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**Intermediate Dinghy Racing Tactics**
Published 2023-08-05; Updated 2024-05-29This article describes intermediate sailboat racing tactics, with an emphasis on dinghy racing. Dinghies are often twice as fast as keelboats, use simpler controls, and are extremely agile, so can leverage more aggressive maneuvers during racing. The high level tactics and some of the strategy from dinghy racing apply to keelboat racing as well.
See also the introduction to racing and rules summary articles.
The core strategy for placing well in a race sounds obvious, but is easy to forget in the excitement of competition: start first and then sail fast.
Avoid battling other boats, and in fact, avoid other boats as much as possible entirely, favoring clear air and uncontested lines. In the cases when you absolutely must battle at the start, marks, or finish, know your attacks and defenses.
- Determine which end of the line is favored
- Track which way the current is pushing boats (which will matter when you're sitting on the line luffing)
- Take a transit of the pin so that you can look under everyone's sail and tell how close you are to the line
- Note which side of the upwind leg is windier
- Note the period of wind shifts
- Note the period and direction of wave sets
Prior to the warning signal, stay on port (line) side of the committee boat and look at it, so that you can see when they're about to sound the warning sound.
Stay close to the line during the entire start sequence. If you are far away, then any mistake or wind shift or lull can make it hard to recover and reach the line in time.
I usually prefer to be at or above the line and outside of it early in the sequence so that I can sail a reach quickly to find a slot, rather than beating upwind trying to reach the line.
There are three effective ways to start a race in a dinghy:
- Claim and defend a spot on the line, usually near the middle. You should be able to hold a spot for the entire last minute. In the last 30 seconds it is extremely difficult to get a spot. Holding the spot requires luffing on starboard pointing nearly into the wind. When a boat tries to come in to leeward, point down to block them while they are still "overtaking" to hold your acceleration room to leeward open. Luff up to force windward boats to stay clear. Back the sail if you start to drift over the line or need to get out and duck under a leeward boat; beware that you have no rights when sailing backwards, however, so don't do it for too long.
- Come in on port tack to the pin end and tack into the most leeward lane, starting closest to the pin and exactly on time for clean air and to force other boats up.
- Come in on starboard tack at the committee boat end for the most windward lane and clear air, as well as the option to tack onto port immediately if there's a shift or more wind to the right. The other boats will be drifting slowly to leeward on starboard tack and this spot may open up, but it may also be highly contested and you do not get room against the committee boat so have no rights coming in.
There is no wind in the "second row" at the starting line. You must start on the ends or nearly first in the middle. Otherwise you will quickly fall behind the fleet as you're sailing the upwind leg in dirty air. If you are late, get outside of the fleet whichever way is shortest so that you have clean air.
Note that before the start, there is no proper course, so you can pinch as high as you wish as long as you don't force another boat head to wind.
As soon as a boat touches the line (after the signal), it has started. That boat can no longer sail above its proper course and luff a windward boat. As windward, you can object if they tell you to head up when they are obviously above their proper course after they started (even if you have not started yet).
If you're on the line, about five seconds before the start when you are nearly at the line, bear off from close hauled to accelerate. It will feel like you're doing this slightly too early, and you just have to trust your practice and commit. (If you're in a slower boat such as a 420, you may need eight or ten seconds to accelerate depending on the conditions.)
When the boat has picked up some speed sailing low, tighten the vang, sheet in, and slide your weight forward and towards the centerline. These actions will cause the boat to heel and turn up to close hauled, accelerating as it does so. Hike hard to flatten the boat when you are at maximum speed and pointing high and cross the line flat and fast. Note that you may not pump or rock under rule 42, but you can use your weight to steer the boat and to flatten the boat in this way so long as you are not doing it repeatedly.
If it is very light wind then you may need more than five seconds. If it is very strong wind or waves then you may need to adjust your start process to avoid capsizing and to maintain control when packed tightly in the fleet.
I observe most novice racers tend to overtrim sails when excited while upwind and heeling, especially on the first upwind leg. Remember your fundamentals. If you are heeling, do not keep tightening the sail or you'll exacerbate it and sail slower. Hike first, and then flatten the sail with the cunningham and vang. If you must, raise the centerboard a little, or ease the vang and main if seriously overpowered. Heeling feels fast, but is slow.
Intermediate racers tend to trim well but point too low upwind. When on relatively flat water, go into high mode: trim as hard as you can and then point up to that trim and keep the boat flat. However, when fighting waves or current, go into low mode for more power: sail a few degrees low with a bit of heel. Low mode accelerates and gives you steering room to windward to navigate waves.
