Frigid Digit

Georgia Tech Sailing Club hosted its intra-club regatta on Saturday. Four 420s sailed out into Lake Lanier and completed a few races. It was very informal, and the light winds made things maddeningly slow at times, although things were never so calm as to prevent deliberate maneuvering.

I didn't win any of the races, but my crew and I came in second place a few times [which doesn't technically matter - sailing rewards winners only]. There are subtle tactical and strategic differences that distinguish experts that I began to pick up on. A strong start is key to dominating a pack of boats - you receive "puffs" of stronger winds earlier and can speed up to stronger positions. Additionally, good positioning and tacking strategies tend to grant a smart skipper right of way during those moments when two boats come upon each other.

There were some tactical matters as well. One boat just seemed to "go faster" in identical wind conditions. Since this regatta consisted of boats of the same class and make, presumably the fastest were those trimmed the best. After we stopped racing, I requested the experienced crews to sail a straight course up wind so that I could follow along and trim sails and crew locations to improve my speed relative to them. That helped considerably to identify the optimal sail positions.

Ralph's Picassa gallery of the day.

Here I am sailing downwind. This is the boring part of the race.

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The Nacra catameran that capsized after flying one of its hulls:

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Update

While getting my haircut today, I thought about what it might take to determine the optimal strategy for a particular boat under a given set of wind conditions in a regatta. Simplifying assumptions would be:

• uniform wind direction and speed across the entire area


• no other boats to create local calm areas with bad air or force suboptimal maneuvering


• uniform sea state


• ideal sail and boat trim

This hypothetical systematic approach would attempt to minimize total time around a pair of marks. Specifically, this would determine:

• what course to make that minimizes time to reach the upwind mark


• which tack to start on


• when to tack


• whether to "run" or "broad reach" during the downwind leg

Since being at the right place at the right time with the wind on the starboard side is advantageous when encountering other boats, the model might favor a starboard tack at certain points in the course.

It seems like this could be computed given

• an accurate speed model of the Club 420 under typical loading conditions for each point of sail


• performance model of a well-executed tack


• performance model of a well-executed gybe

This would attack the problem that, I suppose, gets answered through intuition and experience by 'good' skippers. Of course, it completely ignores the influence of other boats whose presence could easily compromise a good single-boat strategy. It also assumes the skipper and crew are good enough to maneuver in ways that satisfy the performance models; this depends on training and skill. Nevertheless, it seems like having a good theory here would be a great way to quickly gain a practical intuition that could be deployed out on the water.

Someone get me a performance model!