By
Doug
In a previous post, we looked at how Olympic Gold Medalist Paul Goodison starts in a really good fleet. Here's another creative example.
The starting line for the Grand Masters at the 2007 Worlds in Spain was really long. The pin was a yacht with a tall mast and there was a hill in
the distance, so line sights were not the problem. What was the problem was the
number of boats and the length of the line... it seemed impossible to get the
"big picture" with the other boats, where there were holes in
the line, etc.
To make things more challenging, the rules stated that if you were over the line in the
last 90 seconds, you had to go around the ends, which simply could not be done
from most of the line. So competitors had to commit early, line up, be conservative,
hope that those around would behave, and then hope for the best.
Mark Bethwaite (AUS) came up with a much better solution. Mark has
won a dozen world championships in everything from J24's and Solings to Lasers. With 3 minutes to go, he started 30 meters to windward of the committee boat and sailed parallel to the line on starboard. From there, he was able to see the big
picture, where the holes were, and who he wanted to start with.
From there, he would simply sail through the line and grab
the position that he liked.
And in spite of
intense competition, Mark won another world championship. Here are additional comments from Mark:
The
Laser Masters Worlds in Roses Spain in 2007 is a dim memory but my main
recollection is that after meticulous training and gear preparation, my sailing
bag never made it through Heathrow to Barcelona so I had to scramble for a
sail, battens, tiller, control lines, other equipment and even sailing clothes
just to get on the water! I am forever grateful to you, Geoff Lucas,
Bruce Martinson and others for assistance. Winning that regatta after
such a disastrous start was a "sweet victory" as politicians are fond
of saying!
You
are right in your recollection of my starting - I have developed an approach to
sailing which I would describe as scripted/unscripted. An important
element of the scripted part is pre regatta training to establish fitness and
fast settings with good calibration to be able to replicate them to achieve
reliable speed. That then lets you get the head out of the boat to focus
on the unscripted bit.
Applied
to the starting situation, the scripted part means getting out early,
establishing port and starboard tack mean compass readings and tidal current if
any. Optimising set up by "cranking up" with a less hostile
competitor, plus the usual establishing transits and the
favoured end of the line are essential parts of the script.
I
like then to relax, stretch in the boat and observe wind, waves and competitors
preparations and of course any starts prior to mine. I start racing
mentally at the 5 minute signal - starting the countdown, sailing flat out on
port from the Committee Boat, confirming 4 minutes, sailing flat out on
starboard to bring me upwind of mid line at 3 minutes.
My
last minute port and starboard readings will confirm or otherwise the favoured
end so I then run back across the line (or outside the pin if that end
favoured), gybe and approach the fleet on port to keep options open for as long
as possible.
The
unscripted part starts with looking for lower boat density an acceptable
distance from the favoured end, tacking to starboard between 60 and 90 seconds,
working through to the front stalls, defending that position against all and
sundry and aiming to have room to accelerate just before the gun. Back to
scripted by sailing flat out to hold the lane while remaining aware of the
spatial distribution of boats on the race course.
Back
to unscripted again - there is no more important tack in the race than the
first after the start, whether to consolidate a good start, recover from a bad
one or to head towards the next heading shift. How to determine that next
heading shift is a key question I have endeavoured to answer in Chapter 29.4
"Cutting the Corners" that my father Frank asked me to write for
Higher Performance Sailing. Of one thing I am sure - my
sailing now is less scripted than ever before as we are always dealing with
dynamics - ever changing wind and spatial distribution of competitors. A
script has no chance of success in this environment and even if the knowns of
tide or geography favour one side or the other, how you get there and back to
the next mark will always be improved by unscripted responses to real time
observations of wind and competitors.
This
takes me back to the statement above about how time in the boat establishes the
virtuous circle of reliable speed, more time to get the head out of the boat,
earlier and better analysis of the wind and competitor environment, better real
time decision making and better boat positioning on the course.
Mark is fast in all conditions and I have had the pleasure of sailing Lasers with him for 40 years now. We'll be training together the week before the Kingston Master Worlds.
For those travelling by air, a word of advice: like Mark, I too have arrived at a Worlds with no sailing gear. Plan ahead and put your sailing essentials in your carry-on luggage.
Paul Goodison has won Olympic Gold and Mark has won worlds in multiple classes. The next starting expert we'll look at has done both.