Don't hyperfocus on the boats around you and neglect your own. Look at your sail and adjust it continuously, glancing at others instead of staring at them.
Pointing as close as possible at a mark, whether upwind or downwind, is rarely the fastest way to reach it. A boat pointing very high or running moves slowly, but in the right direction. A boat that is close hauled at a low angle or on a deep reach moves faster, but in a slightly wrong direction.
Velocity made good (VMG) measures how fast you are moving towards your goal. (For those familiar with vector mathematics, this is just a dot product of course and bearing to the mark, times the speed over ground.) The direction that maximizes VMG is slightly lower than the highest you can point for an upwind mark, and for most boats, is higher than running directly towards a downwind mark.
This is especially true for a planing dinghy. In conditions that are just on the verge of planing, it is much faster to sail slightly away from the mark to reach planing speed, and then turn more towards the mark. Once planing the boat exceeds its hull speed limitation. Then, the apparent wind comes around, allowing it to reach even deeper or to point very high while close hauled without excesssive heel.
Stay away from other boats as much as possible. This avoids being forced onto an awkward point of sail and right-of-way attacks, but it also ensures that you have clean air. The air is blocked within about two boat lengths downwind of another boat, and turbulent for at least ten boat lengths. Staying in clean air flow is the key to moving fast.
When passing another boat, try to pass to windward, blocking their wind and slowing them, but risking being headed up yourself. Or, pass very far to leeward so that your wind is not blocked, and so that you can get through their turbulent air as quickly as possible.
In a mixed class fleet, this is especially important. When downwind of any boat with larger sails you are at an extreme disadvantage from their disproportionately large wind shadow. The worst case is when running in a catboat and in the lead, with boats that are wing-on-wind or flying spinnakers behind you casting huge shadows.
Local knowledge is critical with regard to wind shifts and strength changes, especially when near a developed shore or cliff, or on a lake. It is also critical for river current or tides. Look up the tide changes and plan ahead for how the current will affect the course and when it will change throughout the race. Learn what underwater features or side flows cause eddies and variations in the current.
Currents are usually stronger in deeper water. When sailing against current, seek shallower water, balancing it against the likelihood of the wind also being more disturbed near shore. When sailing with current, head to deeper water to take more advantage of it.
Sail where the wind is, and on the favored tacks. Look ahead on the course to see puffs coming, and pay attention to whether the puffs are usually lifts or headers. Sail towards the puffs, tacking or adjusting course slightly to reach them first.
Link together a chain of puffs, ideally all lifts. When entering or exiting a puff, consider whether the current tack is still favored, and tack over if not.
Attend to where the wind is stronger. On a river or narrow lake, this is often in the middle or closer to the leeward shore. If there are buildings or trees, the wind may also change direction significantly near the shore.
Choose the right rig for the conditions. Not the conditions at the start, but the average conditions throughout the race or regatta. If you'll be overpowered most of the time, drop down to a smaller rig or reef. A boat with smaller sails that is not overpowered is faster than one with large sails that must overflatten or luff them.
After selecting the appropriate rig (and stay tension, and mast rake, etc.), also prepare your gear as best as possible against any change in conditions. For example, if you need a helmet or trapeze harness in strong conditions, always wear them so that you're ready if the wind picks up. If you have optional takeups for control lines (such as an outhaul bungee), rig regardless of the conditions. If your boat can reef, ensure that it is prepared for this when you set out.
I keep a spray jacket, migraine medication, sunscreen, a food bar, emergency jury-rigging line, and a whistle in a dry bag in my dinghy at all times. That's in addition to the water bottles lashed down and the food in my PFD pocket for quick access.
I've seen several dinghy races won simply by the boat that capsized the least. Even in moderate wind, it is easy for an experienced sailor to capsize due to stepping on a line at the wrong time or something tangling. That could be your opening to pass them. Downwind legs are particularly rife with catboat capsizes and spinnaker failures when conditions get exciting.
Good sportspersonship demands that you complete races you start unless it is unsafe or you are physically unable. It is also good training. You gain experience and should have a sense of accomplishment sailing across the line in any position. Do not abandon races lightly.
Sail as fast as you can regardless of your position. That's how you learn more, prove yourself a worthy competitor, and have a chance at placing well when someone else makes a mistake.
Avoid attacking other boats. It is usually faster to stay away from them and sail fast than to battle someone else and make you both slower. Attacking a boat that is on another leg is never useful--one of you is definitely so far ahead of the other that interaction is pointless.
However, at the start, at marks, and at the finish you are constrained in your course and there will be congestion. So, you have to battle in these conditions or get stuck behind others, and potentially far behind if that leads to sailing in disturbed air.
