When to move

Mark Rushall looks at what may determine our decision making, from sea state to pressure patches to tide

- Mark Rushall

Club racers determined to finish further up the fleet, and day cruisers keen to get to their destination for the celebratory sundowner often face similar dilemmas. Could they each learn by comparing notes?

In this feature I’ll use my own experience of racing our RS200 at the local club, and cruising our heavy displacement, long-keeled yacht in the Solent, to highlight some of the questions that both club racers and passage-makers might try to answer, to come up with a solution for “getting there quicker”.

Last month Helena Lucas talked about different sorts of wind shifts and suggested the best strategies for each.

If the wind is shifting regularly around a mean direction, tack if the shift makes you sail below your mean heading. That way you will sail the shortest distance upwind. Upwind, you are tacking on the headers. Downwind, gybe on the lifts.

A “wind bend” could be caused by the wind deflecting around an obstruction, for example a headland. Think of it as a running track, and sail toward the inside of the bend to sail the shortest distance upwind or downwind.

If over the period of the leg you are sailing, the wind is moving persistently in one direction, tack towards the new wind direction to sail the shortest course upwind.

There is plenty more to throw into the strategic mix, for example tide, sea state, varying and changing wind strengths, gusts and puffs. Most books and articles are written with a perfectly square beat or run in mind: club racers and passagemakers have to take into account that a beat or run may not be square, and you’d have to have a very good reason not to simply take the tack or gybe that takes you closest to the destination.