This article is intended to help describe some of the thought processes in making tactical decisions on the downwind leg, it is relevant to any sailboat that sails apparent wind angles downwind.

The Downhill Slide To Gybe or not to gybe, that is the question. Asymmetric downwind sailing has in some ways completely changed the way we look at the downwind leg. The opportunities for gains and losses are massive with the increased separation. The losses are obviously what we want to avoid and there are potentially a few simple things you can do to avoid them. By doing that you will hopefully put yourself in a position to gain on the other boat’s losses. Nice. It is important to remember that if the wind stayed exactly the same across the course and there were no boats in the way the fastest way to get down the leg is to sail to a perfect lay line for the leeward mark/gate, do a good gybe and sail to the marks at full speed for a gybe drop or straight drop. It is worth considering that that may well be the best approach and if you can see nothing clear that is telling you otherwise this simple tactic will stand you in good stead. However, it is unfortunately not quite that simple. You have to put the boat in a position to gybe clear, you have to do a good gybe so boats can’t gybe on you, boats may have soaked inside you stopping you from gybing, there may only be one leeward mark so now everyone is inside you, this list goes on but all of these things can be dealt with by quite simply thinking ahead. The reason we sail asymmetric boats is because they are quicker, more responsive and just more fun. The increased speed means decisions have to be made faster and rushed decisions are generally bad ones. If we can think about the next step before we arrive there, the list of things stopping us from going where we want to gets smaller and smaller. Approaching The Leg We have said that the simple gybe at the lay line tactic is the fastest route if the wind stayed the same and there were no other effects across the course. Unfortunately this is rarely the case, if ever ? ! ! When you are approaching the windward mark the next decision you make could be a race maker or breaker so, it is important to have all the information and to have a good method of processing it. Before the start, in your pre-start chat about the features of the course include the downwind leg as well as the upwind one. If there is a leeward gate check the bias on the marks. Then when you are approaching the windward mark you can make your next decision. Your thought process would probably be something like this: Where are we in the fleet – Did we feel there was a game feature (shoreline, tide, course symmetry etc) – Where is the most pressure – What is the shift like - What are the wind shadows like from boats approaching to round – What’s the fleet likely to do? From processing this information we can decide what to do but this doesn’t happen in seconds, it possibly takes minutes so the earlier you start thinking about it the more likely you are to make a good decision. There are a few general pretty good rules of thumb that you can add to this thought process. If there are a lot of boats on the Starboard lay line or if you have a spreader leg it is rare that a gybe set will be the right move unless there is an exceptional reason. If you are leading it is very risky to gybe set, as you will potentially be separating from the fleet. However if you feel this is essential which it sometimes is, consider whether you have enough lead to clear the dirty air from the boats going upwind before you do go. If you are going to gybe it is often best to gybe then set so you are on the inside. If you want to gybe avoid having a boat inside you at the rounding. Many of these rules of thumb have a vice versa ie lots of boats on port lay line maybe a gybe is better? Whatever decision you make it is essential that it takes into consideration your next move. For example if you sail really high in the hoist but you are thinking you’d like to gybe fairly soon, you won’t be able to cause the fleet will be inside you. Keep discussing it within the team even during the hoist/rounding. Gybing. Attacking and Defending A very common way people lose places is by being gybed on. Because of the angles we sail, if someone gybes on your air it is very likely they will pass you and then extend while you re-build your apparent wind. You could get gybed on by a line or group of boats and then the losses can be very large. Good gybing will always help you avoid this but the main thing is to position your boat to avoid this. Sailing high and rolling boat’s is good fun but if you want to gybe it is going to make you look pretty stupid. As soon as you are starting to have a slight inkling that you may want to gybe you have to try and put the boat downwind of the boats behind. This will also put you in a position to attack the boats ahead of you. Practising sailing low and knowing where your dirty air is will help this. The closer you allow boats to get to rolling you the easier it is to gybe clear and be free on the new gybe. It also means you are likely to gybe on top of the boats to leeward of you. The decision and action process would be something like: “ Think we’re going to gybe soon guys – Lets start sailing lower generally – Getting towards it, let’s get even lower on these boats – right lets gybe “ If you started to get to this position and then decided not to gybe then you simply come back up a bit to avoid being rolled. If you are attacking a boat in front, your process would be very similar: “Their starting to think about it guys – Let’s soak hard here to get below their line – Are we all ready to gybe – Yes – There going there – lets go now” Discussing between your team how you will want to sail out of the gybe will help you gybe clear or attack people. If you are going to want to sail high and fast out of the gybe everyone needs to know that, if it is a normal VMG gybe then that needs to be discussed as well. This process is constantly happening throughout the downwind leg. Whether it is sailing fast to clear a lane or soaking to attack it is always about the same thing, where do we want to go next? When to gybe Judging lay lines is very hard. Tiny changes in pressure can greatly vary the angles asymmetric boats sail. If you can get them right and avoid sailing slowly into marks the gains can be huge. We use two things to give us a reference to judge these from: Fixed Point on the boat – On the 49er the mainsheet block lines up really well with the helms line of sight and angle that the boat will sail on the opposite Gybe. Because you move your bodyweight back as the breeze increases this transit you get between your eye and the block self adjusts to the wind speed. On any boat I am sure that if you practice it you will find something on the boat that lines up well with the mark when you are at a good lay line. Transits – Before the start, if you get the opportunity, try to get transits on the leeward mark for your downwind angle in to them. Sail at full speed downwind and gybe at what you think is a good lay. Access how you are laying the mark and note anything recognizable that lines up with the mark. These two things are only references but by using a technique like this you can then access whether there are any pressure changes and by using your reference points you have more information to make your decisions. Easy as Pie These are a few ideas on how we may be able to improve our downwind sailing. I think that one thing always comes up though after every point. You cannot think ahead enough. Sailboats are getting faster and the faster they go the further you need to think ahead. The more you discuss as a team what is coming up, the easier it is to plan and make the decisions you want to. Otherwise you’ll be forced to react to other boats and have to make decisions you didn’t want to. Have fun ! CD