"Regardless of whether there are three boats starting or 30 or 130, the only two boats that really matter to you right off the starting line are the boats just to windward and to leeward of you. I call these boats my neighbors. Therefore, one of the secrets to getting a good start is picking your neighbors wisely."
- Dave Perry
Undoubtedly, I could probably sit here and write a 300pg book on how to start a sailing race and how to do so in a successful way. However, I don't have the time (nor the knowledge) to write a 300pg reference manual, and even if I did- it probably would not be very interesting and still wouldn't come close to covering all the minute yet important aspects and elements that go together to create a good start.
After reading the above quote on the US Sailing Blog earlier this morning, I decided I should give a shot at writing a post about how to get that ideal start on a crowded line. Over the years I have been exposed to a variety of starts, some on lines with 3 or 4 boats and others on lines with nearly 150 boats (and everything in between). Besides, lets face it- If I can't get back on a starting line in the Laser class anytime soon... at least I can talk about it and dream a bit, haha. This post is by no means for the self'proclaimed experts out there, but for the kids just getting into big fleet racing or more challenging classes.
So here goes...
Laser North Americans 2010. Kemah, Texas. (Less than 10secs after the start).
This above picture shows which I thought to be one of my best all time starts. I'm the boat in the red square. Clear ahead, holding my lane, no threats to windward, and on the favored side, focusing solely on speed and getting in sync.
The start of the race, and the first 2 minutes there after are in my opinion the most important parts of the race. Any Laser sailor will tell you that a good start means the difference between a top of the fleet finish, and a bottom half performance. Your start is your setup, a good start can have you infront of the majority of the fleet early on, and instead of focusing on catching up and keeping clear of others, you can focus on building speed and increasing your distance over your competitors.
With a good start, you aren't playing catch-up but you are in essence controlling the fleet and your destiny. With a good start you shouldn't have to worry so much about other boats around you, but instead can focus on where the top guys are, what the fastest course to the mark is, and can sail your own race using your own game plan- essentially, you not letting your outcome be controlled by someone else and you are in control of your destiny. As sailors we all love to be in control of the outcome.
The more and more you compete in big fleets, the more and more you will realize just why hitting that start perfectly is so crucial.
So, how do you get a good start?
This is a question that has a lot of answers and information to go with it. This is a question that is extremely hard to fully explain the answer to, and it's even harder to apply that answer. But I can try to give a bit of advice to how you can go about improving your starts.
There are many key elements that you need to think about before and during your start. These are some of the more important ones:
Timing.
Position.
Competitors.
Gear changing.
Acceleration.
First off, and I know this sounds novice, but it is crucial to properly know your information. The 2 worst ways to lose a race are by having an equipment failure or by not having a full understanding of the sailing instructions- both of these roads to defeat could have been prevented onshore.
Make sure you know the SI's in and out. Know what to expect on the line, whether you will have a pin end buoy or a pin end boat (yes it makes a difference; boats can call you over, buoys can't).
Know what type of boat will be your RC signal boat, if it's something small like a skiff, it would be easy to take a line sight straight across the boat to the pin end, also, if its something small, you don't have to worry about getting caught in a nasty wind shadow that is very common among larger RC boats.
Another thing you should know is whether there will be a mid-line buoy or not, if there's no mid-line mark, then you can expect a reasonable amount of line sag (especially in a big fleet). Line sag can be as much as a 2 boat length dip on a long enough line, it's truly incredible just how much sag there can be. 2 Laser boat lengths are roughly 28', so if your not aware of the sag, and start a race where the majority of the sag is, your already going to be very late off the line- and 28' behind your competitors who started on the ends.
[Diagram showing mid-line sag.
Source.]
You should also familiar yourself with the approximate racing area (found in most SI's or event websites), the various course types to be expected, which flags go along with which courses, any special changes to rules, etc. Even go as far as to ask the locals what to expect out of the PRO- sometimes knowing how he runs his starts and manages his course can affect how you want to setup on the line.
I know this all sounds like a lot of basic and obvious stuff, but you'd be surprised at the number of times I hear someone on the line asking which course is this flag for, or which fleet is up next, etc. Don't be that guy... Be that guy who doesn't need to question anything going on and is mentally ready and prepared to sail the course and execute the start. Second guessing things is a quick way to set yourself up for a poor performance.
