5 tips Gaining places through the fleet, with Robert Scheidt
HOW TO climb up THROUGH a fleet
ANDY RICE talks to multi-medal winning Olympic sailor ROBERT SCHEIDT
Robert Scheidt possesses that rare quality of great self-belief combined with the ability to analyse his strengths and weaknesses ruthlessly. Meticulous in his preparation, his first advice about recovering from a bad start is to avoid giving yourself too much to do in the first place.
Be honest about your abilities and only attempt a start that you have a reasonable chance of executing. Can you really fight for the pin end and win it, for example? To do so requires great boathandling, good crew work and pinpoint accuracy with your time on distance judgements.
If you don’t have those skills, maybe you should start away from the favoured end? Or line up closer to the committee boat where you are more likely to get an early opportunity to tack away on to port and clear your air after a mediocre start?
But bad starts happen to all of us, even to someone as peerless as Robert Scheidt. Here the Brazilian magician shares his five best tips on how to pull a rabbit out of the hat and work your way back up through the fleet.
1 DON’T PANIC!
If you have a bad start, the first thing is not to get desperate. The fleet will still be quite compressed in the first few minutes after the start, so there are usually a few early opportunities to get back in the hunt.
The most important thing is to find a decent lane that’ll enable you to sail in clear air for the next few minutes. If you can do that, you’re probably not going to make it into the top three or top five, but you’re still going to be close to the majority of the fleet. That’s your goal: to stay in the hunt.
A lot of people rush things after a bad start and start to deviate from their original plan. For example, if you wanted the left, don’t allow yourself to be bounced all the way out to the right. Adapt your plan but don’t throw it out of the window altogether. You’re not likely to win your side, but you’re still going to sail towards what you think is the favoured side, the side you wanted before the start.
2 CONSIDER A PORT TACK APPROACH
Approaching the first windward mark after a bad start can be tough. Sometimes it pays to tack a minute to 30 seconds before the port layline and make the port end approach from there. But that can be high risk. You can gain a lot on that move but sometimes it can be bad, because you can’t find a space in the queue of starboard boats; then you’ll need to tack under the fleet and you’re at risk of getting a penalty if you tack too close.
A general rule: if you’re approaching with less than a minute under the layline and you have a left-hand windshift at the top mark, the gap on the starboard layline will probably open up more easily, because the starboard tackers will all be on a header and sailing in each other’s bad air. But if there’s a righthand shift at the top, it’s going to be harder to find your spot because the fleet’s going to be more compressed, as they’re going to stay on each other’s hips a lot more easily.
3 SAIL FREE DOWNWIND
Once you turn downwind, it’s important to sail free from other boats in clear air. This is really important if you’re in the middle of the pack and clear air is hard to find. Take a look over your shoulder, look for the best pressure and move out to one side away from the fleet, so you can make the best of the wind and the waves.
If you’re really far back in the fleet, a gybe-set is a good attacking move because there’s not too much bad air from the fleet coming upwind. But if you’re in the middle of the pack, wait at least a minute before you gybe, otherwise the wind shadow from the windward mark and the spacer mark will really hurt you.
4 PICK YOUR LEEWARD MARK
The leeward mark is an opportunity for big gains, especially if it’s a leeward gate. There are a few factors to weigh up, such as which mark is closer, and which has less traffic.
Clear air on the second upwind leg is a big priority, and sometimes it can be worth sailing extra distance to the less favoured mark if it puts you in a cleaner lane upwind.
Current can affect your approach to the leeward mark too. If it’s running with you downwind, get your spinnaker down early. If the current is against you and it’s light winds, keep the spinnaker flying late to help you get round the mark.
5 BE PATIENT
There is a temptation, as you get towards the end of the race, to start taking more risks. I don’t like doing that, as regattas are usually decided by a few points here and there. So don’t throw it all away gambling by sailing into a corner.
Coming back from a bad start is usually the accumulation of lots of small gains around the race course. If there’s one quality that marks out the people who win championship after championship, it’s the ability to come back from a bad start and convert it into a good result by the finish.