Team Racing Companion E-Book

Chris Atkins

• Herausgeber: Fernhurst Books Limited
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Team racing is great for fast, fun and different sailboat racing. It helps develop some key skills for future racing success. This handy companion tells you everything a sailor and coach need to know to enjoy, improve and win at team racing. It describes the most useful moves around the race course, and the key rules that govern such moves. There are sections on how to slow & overtake; how to win the start & control the final beat; the best routines for practising; how to develop as a team & the team roles. One page gives all the winning & losing combinations for 2-, 3- and 4-boat team racing, highlighting the tactics for every combination, with simple tips for making strategy easy.

Leseprobe

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Contents

2

WHY GO TEAM RACING?

3

FORMATS

4

HOW TO OVERTAKE

5

SLOWING ROUND THE COURSE

8

RACE WINNING STRATEGY

10

CONTROLLING THE START

11

CONTROLLING THE FINAL BEAT

12

THE WINNING HABIT

13

PRACTISING

15

CLIMBING THE LADDER

16

TEAM ROLES

17

THE THREE ESSENTIAL RULES

20

OTHER IMPORTANT RULES

22

UMPIRES & BEING UMPIRED

23

RACE COURSES & PROGRAMMES

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WHY GO TEAM RACING?

Team Racingis great for fast, fun and different sailboat racing.

In addition team racing really helpsdevelop some key skillsessential for future fleet racing success:

• Starting

• Boat control in close manoeuvres

• Boat handling – tacks and gybes in particular

• Boat-on-boat, and the ability to stay ahead of or overtake an opponent

Team racing uses the same rules as standard fleet racing, but makes knowledge of them essential for success. Combined with the use of umpires and on-the-water rules decisions, this means it isperfect trainingfor medal races and other umpired racing.

Team racing also adds the dimension ofpractising and then racing as part of a team. There is no “I” in team! The more you work with your team-mates, the faster you will learn and the more successful you will become. And as with all sport, effective time on the practice ground is essential if you want to be confident you will “perform on the day”.

For club racers, team racing provides afun alternativeto normal fleet racing.

For young sailors, team racing will accelerate the journey to becoming a future champion. It should always be used as part of asailor development programme, rather than as an end in itself. This then gives it a value and importance greater than simply the results at the end of the competition.

Team racing is one ofsailing’s most sociable disciplines, generating life-long friendships. Within your team and with opponents; within your club and with members of other clubs; and within your country and with nationals of other countries. Enjoy some great competition on the water, and a great social ashore afterwards!

This concise guide is written to help all sailors, coaches, umpires and race organisers enjoy and get fuller benefit from team racing. It is based on the author’s 40 years experience as competitor, coach and umpire.

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FORMATS

2-BOAT TEAM RACING

• The simplest variant requiring fewest resources – just 4 boats, 2 per team.

• Scoring is simple: the team with last boat loses the race.

• Particularly good for clubs with a small number of matched keelboats.

• Also great for a 4-boat team practice. Since the strategy is easy, the focus of the practice is on executing the right moves quickly and effectively.

• Set a 2-lap windward / leeward course with a downwind finish to provide an exciting last leg.

• “Random Pairs” is a variant where everyone’s teammate changes after each race. Your opponent in one race might be your team-mate in the next, so it keeps you honest!

3-BOAT TEAM RACING

• The traditional format in adult dinghy team racing.

• Team total finishing points of ten or less wins the race (e.g. 1,2,6 or 2,3,5).

• Race most often won by the team with two boats in the first three, so positions in the front half of the fleet usually decide the outcome of the race.

• Rewards starting and speed, as 1,2 always wins.

• Piggy-in-the-Middle provides the perfect practice routine for 3-boat teams.

4-BOAT TEAM RACING

• The traditional format used worldwide in Optimist class competitions.

• Less than 18 points wins. 18 points results in an equal score, and the team without 1stplace wins.

• Race stays alive to the finish as 3,4,5,6 wins. A team with 1stand 2ndcan easily be defeated by the opponents slowing the team’s other two boats into 7thand 8thplaces.

• Unlike 3-boat therefore, it is what happens at the back of the fleet that typically decides the result.

• So 4-boat places less of a premium on speed and starting, and more on execution of manoeuvres.

IN GENERAL...

• Races are short… typically 6 – 10 minutes. Course is either a “box” or an “S” (see page 23).

• Races are usually umpired – by one or two umpire boats, with ideally 2 umpires per boat.

• “Race wins” are what matter. The actual points score of a race is only used to break ties between teams with the same number of race wins.