Strategic sailing

Strategy is your game plan

The grand strategy to be “the best sailor at my club/world/universe” is psychology. Here, strategic sailing means what are the rules going to be for this race.

Your strategy includes goals like;

• Win the race – duh!
• Beat some particular boat regardless of your overall place
• Minimize time – balance performance vs. distance
• Don’t break things

Input to your strategical decision includes;

• Weather forecast – wind direction and speed, frontal passage and sea breeze onset
• Course layout
• Estimation of wind speed,  shifts and trend, shear and gradient
• Current
• Local knowledge
• Knowing your competition
• Knowing yourself – tacking skill, aggressiveness, performance, consistency

In the ‘golden hour’, you should gather information to confirm your previous assumptions, and refine your knowledge of wind and water.

• Amount and duration of shifts, and wind trend
• Sea state
• Favored end and length of the line

Strategic components

• Where to go to maximize performance and minimize distance
• Sail conservatively or ‘bang the corners’ (each leg may be different)
• Favor the left or right (also legs might be different)