The reason to attack another boat is that you are trying to pass it in one of these constrained situations. Attacking otherwise is generally pointless and will hurt you (and also not make any friends).
There are a few exceptions where it is useful to attack another boats solely to slow them down, without making yourself faster. These are team racing, match racing, and taking down the first place boat in a regatta when you are second and need to beat only them over the series.
When leveraging the rules in attacking you also must not actually create contact even when you have right of way. If there is contact that you could avoided, then you have broken the rules. For a good attack, create the conditions that would lead to contact and where you have right of way, but where the other boat has enough time and room to maneuver safely.
Passing to windward of another boat, blocking its wind and sailing past, is usually the best way to pass.
When the situation instead indicates passing to leeward, attack by heading up the other boat. If you established overlap on their leeward side by overtaking and were within two boat lengths horizontally, then you can head up as high as your own proper course. That may include pinching a little, as long as you are not headed above the bearing to the mark or luffing. The rules specify that your proper course is the path you'd sail to finish as fast as possible in the absence of the other boat. This gets tricky because of VMG considerations, but if your sail is full and you are not pointed above the layline then you are probably OK.
After the windward boat heads up (or tacks) to stay clear, fall off again to get more speed and open up some room away from it. While they are slowed, you can then bear off quickly towards cleaner air. This is similar to bearing off just before the start to accelerate.
If the windward boat established the overlap (i.e., they came up on you from astern) or you established the overlap from two hull lengths away, or you tacked under them to create the overlap outside of the zone, then you can head above your proper course to head up the other boat.
However, if you established overlap by pointing so high relative to the other boat that you created overlap further out than two boat lengths, you probably sail the layline quickly instead of focusing on the other boat.
As you approach the zone around an upwind mark and are just astern of another boat, bearing away to a faster course to duck inside and establish overlap can give you mark room. You can then head up towards the mark to slow them and make a clean rounding. However, if you get caught below the layline and fail to establish overlap when entering the zone, you then risk missing your mark rounding.
Downwind is a good opportunity to catch up to a leader. The trailing boats receive the wind first, so are accelerated first by puffs, which gives them the ability to steer to block or spoil the wind of the downwind leader. Because the leader is in that turbulent air, they have less maneuverability can't defend effectively to escape in the way that a windward boat can when sailing upwind, so that when the puff ends, they are still trapped.
Anyone on port tack is vulnerable downwind prior to the mark zone on their windward/port side. A starboard boat can come in on a converging course and force them to gybe, but after the gybe they can be forced further by the attacker, who is now to leeward.
A leeward boat can head up another boat as far as its own proper course. Because the proper course (i.e., fastest course) for a boat without a symmetric spinnaker is a deep reach or sailing by the lee (depending on the boat), it is possible to force a competitor quite far off the layline.
When sailing mixed class, a boat with a symmetric spinnaker is particularly vulnerable to catboats and asymmetric spinnaker boats, because the attacker can force the symmetric spinnaker far off its chosen course.
Note that the even the proper course restriction does not apply if the overlap was established by gybing. An attacker can come in on starboard and estabish overlap and then gybe twice. That resets the overlap without the overtaking condition, allowing them to then freely head up the other boat. Of course, heading above your own proper course by definition makes you slow, so usually you'll want to come back down to your desired course as soon as you forced off the target.
Recall that downwind, an inside boat on port tack still receives mark room from a boat on starboard tack, so long as it is overlapped when the first boat enters the zone.
A leeward boat can head up a windward boat that is attempting to pass it. Doing so makes you slow, so after the start this is often not a good defense. Instead, sailing lower to accelerate and get back ahead is often wise.
Another defense is to pinch up well in advance, when they are still overtaking. Then you can stay to windward. You won't have right of way, but you will be blocking their wind and they will likely have to fall off to a more oblique course to pass.
If another boat gets mark room from you at a downwind mark, avoid being forced to sail around them to the next leg, making a very large turn. Instead, consider intentionally slowing a little and turning more sharply than them so that you can come inside after the rounding. They no longer receive mark room after they have rounded the mark, and if it is a gybe mark then you can become the leeward boat after the rounding and have rights.
Be careful with changing course near a mark when trying to prevent an overtaking boat from establishing overlap. When you turn, you change the angle of your stern. If you are turning towards another boat to cut them off, then you are also turning your stern so that they will have established overlap sooner. Instead, turning away can paradoxically be a good defense, as it can prevent or break an overlap.
Avoid ever being on port tack when running downwind in the middle of a pack. You can end up having to keep clear both of leeward port boats and of starboard boats, and doing so where you don't have enough room to gybe to change it.
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