Tide lines
If you watched the live coverage of the Finn Olympic medal race in Japan this summer, you may have heard Giles Scott vocally encouraging the wind to shift left as he progressed up the first beat.
“Tidal shift, lifting lefties, come on!”
This was not a surprise: after returning to re-start when the X flag was displayed, Giles took an uncharacteristically large split to the left of the fleet. And it appeared to pay off: the leader came from the left, and Giles rounded the mark having put himself back in the race.
The snap (below) from the harbour wall of the race area before the start gives a clue as to why the tuned-in sailors might have been able to predict a left shift.
