More tips for improving your racing !
Running (going downwind) is the slowest point of sailing. Here are some tips they should help with running legs of a race.
Sit slightly toward the back – This is the opposite to the beat where you have to sit more forward, in the run you have to sit more backward. This is because the running boat naturally pushes the bow into the water creating drag or in especially high winds capsizing the boat. Instead sit slightly back and allow the bow to right itself.

Don’t go on a dead run – Dead runs slow down boats. The worst point of sail you can be on is a dead run as there is no aerodynamics creating forces. All that is pushing the boat along is the pressure of the wind against the sail. The fastest point of sail is the broad reach as there is a force created through the aerodynamics as well as the pressure of the wind against the sail. At all times try and get on to a broad reach to go to the next mark, because it is much, much faster than a dead run or even a training run. The sails are far more efficient at broad reaches than runs. You may have to weigh the speed gained to the most direct route when considering a run versus a broad reach.

Take off the kicker, cunningham and out haul – The whole point of these devices are to depower the sail on other points of sail. Make sure all these ropes are hanging loose and that the sail is at maximum power. To remember whether or not you have kept them on or off, check out the speed of other boats and see if they are traveling faster or slower than you and then tweak to compensate.

The next regatta is the Great Minnow on October 2. This is a one day race this year, so if committing to two days of racing has kept you from participating in the Great Minnow in the past, come on out this year and enjoy the last official race of the season.

Doug Roberts –  Racing Chair

Rounding Marks
In a typical course, there are three marks: the windward mark, the gybe mark and the leeward mark. Of course all courses will be more complicated than this, but all marks can be assigned one of these types.
There are some great rules you can utilize at marks in order to take the advantage when you reach the mark.
• The windward rule – The windward rule is an important rule when approaching a mark and you are not overlapped at the 3 boat length point. It states that a windward boat must keep clear of a leeward boat (your boom is on the leeward side). This is very important at the windward mark, because it means that the leeward boat can push the windward boat further up in order for the leeward boat to go round the mark first. This only applies when the leeward boat’s bow or stern overlaps the windward boat’s bow or stern.
• Keep your wind – The boat behind you when you approach a mark on a beam reach will try to go windward of you so that they take your wind and you slow down. Instead of letting them take it go windward yourself and push them higher up on the course until they decide it isn’t worth it. Remember though that reaches are faster than going up wind so you have to calculate whether or not it is worth going up wind.
• The water rule – This is exclusively for mark rounding and states that the inside boat that has an overlap with in 3 boat lengths of the mark can call for water in which the outside boat must allow the inside boat room to round the mark. The rule has been changed in the ISAF 2009-2012 rulebook to 3 boat lengths and you must take this into account and work out if there is an overlap at that point or not. If there is an overlap call for water, if not make space for the outside boat to round the mark.
• Wide in and Tight out – This technique is used to start beating just as you round a leeward mark. If you go slightly lower to leeward than the mark and then tighten up as you round the mark, you should end up with a little burst of speed and be higher than a boat that doesn’t use this tactic.

Hopefully these tactics help you in rounding the marks and make for better finishes.