails upwind. This will help you stay in the game and not lose track of the wind patterns while also helping your speed. Check the current, if necessary, and then get your starting line sights and laylines. The key is to stay active and do plenty of research, improving your chances of success. Before you know it you’ll be rolling right into the next race and as ready as anyone else on the water.

The post Post-Race Debrief appeared first on Sailing World.

The Racing Rules of Sailing only demand that we hail our competitors in two situations: when we need “room to tack,” and when we feel we’ve been wronged with “protest.” But somehow ours is still a noisy sport. All around the racecourse we have verbal exchanges, which are inevitable when a lot of boats are in the same patch of water all trying to win the same race. But somehow, and somewhat gracefully, our rules actually cover 90 percent of common situations without any need for a single spoken word. There’s good strategy behind it: We should avoid distractive chatter and concentrate on our boatspeed instead. The communication we need to use at critical points should be quick, concise, effective, and most importantly, limited. A few common situations come to mind where brevity is key, and with the exception of these, along with our two mandatory hails, we should generally just “shut up and sail.”

Leeward marks

Here is where we’ll find much debate about whether boats really do in fact have room. Sometimes exchanges can be civil and organized, but when there’s more than two boats involved, that’s rarely the case. To make the best of a crowded mark rounding, assess the situation, and think it through before you speak. For example, you might be thinking: OK, we’re not going to catch boat A, we’re going to round inside of boat B, but we have to make sure that C and D know they don’t have room. Once you collect your thoughts, share them with the boats around you early on—before you reach the three-length zone. You’re always trying to avoid surprises. Saying “hey B—we’re overlapped, and we need room” with the right authoritative tone will get B’s attention and let them know you’ve got it figured out. The worst-case scenario is that B responds, “You’re crazy, you don’t have any overlap, and I’m not giving you any room.” Or, “!Oye amigo, no tienes agua!”

If you start the conversation far enough out, you can react to either scenario. If B nods and starts clearing out, you round cleanly and sail away. If they say “no” then you need to assess whether continuing the conversation is worth the potential distraction. More talk means less time to set up a decent rounding. While you’re talking, never lose sight of the goal: to round the mark with a clear-air lane upon exit. Sometimes finding out that B doesn’t want to give you room early can provide you with the time to rework your plan. If you wait until the last minute, you’re more likely to have to make a crash maneuver, or you might find out that your Spanish isn’t as good as you thought. Regardless, don’t let the conversation distract you from your racing strategy.

Crowded situations

When there’s a group of tightly clustered boats on port approaching a starboard-tack boat, the leeward-most port-tack boat must choose its language carefully. This means giving the boat immediately to windward a “heads up” call well out from a starboard-tack opponent (maybe as much as 20 seconds ahead of time). The windward boat may not be able to see the starboard-tack boat, and that’s why there is a mandatory call in Rule 20.1 (“Hailing and Responding”). The leeward boat can ask for “room to tack,” and the windward boat must either tack or respond with “you tack,” at which point they must keep clear. The leeward boat, by hailing for room to tack, is then required to tack and keep clear of starboard. If the leeward boat delays in alerting the windward boat, they risk having the windward boat become a major obstacle. Remember, the back and forth of the mandatory hails can take a good 5 to 7 seconds to complete. If the windward boat hasn’t been given fair warning and isn’t ready to tack, they may end up fouling the leeward, which means neither team is sailing as effectively as possible. With anticipation, however, a quick shout over the shoulder 30 seconds out from the potential incident will help tremendously: “Hey, we’ve got a starboard-tack boat coming. I’m probably going to want to tack.” Then the windward boat can effectively prepare to respond, and because the language was clear, leeward is not yet obligated to take any action. Likewise, the windward boat is more likely to tack quicker when you ask for “room to tack,” increasing that small buffer to leeward after you put a tight leebow on the starboard tacker.

In a similar line of thought, the starboard tacker can put everybody’s mind at ease by shouting “cross” early on. Nothing inspires a port-tack boat to put the bow down and get out of your way like telling them to cross.

If the boat to leeward isn’t going to exercise their right to ask for room to tack, as a windward boat it may be necessary to remind leeward to leave a little extra space. “Room to duck” is an unnecessary but friendly reminder that a leeward boat doesn’t have the right of way when it becomes overlapped outside of an obstruction such as a starboard tacker. A quick “make sure you give us a little space” is all the windward boat needs to say to remind the leeward boat that they might have to bear away to keep clear of their windward opponent.

Similarly, as the starboard- or port-tack boat nearing a weather mark, a quick chirp of “don’t tack; you’re too close,” to your opponent, who’s using a close cross as a chance to plant one on your bow, can be just enough to get them to stop their turn and take a look to make sure they’re not going to foul you. That hesitation can ensure that no foul occurs and may allow you to squeak your bow even with them and into clear air as they finish their tack on your windward hip.

Clear intentions

Sometimes, around the leeward mark or in the middle of a beat, you might want to clear out but not spook the boat next to you in the process. Saying “I’m going to tack, but you’ll cross” can be precisely what the windward boat wants to hear to know that they don’t have to crash tack right on your face when you’re clearing out. Likewise, on the run, if you see breeze coming down the other side of the leg, you might want to jibe without taking the whole herd with you. Announcing your intentions might do just that, but more likely saying “I’m going jibe and go behind you” is enough of a concession to convince the other boats that they’re getting a sweet deal where they are allowed to cross you, avoid an evasive maneuver, and keep sailing straight. In that case, you’re free and clear to sail your own race.

