Your First Sailing Race — What Are You Actually Trying to Do?
Your first objective in a sailing race isn't to win — it's to know what is happening next.
The first time you watch a sailing race from the bank, it can look surprisingly confusing.
Before the start, boats appear to be sailing in every possible direction. Some are circling. Some are stopping. Some seem to be sailing away from the first mark altogether.
Then a sound signal goes.
Suddenly everybody heads off together.
A few minutes later they are tacking backwards and forwards, apparently taking a very indirect route towards somewhere that may not even be obvious from where you are standing.
For somebody entering their first race, it can feel as though everyone else understands a secret language.
They probably do understand more than you do.
But the secret is much simpler than it first appears.
A sailing race is basically a sequence of small problems:
Where am I going next?
What is the best way of getting there?
What are the other boats doing?
What is the wind doing?
What do I need to do before the next manoeuvre?
That is racing.
And for your first few races, answering those questions successfully is far more important than where you finish.
Forget Winning for the Moment
It is easy to assume that entering a race means you should immediately be trying to win it.
After all, that is normally what racing means.
But I think that is the wrong objective for a beginner.
Your first objectives should be much simpler:
understand where the start line is;
cross it after the starting signal;
know which mark you are sailing towards;
round the marks in the correct order;
stay reasonably clear of other boats;
keep the boat moving;
complete the course;
cross the finish line.
If you achieve those things in your first race, you have succeeded.
Your finishing position is almost irrelevant.
In fact, one of the worst things a beginner can do is become so preoccupied with beating another boat that they lose track of the course.
There is not much satisfaction in overtaking somebody magnificently and then discovering that you have sailed around the wrong mark.
Before Racing, Understand the Course
One of the biggest differences between ordinary recreational sailing and racing is that you are no longer simply going sailing.
You are trying to complete a defined course.
That sounds obvious, but it changes everything.
Before the race, find out:
Where is the start line?
Which direction are we starting?
What is the first mark?
Which side do we leave it?
What comes next?
How many laps are there?
Where is the finish?
At a sailing club there may be permanent marks around the sailing area, temporary inflatable marks, navigation features or combinations of them.
A course might be displayed on a board, announced at a briefing or indicated using the club's normal course system.
Do not be embarrassed about asking.
Even experienced sailors occasionally check the course.
Getting clarification before the start is considerably better than discussing it halfway around the race.
The Start Is Just the Beginning
The start tends to receive an enormous amount of attention because it is dramatic.
Several boats are trying to approach an invisible line at approximately the same moment.
There are sound signals.
Boats are manoeuvring close together.
People may be calling to one another.
For somebody new to racing, it can seem like organised chaos.
But your first race does not require the perfect start.
You do not need to arrive at the favoured end of the line at maximum speed with half a second remaining.
You need a clean, controlled start.
If that means being a few seconds late but having clear air and space around you, that can be an excellent first-race strategy.
A beginner who crosses the line five seconds late but in control may have a much better race than somebody who fights for the perfect position, gets trapped among several other boats and spends the next minute trying to escape.
Your objective is not:
Win the start.
It is:
Start the race successfully.
There is an important difference.
Your Most Important Question: Where Am I Going Next?
Once the race starts, simplify everything.
Ask:
Where am I going next?
Not where will I be in ten minutes.
Not whether I can beat the boat twenty metres ahead.
Not whether I am currently seventh or eighth.
Where is the next mark?
Then ask:
What do I need to do to get there?
Perhaps you are sailing towards a windward mark and need to tack.
Perhaps you are reaching directly towards the next mark.
Perhaps you are approaching a turning mark and need to prepare for a gybe.
This idea sounds almost ridiculously simple.
But experienced racing sailors are doing essentially the same thing.
They are simply considering more information while making the decision.
Racing Is Repeated Decision-Making
This is one of the things I particularly like about sailing races.
They are not simply tests of boat speed.
They are continuous decision-making exercises.
Imagine you are sailing towards the first windward mark.
You might ask:
Am I pointing in roughly the right direction?
Is the boat moving efficiently?
Do I need to tack?
Is there better wind on the other side of the river?
Will I interfere with another boat if I tack now?
Has the wind shifted?
A few seconds later the answer may have changed.
That is what makes sailing racing so interesting.
There is rarely one decision that wins the entire race.
There may instead be fifty, one hundred or several hundred small decisions.
Most are not dramatic.
Many spectators will never notice them.
But together they determine how efficiently you sail the course.
