IN ASSOCIATION WITH MANUFACTURERS OF PERFORMANCE HARDWAREW
e have all been here:
stuck just of the
windward hip of a
competitor heading
upwind. You’ve
been hiking extra hard, fighting tooth
and nail for every inch, calling the gusts
and trimming accurately, steering over
the waves to perfection. The metre
or so you’ve gained to windward is
enough to give a clear lane toward the
favoured right hand side of the beat on
port tack, unafected by the boats on
your leeward quarter. The wind shifts
slightly left and you feel yourself edging
forward on the boat just ahead and to
leeward, the extra work has paid of
and everyone is feeling pretty good. But
no one has spotted the approaching
menace: a starboard tack boat about to
cross tight ahead of the leeward boat.
“Duck” is the call from the tactician:
a sensible call as the wind is left and
therefore the gain is on the right.
“Ease main, big hike”: it’s a 2 metre
duck and you pass closely by the
transom of the starboard tacker, exiting
at speed... straight back into the lee bow
of the boat you have fought so hard
to climb free from (green boat, fig 1).
In theory you have done everything
right; created gauge over a boat that
could hold you up, identified the correct
side of the course and performed a
close duck. But despite all this, you
find yourself seriously disadvantaged,
seemingly through no fault of your own.
In this situation, you might consider
using what I call ‘the alternative duck’
and allows you to turn the starboardFig 1
tack boat into an opportunity to widen
the port tack lane, keeping the port tack
options open. The move involves slowing
the boat by pinching just enough to let
the starboard tacker cross clear ahead,
helping you build a gap to leeward on
your fellow port-tacker, allowing you to
hold your lane and keep clear air at the
cost of a few lengths forward distance.
If it’s a last minute decision, the
alternative duck is a poor option: it’s
easy to misjudge, lose the speed too
late, and end up with a big last minute
duck, reaching straight down into the
compromised lane you are trying to
avoid. To be efective, the opportunity
has to be seen well ahead, and the crew
briefed on what will happen next.The rest of the crew
Any remaining crew continue to call
the gusts through, hiking hard in the
peaks but ready to move inboard
if the helm calls for weight in.
In particular, it’s important to
identify a heading gust to avoid
any possibility of an involuntary
tack, and to call and hike super
hard in the lifting gusts so the helm
can take all the height he can.
Once back in normal trim, the
team is focussed on sailing at best
VMG angles for the conditions: it’s
very tempting to continue battling
away inhigh mode to safeguard
the lane, but that job is done! The
next goal is to get to the windward
mark as quickly as possible.THE MIXED FLEET
The alternative duck is a particularly
great tool in a one design fleet, where
every lane held and inch gained is a
significant battle won. It is also a little
easier to pull of, with the judgement
of relative closing speeds much less
challenging. In a mixed fleet, however,
if the starboard tack boat is bigger
and quicker, the potential gains can be
even bigger – though conversely there
are few occasions where it would be
a good option if the starboard tacker
is smaller and slower. The reason for
this is that waiting in high mode for
a bigger boat means there is less big
boat to duck, and you’ve efectively
joined in a gate start with a super fast
pathfinder; the late starter’s advantage.
However,think hard about using the
alternative duck when the starboard
tack boat is significantly slower. You
are limited to the slow boat’s VMG
from the time you would have crossed
behind with a classic duck, to the
time you actually cross behind.Above
Focus really hard
on hiking in the
gusts but be
prepared to move
weight in if the
helm calls for it60 Yachts & Yachting July 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk