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Speed & Smarts is a bi-monthly newsletter packed with tips to improve your racing performance. It's written by winning AC tactician David Dellenbaugh, and each issue has 16 pages full of instructional advice on tactics, strategy, speed, boathandling and rules (plus there's no advertising!).

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David Dellenbaugh, winning Americas Cup tactician, is the author of Speed & Smarts and Learn The Racing Rules.

Latest Issue

#110

THEME:Waves

Tacking or Jibing in Waves

The first, and by far the most important, thing about tacking in waves is that you should try not to do it! Tacking is costly enough under the best conditions, but when you make a maneuver like this in choppy water you lose a lot. Of course . . . MORE

The first, and by far the most important, thing about tacking in waves is that you should try not to do it. Tacking is costly enough under the best circumstances, but when you make a maneuver like this in choppy water you lose a lot.

Of course, many races are sailed in rough seas and you have to tack somewhere! In that case your goal is to find spots that are relatively smooth (see right) so you lose as little distance as possible relative to your competition.

One of the best strategies for a successful maneuver in waves is to tack when you want to, not when you have to. If you decide to leebow a starboard tacker, for example, you must turn in one particular spot, and that’s slow if the waves happen to be bad there. A better strategy is to sail the beats so you can tack when and where you want to since the distance you gain by tacking in flatter water can be significant.

Though waves are bad for tacking, they can actually be very good for jibing. While you are surfing down a wave, the boat is stable with less wind pressure in the sails. But in light wind, waves make it harder to keep flow attached to the sails and to accelerate after the jibe.

PDF emailed: 02/25

Print mailed: 03/05

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