Your First Race: Keep the Boat Moving
There is a temptation, particularly when you start learning racing tactics, to believe that clever tactical decisions are everything.
They are not.
Boat speed matters.
And one of the simplest ways of becoming faster is to stop unnecessarily slowing the boat down.
Every tack costs something.
Every poor gybe costs something.
Every large movement of the rudder creates drag.
Every badly timed manoeuvre loses momentum.
For your first few races, therefore, concentrate on sailing reasonably well.
Keep the sails set.
Keep the boat balanced.
Look ahead.
Avoid unnecessary steering.
Plan manoeuvres before you begin them.
You do not need thirty tacks if twelve will get you around the course.
Sometimes the quickest tactical manoeuvre is the manoeuvre you decide not to make.
The Marks Break the Race Into Manageable Pieces
A race becomes much easier mentally if you stop thinking of it as one enormous event.
Break it into legs.
Start to Mark 1
Concentrate on getting away cleanly and sailing towards the first mark.
Mark 1 to Mark 2
Reset.
Where is the next mark?
What point of sail are you now on?
Does the sail trim need changing?
Mark 2 to Mark 3
Reset again.
What happens at the next mark?
Will you tack?
Will you gybe?
Which side should you approach from?
Final Mark to Finish
Do not mentally finish the race before the boat actually crosses the finishing line.
I suspect almost every racing sailor eventually learns that lesson.
A race is not over because the clubhouse looks close.
It is over when you have properly finished.
Look Before You Reach the Mark
Beginners often arrive at a mark and then decide what to do.
Experienced sailors decide before they arrive.
Suppose you are approaching a mark where you will need to gybe.
Instead of reaching the mark and suddenly thinking:
Oh — we need to gybe now.
Try asking twenty or thirty seconds earlier:
What happens at this mark?
That gives you time to:
identify the next mark;
check for other boats;
prepare the crew;
adjust your position;
decide when the manoeuvre will happen.
That one habit can transform your racing.
And it introduces something that becomes increasingly important as you improve:
anticipation.
Good sailors react.
Better sailors anticipate.
Do Not Sail With Your Eyes Inside the Boat
When learning to sail, much of your attention naturally goes inside the boat.
Where are my hands?
Where should the tiller be?
Is the mainsheet in the right place?
What is the centreboard doing?
During racing, your attention gradually needs to move outside the boat.
Look at:
the next mark;
the boats around you;
the surface of the water;
approaching gusts;
quieter patches;
river banks and wind shadows;
boats further ahead.
One of the great advantages of racing is that other boats become information.
If the boat ahead suddenly heels and accelerates, perhaps a gust is coming towards you.
If several boats on one side of the river are sailing noticeably faster, perhaps they have found more pressure.
If boats ahead begin tacking, perhaps the wind direction has changed.
You are no longer just sailing your own boat.
You are observing an entire moving experiment.
Other Boats Are Not Just Competitors
This is a particularly useful idea for beginners.
Do not immediately regard every boat ahead of you as somebody you must overtake.
Use them.
Suppose you are uncertain where the next mark is.
Where is the fleet heading?
Suppose you are wondering whether one side of the river has more wind.
Which group of boats is moving more quickly?
Suppose a boat ahead sails into a large wind shadow and stops.
Perhaps following it would not be wise.
Other boats provide clues.
Of course, eventually you will learn when not to follow them.
One of the entertaining things about racing is that six boats can all make exactly the same mistake.
But initially the fleet gives you useful information.
A First Club Race: Keep It Simple
Imagine your first race in an ordinary club training or handicap fleet.
Your plan might be:
Before the start: Learn the course.
During the starting sequence: Stay somewhere you can manoeuvre without becoming trapped.
At the start: Cross the line legally and under control.
First leg: Sail towards the correct mark and keep the boat moving.
At the mark: Give yourself room and perform a controlled rounding.
Next leg: Find the next mark immediately.
Around the course: Avoid unnecessary manoeuvres and keep looking outside the boat.
At the finish: Make sure you actually cross the correct finishing line.
That may not sound sophisticated.
But if you can do all those things reliably, you have built the foundation on which racing tactics can develop.
Now Contrast That With an A-Rater
Then consider sailing an A-Rater such as Champagne.
At first glance, this seems like an entirely different activity.
An A-Rater is large, powerful and extremely responsive compared with many ordinary dinghies.
There are three people aboard.
There is considerably more sail.
Things happen quickly.
