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Neat maneuver, nicely done!

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/14/2008 : 09:28:51

We had an interesting maneuver used against us last night in the Wednesday evening race. The race was a windward/leeward, twice around. We were approaching the leeward mark the first time, and were about 4 boat lengths from the leeward mark. We were on port tack, and had an inside overlap on the port tack boat that was to starboard (leeward) of us. We had just taken down the spinnaker and were in the process of raising the genoa. At that time, the leeward boat started luffing us hard to windward. We went up with him. At the 2-boat circle, he bore off, drawing clear ahead and breaking our overlap, and he rounded the mark without us in his way. It was a nicely executed maneuver that accomplished exactly what he wanted to accomplish, and he broke it off exactly when he was required to do so.

There was a complicating factor. There were two other boats overlapping us on our port (windward) side, and, when he forced us to windward, he was, in effect, pinching us between his boat and those two boats, with a rapidly decreasing amount of clearance between the boats on either side of us. When the leeward boat bore off, and drew clear ahead and broke our overlap, that allowed us to bear off also, and, in doing so, we also broke the overlap that the two windward boats had on us, and we also rounded the mark alone.

I'm passing this along because it's a fairly common situation, and some of you might find it useful. None of the four boats protested anyone else, and I believe it's because all the participants complied with the rules, and gave way when they were obligated to do so.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

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SailCO26
Captain

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USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 08/19/2008 : 13:13:30

Maybe a tad aggressive for a Wed night beercan race, but legal as described.

[Edit to add:] No mention about this in your post, but once you realized you were being luffed up was the time to start calling the other boats to ww up. They're required to keep clear/give room as well, and if they fail to then the inital (lw) boat can flag THEM, but not you (well, actually he can flag you but you'll be exonerated).

Edited by - SailCO26 on 08/19/2008 13:16:31

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3324 Posts

Response Posted - 08/19/2008 : 13:56:04

Steve, I've used that manoever successfully to break an overlap. You just have to pay careful attention to the 2-boat length circle!

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SailCO26
Captain

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USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 08/19/2008 : 15:02:04

And remember, if you push it to the protest room it's likely going to be a he-said/she-said sh*tstorm about where that 2-boat line really was in relation to each boat. Sometimes it's just better to take the outside and give room. Or better yet, round behind with more speed then overlap him on the tack out and pin him down. Just be careful about leebow-ing yourself!

Also, about the time you get that 2-boat line figured out, they'll change the rule. {snicker...}

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 08/20/2008 : 08:36:49

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Derek Crawford
 Steve, I've used that manoever successfully to break an overlap. You just have to pay careful attention to the 2-boat length circle!

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I've used it too, but it set off "a he-said/she-said sh*tstorm about where that 2-boat line really was in relation to each boat," as Jim pointed out. The guy who did it this time did it so well that there was no dispute as to where the line was.

I didn't mention it, but the leeward boat was calling for us to "come up", and we were telling the other windward boats that we were coming up, as we were being taken up to windward. They were, in turn, calling for room at the mark. When we were caught in the vise between the windward boat and the leeward boats, we told the leeward boats that we had no more room to yield. They could see that we had nowhere to go, and they yielded to us. At just that moment, when the windward boats were all coasting head-to-wind, the leeward boat bore off, and headed for the mark, and we followed. I didn't like being outfoxed, of course, but it looked like he did everything right, and we had no basis for protesting. Apparently the other two boats saw it the same way.

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