This page focuses on strategy. When racing, "strategy" is the sequence of decisions you make to sail the most efficient route around the race course. In other words, it is your plan for how you will get from the starting line to the finishing line in the absence of other boats. Strategic decisions are made in relation to wind shifts, current, waves, and other course factors. Imagine a boat sailing the course alone. All the decisions that boat makes from start to finish would be strategic decisions.
Locate the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions for the race you plan to participate in. These documents will give details about the dates and times of racing, how to register, how races will begin, what courses will be sailed, how penalties will be applied, and more. It is important to know the rules and procedures for the event, and to get any questions you still have answered before racing begins. Additionally, it is a good idea to learn what you can about the area you will be racing. Consult a chart to see if there are any changes in depth in the racing area. Current tends to run faster in deeper water, and not as fast in shallow water. Identify any obstacles or hazards. Consult the tide tables (the vertical movement of water) and, if available, current charts (the horizontal movement of water) for the sailing area. Current usually changes direction around the same time the tide changes, but this is not always the case. Finally, look at the wind and weather forecasts to get a feel for what is being predicted for the days and times you will be racing.
As soon as you get to the racing area you and your crew want to begin discussing your strategy. Anything discussed up to this point is theoretical based on what you think the conditions for racing will be. Now that you are on the course, you are seeing the conditions live. While homework you did may be helpful, and strategies you brainstormed earlier in the day may apply, it's important to take a fresh look now that you are seeing the real deal. How wavy is it? How windy is it? What direction is the wind blowing from? Is it steady or shifty? Is the land an influence on one tack or the other? When you sail upwind are you able to point high, or do you have to keep the bow down for power to keep the boat moving? When you sail downwind, can you point directly downwind, or do you need to sail an angle to the breeze to keep your spinnaker of jib full? Is there current on the race course? Is the current speed and direction about the same on all parts of the course, or does it vary? The answers to these questions will inform your strategy.
Most races start using an imaginary line between a flag on the Race Committee boat stationed at the right (starboard) end of the line, and a "pin" flag on a buoy stationed at the left (port) end of the line. Most races also require boats to sail upwind after the start to a windward mark. This section is written with the presumption that the line is set as described above, and that boats are racing upwind after the start.
When racing upwind, the boat that is further upwind is ahead. Because boats are sailing an angle to the wind, it can sometimes be difficult to see who is more upwind. Oftentimes sailors use the metaphor of boats climbing "ladder rungs" that are perpendicular to the wind direction as a way to conceptualize the windward leg. This is also useful at the start. Dave Dellenbaugh's article "Speed and Smarts: Ladder Rungs - Part 2" helps explain the ladder rung concept.
This ladder rung concept is critical for the start, because sometimes the starting line is not perfectly square to the wind direction. The race committee may set the line perfectly square, but inevitably the wind direction will vary over the course of the day. When the wind shifts, this will make one end of the line more upwind. Before and during the start you should continually evaluate the wind direction. One way to do this is to position yourself to the left of the starting line. Sail head to wind past the pin. As you pass the pin, look 90 degrees to the right of your centerline (perpendicular to your centerline). If you are looking at the race committee boat through the pin, the line is "square" (niether end is more upwind than the other). If, when looking through the pin, you are looking in front of the race committee boat, the pin is more upwind than the race committee boat.
Armed with this knowledge, you can now make a strategic decision about where to start. Since the goal is to sail upwind after the start, you want to start the race at the most upwind end of the line. (Tactical decisions, which are decisions made in relation to other boats, may alter this strategy, and will be discussed on the "tactics" page).
You've started at the more upwind end of the line and are now sailing upwind. The next task is to sail the most efficient route to the windward mark. Wind shifts and pressure (more or less breeze) will likely be the most prominent element to pay attention to on the windward leg. However, waves and current may also be a factor.
