UKLA Chair blog #64
At the weekend we had the last UKLA regatta of the year which was the Inland Championship at Draycote and it was a great weekend of racing.
With temperatures dropping, the Race Management team were very efficient in getting 3 races completed each day with minimum hanging around. I enjoyed my first racing in a month recovering from my back problem and as ever, it was difficult competing in the ILCA7 with many younger sailors. It was typical inland shifty conditions and my first thought afterwards was how hard it is to get the strategy and tactics correct. But on further reflection, I think boat speed is just as important in these conditions and it is often under-rated. The winners are undoubtedly getting the big decisions correct but here is also truth in the expression that a little boat speed makes you look like as tactical genius!
There is no doubt that you must get the shifts and no superior boat speed is going to overcome poor decisions. But consider the first tack off the start, a boat length or two advantage after a couple of minutes gives you the freedom to tack when you want as the shift appears. Without that you are often held by the boat on the weather quarter or will need to duck starboard tackers losing valuable ground. There is certainly a skill in trying to get through a closely bunched fleet while continuing to make the right tactical decisions and of course, once a little ahead, it is so much easier (though not easy) to make those decisions.
It is often worse if you lose your lane after the start and you need to tack. If you tack off a lift, you may end ducking quite a lot of boats heading right to get clear air, all the time being on a header. Once you get that clear air and tack, the chances are the wind shifts back and you have sailed two headers and are even further behind.
So rather than beating myself up for not getting the tactics, I need to focus a bit more on developing boat speed. In the meantime, compromises need to be made. Starting on the pin without superior boat speed in shifty conditions exposes you to missing the first shift with so many boats on the weather quarter. That’s why I started in the middle of the line to provide a bit more flexibility.
So that is more or less a wrap on the 2023 racing season. My thanks to all the super UKLA volunteers that have allowed us to have record (or at least close to record) numbers at our events.
UKLA Training
Winter open training dates released - UKLA Calendar
UKLA Announcements
Eurilca has announced details of the 2023 EurILCA Team Racing European Championship – it is open on a first come first served basis. Details here
GP and club on Monday 6th Nov at 7pm. Click here to register and give your views
Upcoming open meetings and club events
Thames Valley GP - Queen Mary on 12th Nov UKLA Calendar
Race reports