Small mistakes can become expensive in lost distance remarkably fast.
The helm, midhand and forward crew each have jobs to perform, but those jobs cannot exist independently.
One person being late with a manoeuvre affects everyone.
Yet underneath all that complexity, the questions are almost identical to those faced by the sailor entering their first club race.
Where are we going next?
What is the wind doing?
Where are the other boats?
What manoeuvre comes next?
What needs preparing now?
The difference is not the fundamental task.
The difference is the speed at which the answers are required.
On Champagne, “What Happens Next?” Matters Even More
On a slower training boat, discovering slightly late that a tack is needed may produce an untidy manoeuvre.
On an A-Rater, late preparation can cost substantially more.
The crew therefore have to think ahead.
Before a tack, everyone needs to know it is coming.
Before a mark rounding, the next leg needs to be understood.
Sail controls may need changing.
Crew weight may need moving.
The boat may need positioning relative to the river bank, other competitors and the next patch of wind.
The same simple beginner's question becomes enormously powerful:
What happens next?
That question is useful during your first race.
It is still useful when racing Champagne.
Speed Gives You Less Time to Think
This is perhaps one of the biggest differences.
A beginner may have several seconds to realise that something needs doing.
A fast racing boat compresses the decision-making process.
The sequence becomes:
See it.
Understand it.
Decide.
Communicate.
Act.
The faster the boat, the more smoothly that sequence has to happen.
That is one reason fast boats are such good teachers.
They provide immediate feedback.
A poor tack is obvious.
A badly timed gybe is obvious.
A moment of indecision is obvious.
But even then, racing is still fundamentally a series of decisions rather than one continuous contest of speed.
You Will Make Mistakes — Carry On Racing
Your first race will almost certainly contain mistakes.
You may make a terrible tack.
You may approach a mark badly.
You may misunderstand another boat's intentions.
You may sail into a patch of almost no wind.
You may even temporarily forget which mark comes next.
That is normal.
The important skill is recovery.
Do not allow one mistake to become five.
If a tack goes badly, get the boat moving again.
If you approach a mark poorly, round it safely and reset.
If another boat overtakes you, continue sailing your own race.
This applies at every level.
A mistake does not automatically ruin a race.
What often causes much more damage is continuing to think about the mistake for the next three minutes.
Finish Wanting to Race Again
I think this is a much better measure of success for a first race than the results sheet.
Did you understand more at the end than you did at the beginning?
Did you begin to recognise how the course fitted together?
Did you successfully round the marks?
Did you notice a wind shift?
Did you make one particularly good tack?
Did you recover from a bad one?
Did you start looking at other boats differently?
And most importantly:
Do you want another go?
Because the second race is already easier.
You recognise the starting sequence.
You know roughly where the marks are.
You understand how quickly the fleet accelerates.
You begin thinking about where you would like to start rather than merely how to survive the start.
Then something interesting happens.
You stop simply completing the course.
You begin racing it.
From Completing the Race to Racing the Fleet
The progression does not happen all at once.
Your racing might develop something like this:
Race 1: Where am I going?
Race 3: Can I sail the course cleanly?
Race 6: Which route is faster?
Race 10: Why did that boat gain on me?
Later: Where is the next wind shift likely to come from?
Then you begin exploring:
starting strategy;
line bias;
clean air;
wind shifts;
laylines;
mark-rounding tactics;
covering;
current;
fleet positioning;
persistent and oscillating shifts.
Those things will come.
But they make far more sense once you can sail around the course without devoting all your attention to simply working out what happens next.
The Real Purpose of Your First Race
Your first sailing race is not an examination.
Nobody expects perfection.
It is simply the first opportunity to put boat handling, observation, decision-making and seamanship together while somebody else happens to be sailing towards the same marks.
Whether you are sailing a training dinghy in your first club race or racing a boat such as Champagne, the fundamental challenge remains remarkably similar.
You must repeatedly answer three questions:
Where am I now?
Where do I need to go next?
What should I do now to make that happen?
At first those decisions may feel overwhelming.
Eventually they become instinctive.
Then there is space to think about tactics.
Later still, strategy.
And somewhere along the way you realise that you are no longer simply sailing around a course.
You are racing.
So if you are considering entering your first club race, forget about winning.
Learn the course.
Make the start.
Find the first mark.
Keep the boat moving.
Look ahead.
Complete the race.
Then come back next week and do it a little better.
Because your first objective in a sailing race isn't to win.
It is to know what is happening next.
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