Starting used to be my least favorite part of sailboat racing. Becoming a good starter requires practice and I spent the better part of last winter working on starting. Usually I was by myself using a mark or two marks and a two minute sequence. Staying inside the boat and pin laylines we would work are way slowly to the line and then accelerate to full speed and try to hit the line at zero. Sounds simple enough but if you do this drill enough you start picking up the skills needed to be a good starter. The first time I worked on this drill I was amazed at how bad at it I was, slowly I started to get a better feel for the time and distance. When I got this part down, we started mixing in defensive moves to protect our lane in the prestart, going bow down at an imaginary port tacker or executing a double tack to set up higher on the line.
In order to make use of this practice in a race you have to know where the line is, remain focused on your boat and the time and distance to the line, set up on starboard early with about 1 min to 1:30 left to the start. Then defend your position while remaining focused on your position in relation to the start line.
The video above shows good execution, that is a result of about 30 days of starting practice and plenty of trial and error. We are the star USA 8077 in the middle of the screen. When the video starts we are on starboard checking our angle to the line on starboard. This will give you an idea where the layline is and it serves as a final indication as to what phase the wind is in left shift or right shift. At the time we felt the right shift was on so shortly after the video starts we tack to port to head to the boat end of the line. I have a few things on my mind at this point. 1) don't sail past the boat layline 2) tack to leeward of large group of approaching starboard tackers and 3) get as close to the boat layline as possible while still accomplishing the first two objectives. We tack to starboard on the boat layline. I know we are in a good spot but there are a lot of boats in the area at the time. At this point I'm focused on controlling my speed and distance to the line. There are a lot of boats around but most are still reaching around at high speed and not on there final approach to the line so I am not too worried about them just my boat and the line.
At about 30 seconds to the start I get more leery of boats getting close to my lee bow or coming in from behind looking to establish a late overlap. So I keep an eye over my shoulder if someones coming a big bow down usually keeps them from getting the hook and the poacher will go further down the line. In this video you can see Eric Doyle make a late approach to the line and fill a gap one boat to leeward of us. There is one boat closer then I would of liked to our lee bow he hooked underneath us earlier in the sequence. I probably could of done a better job with him earlier in the sequence. He makes the mistake of getting to close to the line to early and leaves himself little room to build speed and momentum. We stay slow and use the last five seconds to build speed and roll the boat to leeward with our momentum. It takes practice to coordinate trimming the sails and turning the bow down enough to build speed quickly. Remember a boat on a close reach builds speed much faster then a boat closehauled or pinching. Also really hike hard to keep the boat flat and prevent any leeway.
Starting is mostly about having a routine that works for you and then repeating it every time. Setting up early on starboard helps you claim your spot on the line, measure the correct speed to the line, observe the last wind shift, then defend your position and finally accelerate to be at full speed or better for the start.
