Another easterly on Tuesday evening brought good breeze and a course that was heavily favoured to the left. But this time, the line was square so you could start anywhere. The key was to find a starboard tack lane and hold it longer than the other guy, which I did three out of five times.
The first time I didn't hold my lane, or get anywhere near having one, is worth noting. I was lined up for a mid-line start (I had a transit I liked and thought I could stay in front of the line sag) when Richard Roberts came down the line very flat. I can't count the number of times this year I have been rolled by a flatliner who has hardened up in front of me, and absolutely torched me off the start (see Master Mids this year). My knee jerk reaction this time was to load up and run the line with him with the intension of hardening up and pushing him over the line. That had me charging down the line just below him because it was too early to start hardening up. It also had me bearing down on another boat just below me. The leeward boat was not short of steel will, and was having nothing of me landing on top of him. He luffed me hard, and threw me toward the line in a hurry. I had to luff and stop, and by the time I was going again, was behind and cooked for that race. Add a terrible top mark rounding, and I was DFL.
Where did I go wrong? I did not look at how much time was left when I saw Richard coming. Had I done so, I would have realized that I could have let him go. He would have continued down the line and been clear of my start. But I saw him, said "holy shit!" to myself, and got on my horse without thinking because I did not want to be rolled again. Had I kept my cool, I would have had my start, gone left and been in the hunt.
Another story, with better results:
Richard Sewards is a big strong guy and, aside from Ken Walton, was the fastest guy on the course.
Once Ken got away from me, the next guy I wanted to locate was Richard (as well as Nigel Heath, who
is always a factor offwind). In the second race, halfway upwind, Richard and I were close.
Before the layline, I was on starboard and Richard had to duck me on port. As he ducked, I tacked on
his hip. If I not done so but carried on and tacked 10-15 feet further, he would have been able to
cross me on the starboard tack layline, I would have had to duck him, and he would beat me to the
mark. As it was, I was close enough to hold him from tacking until I tacked, so I tacked on the
layline and he followed me. I hadn't tried that moved before, and it worked like a charm. I
recommend it.
In the last race, I showed slightly better boat speed (or Ken and Richard showed slightly worse), and found myself coming across close to the port tack layline with Ken, me and Richard about even, Ken to leeward and ahead, and Richard further to lee and ahead. I realized that if I stayed where I was relative to Ken, he would have been able to tack to starboard on the layline and make me duck him (I was too close to the layline to leebow him), so I decided it was time to try to foot down to him to get close enough to hold him like I had done Richard. But here was my dilema; I was in the better position wind-wise, and had a good chance to clear him completely and round first if I just held my course. But it was close, so I thought the safer bet would be to drop down. I started to work my way down, but found the he was slipping a head too much and I was in danger now of not only not being able to block him from tacking, but falling behind Richard. So I pointed up again, and hoped that I could pass ahead of Ken after he tacked on the starboard tack layline, or be clear of him and tack in front of him.
I was on the port tack layline by the time we got to the mark. Ken tacked to starboard and, man, it was close. In fact it was so close that I dared not move a muscle as I crossed in front of him by inches, and certainly dared not try to tack until I was clear of him. He rounded and I tacked as soon as I cleared him, which left me slightly behind him. We blasted down to the gybe mark overlapped and with him now to lee and holding me very high. We had to run down to the gybe mark, and by then it was over, he was inside and I followed him around. When Ken is in front, he is very difficult to pass.
In hindsight, back on that port tack to the mark, I should have continued to try to drop down and make him wait for me to tack. That way, I would have been clear of him at the top mark rounding, been to leeward of him and could have held him to the gybe mark. My concerns of falling back too far were unfounded, as I was in better flow that either him or Richard and my boat speed happened to be very good.
And that makes me think of how our sport is sometimes—many times—a matter of inches. The window I had to make my decision was very small and there were a lot of factors to consider. I had to make judgment calls on my speed, the wind direction, Richard's speed, Ken's speed, our sailing angles, and whether I could place my boat exactly where I wanted it relative to Ken.
Throughout the evening, Ken was faster than me almost all the time, but not much faster (I speaking of upwind. Downwind on reaches he was always faster, downwind, we were even). On the first beats, I am not sure he was ever more than a boat length per leg faster, but a boatlength is enough to get you there first. Sometimes it was a matter of being only a foot faster, but when you are a foot faster and on starboard tack, it becomes a boatlength very fast.
One more incident to illustrate: I was over early in one race but got away okay on port. I flipped to starboard once I was clear of the fleet and followed everyone left. Even though I was furthest to the right by now, I knew the fastest way to the mark was left as deep as you dared, so I went further left than everyone and caught up. Ken and Richard rounded as I was coming up on port tack, and if I had another two boatlengths of distance, I could have tacked and rounded third. But there were three starboard tackers coming and I was just a bit behind the first one. I had to duck the train and rounded sixth. So, for the lack of two boat lengths, I lost a ton of distance and was out of the running.
It is, indeed a game of inches.
Rob Koci races in both the Laser Full-Rig and Laser Radial fleets around District 3. Currently, Rob is the District 3 secretary and maintains a frequently updated race diary on D3Laser.com. Rob's home port is St. James Town Sailing Club in Toronto, Ontario.
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