HOW TO GET OUT OF TROUBLE ON THE START

“The boat to leeward is on a mission, charging in and shouting: ‘Up, UP, UUPP!’”

Last month we looked at four key parts to the perfect start: “Plan, Approach, Protect, Accelerate”, and discussed some ways to practise the skills needed to optimise each part. What could possibly go wrong? In this article we’ll look at some of the situations that can spoil the fun, the rules that apply to these situations, and some strategies to consider when it does all go wrong.

STAND UP TO THE KEELBOAT BULLY

You are Blue in diagram 1 opposite, you’re in position, inside the last 30 seconds. You have a nice space to leeward, with just enough speed to keep control, pointing just off close-hauled ready for a fast trigger.

You can see (and hear!) that Red is on a mission, charging for the line from behind and to leeward, shouting “up, UP, UUPP”.

Red is clear astern in position 1, so is keep clear boat (rule 12). In Blue, your only responsibility is to keep a look out and be ready to start to keep clear if he becomes overlapped to leeward. At position 2, Red is overlapped to leeward, you are now keep clear boat (rule 11). Initially, he must give you room to keep clear, unless your actions create the overlap (rule 15), and each time he alters course, he has to give you room to keep clear, though that does include sailing over the line if that’s the only way