Okay- so your prepared more or less for the pre-start. I'm going to go ahead and assume you made it out to the course early enough to sail upwind for a while and get your wind readings. Also, it's a good idea to get a sense of what needs to be done to sail as fast as possible (sail trim and body positioning wise), figure out the current, figure out the favored side of the line, and have a decent idea of what your plan is going to be to get between those marks as quickly and efficiently as possible.
If you didn't do all those things pre-sequence; well quite frankly you shouldn't expect yourself to do to well and you shouldn't call yourself a serious Laser sailor.
Alright, so here we go, the line is set. There are about 60 other boats out there with you, all crowded onto a line that seems way too short- you immediately know there will be at least 2 rows on the line, maybe 3 on the favored end. Heart rate is getting up there, your getting nervous, you have a plan of what you want to do, then bam- 5 minutes.
When that 5 minute gun goes, I'm usually right up on the line, sailing back and forth, just checking things out. If I need a line sight (which is sometimes practical, but in crowded fleets can be very useless), I get it right around when that 5 minute gun goes off. Don't get me wrong, in a small fleet and even some big fleets, line sights can be great- but in a large laser fleet, they are rarely ever used, and you will see why as you read onward.
If you happen to miss the gun, stay calm, and re-sync at the 4 min flag. Remember, if the horn signal is on the RC boat and your all the way near the pin-end; don't start your clock on the auditory signal, but start it on the flag signal. If you notice, that flag will go up about an entire second and a half before you hear the sound on a long line... and we all know every second matters.
4 minutes.
By this point I'm more or less in the general area of where I plan to start and I try to stay more or less in this area. I like to break the line down into thirds- the pin, the middle, and the boat. At 4 minutes you want to know which third you plan to start in- having a plan and sticking to it is very essential. Too often you see marshmallows (i.e. guys with no plan) cruising down the line in the bottom row with 10secs to go, looking for a non-existant hole to plop their boat into. You can't expect to win a start like this. To win a start in the Laser fleet you need to be in the first row, and more importantly you need to be set-up in the first row and ready to go. Stay in your third, on the line or even slightly above, be ready to park your boat up in that spot as soon as you have to. Do not put yourself into a position where you will need to fight just to get into the front row... Incase you haven't experienced it yet- there is NO wind below the second row of a crowded line.
3 minutes to go.
In most big fleets you will notice that everyone is starting to set up by this point. Depending on the strength of the fleet, many sailors will even begin stalling themselves in an attempt to be in what they consider the ideal position at the start. This means you may notice some sailors with their boats pointed almost into the wind, just bobbing there- the sailors who do this correctly are those who plan ahead. You can't expect to put yourself in a position and stay there for 3 minutes straight, maybe this will work in an ideal world, but not in the real world. The current and wind will have an effect on your position- regardless of how hard you try to stay in the same spot. So go ahead and think about where you want your boat to end up at go, and calculate the ideal position to 'park-up' pre start.
2 minutes.
By this point during most big fleet starts, I am on the line in my position. The only way to ensure a front row start is to be already in the front row from earlier, and to hold your newly claimed spot, and to do this you need to be aggressive. Very aggressive, in fact if your not yelling your not trying hard enough.
Don't be a marshmallow.
As everyone starts lining up, things will get very tight very quickly. Around 2 minutes to go is when you start hearing the Jury blowing whistles for sculling and propulsion- sailors trying to keep a clear lane. Ideally, you want to be in a position with a nice gap to windward of you, and about a half a boat length gap to leeward of you. This is so you don't get immediately covered at the start, and so that you can bear off to leeward for speed if necessary. Protecting these distances to leeward and windward is very important in that it gives you some freedom to hold your lane after the gun; the wider your lane the easier it will be to maintain.
So how do you control your spot? Well, how I do it involves a lot of yelling, a lot of quickly sheeting in and throwing my bow up to windward or bearing off quickly then shooting back up, theres also a lot of pushing my boom out to bring my boat to a stop. It's extremely hard to explain, but the difference between Marshmallows and good sailors is that good sailors don't lose their spot and will do almost anything to keep it.
I like to think that if you can reach out and touch the boat to windward of you, then he is too close. Try to line up next to a 'marshmallow' and not the top ranked sailors; because the top ranked sailors will roll you off the line and the marshmallows will make it easy for you to jump ahead.
By the way, at 2 minutes to go, check your blades for any seaweed... The last thing you want at the start is unnecessary drag.
