Yachts & Yachting — February 2018

TOM GRUITT

WHEN TO TACK?

The decision of whether to tack o or to continue comes

down to a complex combination of factors. MARK RUSHALL

breaks down the tactical thinking to maximise your options

S

hould I stay or should I go

now? If I go there will be

trouble, and if I stay it will

be double... So sang The

Clash in 1981, lyrics that

will be familiar to many when trying

to balance big picture strategy on an

upwind leg. Let’s take a closer look

at some of the options surrounding

a typical scenario, as illustrated

here in the diagram below, right.

The wind has just shifted left (so it

has headed all three boats on starboard

tack). Should Yellow, in position 3, keep

sailing into the header, or ‘bank’ the

instantaneous gain to tack and cross the

other boats? Should Green su„ er the

pain and stay with the other boats, or

tack onto the lifted port tack in the hope

that the wind will come back right later?

As always with sailing, the perfect

answer begins with ‘It depends’. In

this feature we’ll look at some realistic

possibilities for Yellow and Green,

and discuss a way to break down

the choices, analyse position and

help create more focus on making

these ‘stay or go’ decisions.

Possible scenarios for

Yellow to consider:

zn“Yes, the wind has headed, but I’m

still certain there is more wind on the left

hand side of the beat, and that is going

to make more di„ erence. I’m going to

keep heading towards the pressure,

but revisit the decision if all the boats

on my hip tack o„ before I get there.”

zn“I’m still above my mean heading

for starboard tack, and I can feel

that the wind is still moving left. As

IN ASSOCIATION WITH MANUFACTURERS OF PERFORMANCE HARDWARE

soon as I’m down to mean numbers

I’ll tack onto port, and duck the

boats on my hip if necessary.”

zn“I have no confi dence in what

the wind might do next. Therefore

positioning is my fi rst priority. We are

getting closer to the port layline so I’m

looking for an opportunity to lead back

to the centre of the beat. The header

has given me a gain on the boats to

my right so I am going to tack to put

that gain ‘in the bank’ right now.”

Possible scenarios for

Green to consider:

zn“This header really hurts: Blue is

now ahead of me. But we are sailing

towards the headland: there is usually

a wind bend here meaning it keeps

heading all the way to the layline.

If I tack I’ll miss all the gains from

the wind bend. I will carry on.”

zn“This race is all about the

shifts. I’m tacking as soon as I’m

down to mean numbers.”

zn“The wind is just as likely to head

more as lift. It is tempting to tack now

to avoid pointing at Blue’s stern, but

that will put me out on a limb and there

is more starboard tack on the rest of

the beat than port at the moment.

It’s only a paper gain until the boats

on the left start tacking: if the wind

is still headed when they go, I’ll tack

with them, otherwise I’ll keep going.”

Left

Picking the

right moment

to tack is often

the di erence

between winning

and losing

Should Yellow keep sailing on the header or

use the instantaneous gain to tack and cross?

February 2018 Yachts & Yachting 57

How to win_AC_GC_TH.indd 57 18/12/2017 11:24