Full Marks at the Windward Mark

Approaching the final windward mark of a short training race, the two leading yachts have a comfortable gap behind.

It is a one-sided run to the final port hand rounding mark: it is clear that the first boat round the mark with the option of an early gybe will control the race.

Yellow tacks and ducks Blue, (see Fig 1, p89), to avoid being pinned out to the layline: Blue then tacks safely to windward. The wind heads: that’s a gain to Yellow, who opts to minimise tacks and continue to the starboard layline. It’s a long layline call with some wind-blown current making the judgement tricky: Yellow opts for a comfortable layline: they really don’t want another two tacks. Once Yellow tacks, Blue has a good look at Yellow’s line and can see that they are comfortably laying the mark. Blue