Sailing the Lifted Tack
Oftentimes, the most central strategy for sailing efficiently upwind is to sail on the lifted tack, or the tack that points you more at the mark. Let's imagine there was a ten degree left shift during the start, and the pin was more upwind at the start. You identified the shift during the start, and started the race at the pin. When the race committee set the course they likely set the windward mark directly upwind of the starting line, but during the start the wind shifted ten degrees left. You decided to start at the pin as a result. The wind shift 10 degrees left also means that the wind is coming from 10 degrees left of the heading to the windward mark. Your boat sails about 45 degrees off the true wind on either tack. With the wind shifted 10 degrees left of the windward mark, your starboard tack heading will sail you at an angle of 55 degrees to the windward mark heading. On the other hand, your port tack heading will sail you at an angle of about 35 degrees from the windward mark. While neither tack points you directly at the mark, the port tack angle is a significantly closer angle to the mark. Therefore, port tack is currently the lifted tack and starboard tack is the headed tack. If you believe the wind is oscillating, then you should definitely sail the port tack heading immediately after the start. Wind that is oscillating is wind that is shifting back and forth. While there is a 10 degree left shift now, in a few minutes you believe it is likely the wind will shift to the right. Therefore, sail the left shift on port tack while it lasts. If and when the wind shifts right, then you will tack onto starboard tack. This is often described as "tacking on the headers." If you are sailing a tack and begin to get headed, then tack so that you are sailing the new lifted tack.
The breeze is not always oscillating, however. If you believe the wind is shifting persistently to the left, then in our example you may want to sail starboard tack first, and then port tack. If the wind is going to shift further left in the future, and no more right, then the current wind is the least left (or most right) it will be. In this example, be careful not to sail past the upwind layline to the mark. The upwind layline is the point where you can tack, sail an upwind angle, and be pointing at the windward mark. Sailing beyond the layline is simply extra distance that you sail and others do not have to sail, and therefore should be avoided.
Sometimes breeze is not shifting in direction, but is going up and down in velocity ("pressure"). Boats in more pressure go faster. Darker water means there is more pressure. Sail to and in the darker water whenever possible.
With your crew, keep talking about what you believe the wind is doing and will do next, and make decisions based on that information.
Waves and current
Varying wave and current conditions may impact your strategy to the windward mark. If it is more wavy on one side of the windward leg, and less wavy on the other, you may opt to sail the side of the leg that is less wavy. However, pay attention to current and water depth as you have this conversation with your crew. Is the current running against the wind? If so, this will make the waves steeper and choppier since the wind and current are moving in opposite directions. If the current is running to windward, then think about the research you did in the days before racing. Did you learn that one part of the sailing area is deeper than another part? Current often runs faster in deeper water. Consider the possibility that the waves are steeper on one side because the current is running faster to windward in the deeper water, creating more chop. In this example, you may consider sailing in the chop if you believe the current push to windward is more beneficial than the slowness of pounding into some of the waves on that side of the course. You may not know the right answer for sure until you see the outcome of the first race. Keep track of a few boats that went to the opposite side of the course from you. Did the boats in more favorable current with more chop do better, or did boats in less favorable current with flatter water do better? It may take a race or two to determine the right answer to a tricky scenario like the one described above.
More frequently, the current on the race course is running at about the same speed, and in about the same direction over the entirety of the race course. In this example, imagine current as a carpet that all the boats are sailing upon. In a race with no current, the carpet is stationary. In a race with current, the carpet is being dragged in a certain direction, effecting all sailing boats equally. In a situation of common current speed and direction over the entire course, there is no strategic advantage to being on one side of the course or the other. The current may, however, impact your strategy for how far to sail on a given tack before tacking. This is because the racing boats are being dragged in the same direction together by the current, while the race marks remain stationary in their original position attached to the sea floor. Imagine sailing upwind on starboard tack. The true wind is square to the course, or blowing directly from the windward mark to the start. The current, however, is running from left to right across the course. This means the entire "carpet" of the sailing area is moving from left to right. While your bow is pointed 45 degrees to the left of the mark on starboard tack, your boat is being set from left to right, meaning that your actual heading is pointing you closer than 45 degrees to the mark. You will be able to stay on this tack longer than you would in the absence of current without sailing beyond your layline to the windward mark. When the current is moving across the upwind leg, it's a good idea to sail the "up current" tack first (starboard tack when the current is left to right). Similar to the idea of sailing the lifted tack in relation to a wind shift, the "up current" tack will bring you closer to the mark.