1 minute.
Between your heart beating, the sails flapping, the cuss words being thrown around all over the line, the jury boat watching you, and the boats slightly tapping each other- you need to keep your cool and stay focused. There's going to be a point on a tight line where the boats are so lined up that someone could probably skip across the bows from the RC to the pin-end... until they reach your bow, because we already established that you should have a gap to both your windward and leeward sides.
I know that it can be extremely easy to lose your concentration and start second guessing yourself as things get extremely crowded. At 1 minute to go, everyone should be lined up; first and second row. It's crucial that you don't let yourself drift back into that second row, and it's also crucial that you don't let those boats to the sides of you pull out infront and leave you in their shadow. At this point, the quote at this top of this Blog post is as true as it gets- the 2 boats next to you are the most important, the one to leeward and the one to windward. Keep these boats in your eyes and feed off one another, if they advance then you advance.
Sub 1 minute.
This is where the start truly becomes a Laser start. I have had numerous coaches who have all told me that the person who wins the start is the person who first hits their ratchet. This is very true, especially when in the middle of the line during a big fleet start. If you hear the guy to windward of you begin to sheet in his sail, then you better get on your sheet- you cannot let him pull ahead of you, and odds are there is a good bit of line sag anyway; so you can afford it.
If he keeps on sheeting in and doesn't slow down, then it's go time- even if there is 15secs left on the clock. In a competitive Laser fleet, if one guy goes, most guys follow.... Look up videos on Youtube, there are a ton of big fleet starts where most the fleet is way over the line with a lot of time to go. Besides, if everyone is over, then there will be a General Recall... And if the black flag is up, odds are they won't see you- but that's just me; I like taking risks. Obviously this wouldn't apply to a 15 boat fleet where the RC can see every sail, but in a 50+ fleet, this is something to think about.
With less than a minute to go, you also need to begin thinking about your gears and sail settings. I like to make sure the tails of my lines are readily accessible next to me. With about 15secs to go until the start, I like to start making adjustments- vang on, snug up the Cunningham. NEVER have your vang tight before this point, even a slightly snug vang will act as a mainsheet and power up your rig, propelling you forward and making the boat extremely hard to control. However, at 15secs to go you need to begin making adjustments or else you won't be fast immediately off the line. It's all about getting in the groove, and if you wait until the gun to tighten your vang, you would have already lost valuable distance... As a Laser sailor you should recognize the extreme importance of your sail controls.
Once you start the race, you want to sail hard and fast for the first few minutes. You need to hold your lane, these first minutes are what will put you ahead. Give it 110% hiking off the line, get into the groove quickly, start changing gears and trimming the sail for speed, minimize your rudder movement and maximize your focus. You need to work on keeping your lane clear, look at other boats to ensure you are not falling off to leeward or that you are not over pinching to windward and losing speed. Sail the boat in that fine groove of fast speed and high heading.
Be faster than the guys next to you, and be in control. Do not lose focus, because I guarantee as soon as you do, you will notice the guy to windward of you rolling right over you and you craving a steady airflow. Trust me, the worst feeling in the world is feeling as if your slower than the fleet and getting shot out the back, this kills your race. Not only are you instantly in the bottom half, but your mental state is completely messed up and confidence is replaced with skepticism.
If you are shot out the back, all I can tell you is that you need to stay positive, look for options, and work on catching up- stay in clear air and don't throw the race away.
If you notice yourself starting to pull ahead, then congratulations- everything is going well. At this point, keep a clear head and start thinking about how your going to play the course and manage the fleet. Do not go off to a side where no one else is going. I like to stay with the fleet, that way you have many boats to gauge off of and keep in reference. I'm not too sure how to explain this part, but for me it's much easier to keep a lead when I can easily see in close range who it is I'm keeping a lead off of and how they are sailing their boat. Where as, if I go way off left and the majority of the fleet is out right, not only are you on the unfavored side, but you are so far away from the majority of the fleet that it's hard to judge speed off of them and calculate distance and positions.
There you go, starting a Laser race. Kind of. From my perspective, at least. Hopefully after a few more seasons of racing, I can learn a few more tricks to update this with, haha.
I hope this post has given you a bit of help with your starts, I know I'm not the best at explaining my thoughts, haha- so if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I'd love to answer them... Also, leave suggestions of what else you'd like me to write about.
SailFast, Live Slow
