Windward marks
Olympic gold medalist Eilidh McIntyre explains how to pull o a textbook rounding
Coming into the windward mark can be a hugely busy time and can sometimes feel like utter carnage. It depends what leg you’re going onto, but always plan ahead early. Look for the next mark: if it’s a reach, is it low or is it high? Are we tight behind? will we be planning? This will dictate your next decision. If it’s a run discuss the gain that beat, long tack, so what’s long gybe. What was the winning route up that beat? Is it tight behind and will you need to defend or can you sail your own race straight away? Is there pressure to considered?
There’s a lot going on. For me as a crew, quite often it’s about me having the presence of mind to think about all these questions and plan ahead for the next leg. But choosing when to voice the facts is tricky, and the earlier you do it the better. This allows the helm to nail the entry to the mark and form the decision for the next leg.
For Hannah (Mills) and I, our boat handling routines are fixed depending on wind strength and the type of manoeuvre. I think actually allows for more flexibility rather than less; if we need to stop to defend we know exactly what to do when we return to the hoist. The order we do things is almost always the same, which allows us to be quick and ecient and cuts the thinking time; it’s just automatic.
Training for this starts with knowing the routines you’re going to do, and then knowing the routines for each type of manoeuvre. The hoist is more straightforward than the drops which has a few more variables, especially with a symmetric kite. Start by just going round one windward mark and practising hoists and a leeward mark practising drops, before you attempt to put it into action on a race course.
The best way to ensure a perfect hoist is routine. Analyse video if you’re not quite nailing it. A hoist can be a good opportunity to gain, but a good outcome is also to be in a position to nail your bigger picture plan. Sometimes, overall positioning is more important than how quickly the kite pops. Follow Eilidh McIntyre’s campaign for Paris 2024 via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @mcintyreeilidh