Peter Vessella sailing upwind in a breeze

by Doug

The Florida Masters Midweek Madness was a two day event that started light on the first day but then got breezy on the second. Peter Vessella (USA) won the event with finishes in the breeze of 4, 1, 1, 1 against a competitive fleet. Here, he explains his starts, upwind strategy, Mark II setup, and how he adjusted his controls. There's a lot to be learned from  Peter's simple explanation.

Drop Race Strategy

By Doug

A good regatta strategy is sailing consistently to preserve your drop race as long as possible. In this way, you can use it for tactical reasons later on in the regatta. This certainly was not what happened at the 2013 Canadian Master Championships when I got a 29 in my first race (hate those 90 degree persistent shifts!) This appalling start really limited my strategy for the rest of the regatta.

A better example was the recent Rock the Ice event. After the first day I was in first place with 10 points and a 2 as my drop. My main competition had 15 points with a 4 as his drop, so a real difference of 3 points.

The next day would be light and Griffin is a great sailor with several advantages – sailing regularly on this lake, being 20 pounds lighter, and having the Mk II sail which I’m convinced is faster in these conditions. In fact, at times he had much better upwind speed.

In the next race at the windward mark, Griffin rounded just in front of me with the rest of the fleet just behind. Here were my options for the downwind leg:

• If we finished in that order, my lead would be just 2 points with 2 more races to go, and this finish would equal my drop.
• But if anyone behind passed me, then a 3 or worse would mean that this would have to be my drop.
• The only way for this to not be a drop was by beating Griffin which would increase my lead to 4, but this seemed unlikely in these conditions.

It looked like this race would be my drop, so I decided to make the most of it. I covered Griffin going downwind, he defended, we sailed off to the left, and we lost many places. We played games on the next beat and final run, and Griffin finished with a 4 to my 6. 

He had to count his score while I was able to drop mine, so instead of my lead being reduced to 2, it was increased to 5 - a nice cushion. This made the rest of the event easier so I could sail my own race.

Note to self: play it safe (one way described here), preserve your drop race, and use it in the second half when needed.

Stay in the Football

By Doug

Over Super Bowl weekend, we had the inaugural Rock the Ice Regatta that attracted a small but competitive fleet. It seems appropriate that we can use a football metaphor to describe the racing.

Steve Bourdow is a great sailor and coach, and would say that when sailing upwind you need to stay inside the football (translation – don’t bang the corners). The first day’s racing was a textbook example of why this works.

In each of the six races I found myself in the lead with my main competition sailing to either the right or left corners. If you want to beat that person, you have to go with them, but there’s always the risk of losing to the rest of the fleet – winning the battle but losing the war. Even when someone on the edge was in more pressure, I resisted the temptation and gave up the lead.

This strategy paid off – four of the six races were won by one one of my main competitors banging a corner while I settled for sailing in between what looked good and the rest of the fleet. As a result, I had four seconds in those races. This ‘percentage sailing’ paid off – at the end of the day I had 10 points while my two main competitors were less consistent and had 15 and 25 points (results here).

After the racing, I told the juniors that if you want to win the occasional race, bang the corner. But if you want to win the occasional regatta, stay in the football.