Another time when it’s advantageous to be vocal is to alert others of your presence. Anticipation is a sailor’s strongest asset, and surprise can be their biggest enemy. When boats race downwind, especially with asymmetric spinnakers, there’s often a blind spot to leeward, either under the mainsail or behind the spinnaker. If you are converging with that blind spot, as the leeward boat, you have the right of way. The trouble is that the windward boat can’t keep clear if they don’t see you. While the onus is on them to keep an eye out for you, sometimes a quick “heads up” is all the downwind-sailing boat needs to duck under the boom, get a gauge on the impending collision, and then take avoiding action. Shut up and drive

Three cases come to mind when it might be better to shut up and drive instead of wasting time being distracted by chatter.

First, unless you want the port tack boat to leebow or avoid you, please don’t yell “starboard!” Everybody knows you’re on starboard tack. And if they don’t, you’re not going to solve the problem by yelling the word. Instead, let the port-tack boat know your intentions by telling them to “cross.” If you want them to tack, say “tack” and then continue on your way with a friendly smile.

Secondly, when the lead boats go around the windward mark, they often set and try to sail as low as possible to extend down the leg. Each respective boat behind them sails a little higher to exert pressure on the boat ahead as well as to defend a clean lane behind them. Then we hear the pained voice of the leader pleading: “C’mon guys. Go down!” Such pleas tend to embolden the trailing boats because now they know the pressure is getting into the leader’s psyche. Instead of complaining, give the trailers some incentive to sail lower: “Hey, mark is low.” Better yet, don’t worry about speaking at all and concentrate harder on extending low and away from the fleet.

Lastly, after an incident, why rehash the entire situation with your competitor when you should be racing instead? Yelling and screaming at other sailors after a possible foul never did anybody any good. The rules demand that you hail only one word: “Protest.” Take the incident in stride, assess your risk in the foul, and either exonerate yourself, or hail “protest” and sail away. Instead of continuing to yell and be distracted, all the while sailing off course, go and try to win the race. That’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it?

Read More: How To | Downwind Communication

The post The Right Time for Communication appeared first on Sailing World.

For years, I’ve viewed turning the top mark as a time to turn on the jets and really make some ground on the racecourse. Maybe this fervor came from a few outings as a kid with some teams that would “pass the sandwiches” after the kite goes up…or maybe it was sailing singlehanded boats where upwind differences were small, but downwind was when you made your money.

I have a system that travels well with any one-design or offshore team. It’s simple, and only involves constant communication between three primary players — spotter, trimmer and driver.

Most of the time, the spotter is the eyes-out-of the-boat person. It can be the tactician or someone designated to call puffs and waves. Before the top mark, this person starts their downwind dialog by communicating which side of the spinnaker set has more breeze and usually follows up with some simple compass feedback.

An example would be something like, “There’s stronger wind on a bear-away set, which also supports what the compass says, as we are seeing a 7-degree leftie.”

This simple feedback sets up the exit out of the top mark so you can then implement your bigger-picture downwind strategy. Once around the mark, the spotter then has eyes glued behind to call pressure and look beyond the racecourse for any bigger changes. They also help communicate lanes downwind to help keep air clean. This person really has the most important job of the three, and the more information passed, the better.

The trimmer has a huge role in downwind as well. Not only do they have a direct impact on speed through their trim of the spinnaker, but they also hold a key role in verifying and giving feedback to the spotter about whether the breeze they called actually hits the sails through increased trimming pressure.

Some common dialog would be:

Spotter: “Breeze in 5. Looks to be a good puff and a bit of a righty.”
Trimmer: “Got the breeze. Spinnaker is holding steady…not much change in wind direction.”

This dialog should be relatively constant. The more that the spotter says and recognizes, the easier it is for the trimmer to be prepared and give immediate feedback.

Now plug in the communication with the driver, which brings the dialog full circle:

Spotter: “Breeze in 5. Looks to be a good puff and a bit of a righty”.
Trimmer: “Got the breeze. Spinnaker is holding steady…not much change in wind direction.”
Driver: “I have come down 5 degrees in the puff…definitely a righty as we are tracking 245 now.”

The driver can give the final confirmation of angle and can continue to ask for dialog when there are moments of no change. From my perspective as a driver, I’m a little more aggressive in my calls for input, as I want to be sure that my teammates are on their toes. This helps keep everyone sharp.

Here’s another example:

Driver: “How’s your pressure?”
Trimmer: “Medium to light in the sheets”.
Spotter: “Small increase in 10. Looks to be a nice fill behind and to leeward.”
Driver: “If we lift off of 245, we’ll wait a few seconds and jibe”
Trimmer: “I have good pressure in the kite…increasing by the second.”
Spotter: “Solid fill for a while. It looks better to leeward.”
Driver: “We just lifted 5. Let’s jibe.”

The above dialog only happens when all parties are focused and working together. But when that happens, you’ll start seeing your results improve.

Read More: How To | Communication

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