Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Finishing Upwind

If you’re proficient at the Buddy Melges style of racing – start first, pull away at the first mark and extend your lead – you probably have no problem figuring out what to do when you get to the finish line. But most of us find ourselves approaching the line with boats pouring in all around. In that case, you have to do some extra thinking.

If the sailing instructions aren’t clear as to what the two ends of the line are or where the line will be located, be sure to ask. Next, think about what the wind is doing. If the wind has been oscillating every five minutes and you’re about four minutes from the line, you know that you’ll have only one more shift before you finish. In other words, treat the last shift into the line as a persistent shift because it won’t shift back before your race ends. It’s especially important to get to the inside of a group of boats if you’re going to get lifted, which means you may have to eat a header and pass behind some boats to get there.
You should also look ahead at the finish line flags to find out what the wind is doing at the finish. They’ll tell you exactly what is happening with the wind up there and what kind of shift is moving down toward you. Also, notice how the boats ahead of you are finishing because even though they’ve hammered you in the race, their sailing angles and tactics can still give you a better idea of how to sail to the finish.

As soon as you’re close enough, scout out the finishing area. At the Laser Worlds in Kingston, every boat turned right toward the harbor after finishing. When about 40 of the 100 boats had finished, there was quite a parade headed down the right side of the course, completely blocking the wind there. Particularly when you’re back in the pack, it’s important to stay clear of this kind of disturbance whenever possible. You should also be aware of bad air from the spectator and race committee boats.

Now that you have the line figured out, decide which end, if either, is favored. Simply put, determining the favored end of a finish line is just a matter of deciding which end is farther downwind. To do this accurately, there are several tricks. First, avoid the optical illusion that the larger end is closer. With a committee boat and a mark, the boat always seems to be closer until you get there. Also, you can’t always tell the angle of the line to the wind by the way a committee boat is hanging on its anchor, especially if there’s any current. However, flags are usually reliable wind indicators, particularly if they’re set high up on the boat or near the bow. If the flag on the right end of the line is almost pointing at the left end, then the left end is much farther downwind and therefore favored (see diagram below).

C finishes perpendicular to the line, indicating that the left end is favored.
A notes C's finishing angle and the line position relative to the wind and finishes
at the left. B, on the other hand, finishes at the right end, losing out in the process.

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