Racing Essentials

Whatever your level,there’s always something new to try in racing.ANDY RICE shares his top tips, with input from Ian Walker and Adam Bowers.

Human beings like to measure progress and that’s why so many of us love to go racing, even those of us that aren’t particularly good at it. And yes, ok, there are other ways of having fun on the water; messing about in boats, from chasing after rubber ducks in Optimists to voyaging across the North Sea in a Wayfarer, is all within the grasp of the UK dinghy sailor. But racing can also be an incredible adrenaline buzz and if you’re racing with a friend, the rewards of working as a team, of learning from your mistakes together and working out how to make it better next time, that’s a feeling of learning and growing that’s hard to beat.

So if you have never tried racing, just give it a go. What have you got to lose? The race maybe? Well, yes, quite possibly! But we’ve all got to start somewhere and learning to race can be a fantastic journey of self-discovery.

For those of us fortunate to grow up in a family that was already into sailing, the path to racing is pretty obvious. But what about first-generation sailors with no prior connection to the sport? Let’s assume that you’re already a member of a local sailing club and that you’re already competent at getting a boat around a course in light to medium winds.

Seek out the club commodore and ask if there’s anyone at the club whose specific role is to get people into racing. This is becoming increasingly commonplace as clubs wake up to the fact that for newcomers to sailing, getting involved in racing can seem quite intimidating.

For that reason, some clubs like Queen Mary SC, Datchet Water SC and Oxford SC now run beginners-only races, which are becoming so popular that even the veterans are queuing up to join in.

YOUR FIRST CLUB RACE