J24 Blog

Photo Bill Blevins used under a Creative Commons license

I posed the following question to the fleet listserve after the downwind start in the third race last Tuesday:

What is the strategy for a downwind start. For instance, when do you set your spinnaker, when do you raise the pole?

It sparked quite a discussion…

Jakob:

It really depends on the starting line and which gate you want to round, but assuming the line is reasonably straight and assuming you don’t favor one gate over the other: Come in half speed or so on starboard tack approaching the committee boat.  Certainly not close hauled, but fairly tight.  This gives you all the rights in the world: Leeward to the windward starboard boats and starboard to the port boats.  Put your pole up and time your hoist.  After the hoist you will find yourself still on starboard with rights and you’d want to soak as much as you possibly can while staying clear of boats that got under you.  If you get to execute the hoist right at the boat you may even have room to jibe to port to get clear air, otherwise you’d fight for it with the rest of the gang until it opens up.   Really the big problem with the suggestion above is that there will be 15 other boats with the same intensions and there is only so much room at the boat…

Stevan:

Lessons learned from big boat starts, which are often downwind:  

Use the power of starboard/leeward at the right side of the line.  You can come up under boats to weather and control the”turn-down”.  Have your pole ready to go up, but raising the pole is secondary to getting the kite hoisted.  I hoist as soon as we are turned down and have a reasonable ramp down to the line.  We hoisted at about three seconds before the gun.  Be prepared to immediately jibe for clear air and the left side of the course to come back at the fleet on starboard later.

Or, if the right side is favored, reach behind the fleet on starboard with your pole and kite ready to go, timing it to get above the pin about a boatlength above the line, hoisted and going fast.  Watch for people luffing from below.  A little late to the line is fine.  Be ready to set early and get ready to immediately reach up around the pin to get in the passing lane.  But DON’T get in a continuous luffing match. 

Karl:

It depends a lot on how far the leeward mark is as well.  Part of the excitement last night was because the mark was so close and the breeze up enough that it was very difficult to get any sort of separation in the fleet.

Hans:

I did just what Jakob describes, but I was extra conservative.  normally downwind starts are something you’ll only see in distance racing, where the start is nearly irrelevant to the outcome on the course.  but even in a short race like yesterday, remember that since a late start gives you clear air, there’s not much advantage to timing the start perfectly.     the guys in the back tend to catch up to the guys in the front because their air is clearer.   makes a bigger mess at the leeward mark though…

It seemed to me that Jakob’s strategy looked a lot like a windward mark rounding, but I realized the rules were different. I asked the following question which led to some interesting discussion on rule 18, proper course, and more:

Me:

If I am understanding Jakob, you treat the committee as sort of a windward mark. Approach on starboard and round it. Is that a correct interpretation? Rule 18 wouldn’t apply in that case however. Correct?

Karl:

Correct but if you can lay the committee on close hauled, 18 DOES apply. 
 
Furthermore, until the gun goes off, you have HeadToWind luffing rights (no proper course).
 
Note also that like any start, you want speed to get out ahead and clear.
 
We had considered doing a gybe set around the RC just to get clear air, but the distance and bearing to the gate precluded that strategy.
 
On a leg as short as yesterday’s, starting late DID cost you, as you could never actually pass the wall of boats ahead of you.

Later in the discussion Karl would retract the statement on rule 18, but he raises the critical point. There is no proper course before the start. Normally when approaching the committee boat for an upwind start rule 18 comes into play, or rather doesn’t come into play, when there is no room given to a windward boat trying to squeeze in at the mark (barging). But in the case of the scenario laid out by Jakob, the ”barging” boat is the leeward boat, and has “head to wind luffing rights” as Karl says.

 Here is Dave Perry on proper course before the start:

Notice also that there is no proper course before the starting signal. That is because a proper course is the course sailed to finish as soon as possible. Obviously, you can’t start racing toward the finishing line until you are allowed to start; therefore, there is no proper course until after the starting signal is made.

This gives the leeward boat in this situation a lot of power.

Stevan:

There is no proper course before the starting gun goes off, but windward/leeward still apply and so do the rules about acquiring overlaps.  But if you are reaching in on starboard at the boat, you pretty much are guaranteed to be overlapped with any boat heading toward the mark.

There is no 2 boat length circle at the RC, its not a “mark of the course”.  remember the start mark is at  the other end of the line (and there really isn’t a 2 boat length circle there either that I’ve ever heard applied – anyone???). 

Even if the overlap is gained from clear astern the leeward boat can luff up to head to wind. As Dick Rose writes for Saling World in Same-Tack Scenarios at the Start, rule 17 doesn’t apply before the start either:

Also, because boats do not have a proper course before the starting signal, Rule 17, which requires a boat not to sail above or below her proper course under certain circumstances, doesn’t apply. 

I’m curious about the distinction of mark vs “mark of the course” as mentioned by Stevan. The commitee boat is a mark, which is why rule 18 doesn’t apply there, since it is a “starting mark surrounded by navigable water” (see Bring Your Own Plate by Dellenbaugh).  The pin is also a starting mark, but is it also a “mark of the course?”

Karl:

Sorry to clarify my mistake about 18.  Rule 18 in its specifics does not apply in that it is “starting mark surrounded by navigable water” and thus there is no 2 BL circle.  OTOH, your “proper course” is to round the mark and windward/leeward applies, so even if you have a slight overlap, the windward boat has to stay clear of you can cannot sail down on you in a way that precludes you from rounding.  
 
Similarly you cannot bear off in a way that obstructs the leeward boat’s luffing rights.

Rich:

So, if we do another downwind start, I wonder if we’ll see 25 j24s trying to get overlaps and luff each other up at the committee boat?

I get the feeling we’ll be seeing more downwind starts…

Karl:

Well the other strategy is to come in with speed, on a reach, roll over the boats that are luffing to get overlaps, bear off and gybe set with speed.  Of you are carrying extra speed, then you pop free on the gybe and are clear to sail your own course.

I may have to try that.