The Great Escape

Well, so that perfect start didn’t work out quite as well as you’d planned. No problem. Statistics show that every sailor gets a minimum of one, and sometimes even two, bad starts in a series, so you’re right in there with the best of them.

Now you just have to figure out the best way to pick yourself up and get back in the race. With most bad starts, you know that you’re going to have a rough one as early as 30 seconds to a minute before the gun. So don’t feel you have to wait until the gun goes to make your escape from a bad start. Bail out as soon as you realize you’re not going to make it up to the line or into clear air. The classic example of someone stubbornly refusing to bail out is the guy who is coming up from leeward with no real chance of breaking through boats already on the line. But instead of tacking out of there and looking for another hole, or at least getting off into clear air farther up the line, the guy continues, yelling “Up, up, up!’ and swearing at his crew for not trimming the jib in soon enough. Finally, the gun goes, sealing his fate. The air is so bad, oxygen masks automatically start dropping from his boom. The water is wildly churned up, and the whole fleet has hardened up to close-hauled, preventing him from tacking and sealing all possible escape routes.

The key to avoiding this is to anticipate the trouble before it happens. One time I was sailing Lasers in about 18 knots, and I was luffing on the line with about 30 seconds to go. All of a sudden there was this incredible noise and yelling, and I looked back to see this guy planing madly down the line, totally out of control. I was so intrigued by the sight that I watched him zip by my transom and head for a hole below me. He then hardened up a bit too fast and instantly deathrolled to weather. Unfortunately, he had gone just far enough so that his mast came crashing down like toll-booth gate right on top of my bow. Then, BANG! The gun went off. Great! The only thing that would have saved me at that moment was a Black & Decker power saw. Had I been thinking clearly and anticipating the possibility of trouble, I could have bailed out before it happened and been off with the rest of the fleet.

If you’re starting near the windward end, you may encounter several variations of bad starts. The first is getting to the line too early and being pushed over by the boats behind. Too often, a sailor who knows he’s going to be early just sits there and waits for it all to happen. Maybe he thinks he can jam up the rest of the fleet to windward, forcing a general recall. (He can’t believe that the committee will get his number. But sure enough, nine times out of ten, the committee will spot him.) If you know you’re going to be over, bail out! Either bear off and try reaching into a hole farther down the line or, better yet, sail up around the committee boat and start again. If you do this at twenty seconds rather than waiting for the gun, you’ll still be in the race. If you’re caught coming into the weather end too low, simply tack and try again. Your chances of getting a good start are much better than if you stay down and try to break through from the rear. One thought on tacking back onto port – avoid jibing at all costs. You’ll wind up much farther away from the line than you thought, as well as risking a capsize, particularly if it’s breezy. It’s better to bear off, tack and duck starboard tackers. Finally, if you know you’re going to get boxed out at the windward end and get caught for barging, circle around and restart. If it’s done early, you’ll get a decent start. If you have to do it after the gun, you’ll have a much worse start than necessary. Remember, no one can go anywhere before the gun has gone – so that is the time to do all of your circling and repositioning.