The short version
- Get out early
- Be at the course 30 to 45 minutes before the warning signal.
- Learn the wind
- Sail upwind on each tack and write down your headings. They're how you'll spot every shift later.
- Learn the line
- Check the favored end, take a line sight, and do a practice run to the line.
- Make a plan
- Decide where on the line you'll start and which way you want to go — then be ready to change it.
Why warm up at all
The boats that start well and pick the right side of the first beat are rarely lucky. They got out early, sailed the course, and knew what the wind was doing before the warning signal. The half hour before the start is the cheapest time in the whole race to gain places: nobody is racing you yet.
Learn the wind: take your headings
Sail upwind for a few minutes on each tack and note your compass heading on each one. These are your baseline headings, and they're the single most useful thing you can take into a race. Once racing, comparing your heading with them tells you instantly whether you've been lifted (you can point closer to the windward mark than before) or headed (you can't).
Do it more than once. If your starboard heading swings between 310° and 325° over ten minutes, the wind is oscillating, and the race will reward tacking on the headers. If it keeps moving the same way, the shift is persistent — often a sea breeze filling in — and the side it's moving toward will likely pay.
Look at the course: pressure and current
- Pressure. Darker, rippled patches of water carry more wind. Look up the course: is there more on one side?
- Current. Watch how the water moves past moored boats, buoys and lobster or crab pots. Current can matter more than the wind on some courses, especially near the start line.
- The windward mark. If you can see it, sail toward it for a minute on each tack. Which tack points closer to it?
Check the line and practise a start
Once the committee boat has set the line, sail to both ends. Find the favored end, and take a line sight: a landmark on the shore that lines up with the line, so you know where it is from the middle (see how to nail the start).
Then do a practice start, or two. Time a run to the line from a fixed distance, practise holding station for thirty seconds, and accelerate off it. You'll learn how long your boat takes to get up to speed in today's breeze — which is exactly what you need to know when the real gun goes.
Set up the boat
Before you even leave the dock, check that every telltale and stay yarn moves freely — spider webs, a stuck strip or a yarn wrapped round a shroud will feed you wrong information all race. Then use the warm-up to set the rig and sails for the conditions you're actually seeing, not the ones you expected on the drive in: outhaul, vang, cunningham and jib leads for the breeze and the waves. If you're sailing with crew, do a couple of tacks and a mark rounding, and a spinnaker set if your boat has one, so the first one in the race isn't the first one of the day.
Five minutes before the warning: make a plan
Bring it together. Which end of the line is favored, and by how much? Is one side of the course paying? Is the wind oscillating or shifting one way? From that, decide where on the line you want to start and which way you want to go after the gun. Then stay near the line, watch the wind, and be ready to change your mind if it shifts.
The checklist
- At the course 30–45 minutes before the warning signal.
- Headings taken on both tacks, more than once.
- Pressure and current checked up the course.
- Favored end found; line sight taken.
- One or two practice starts.
- Telltales and stay yarns checked before leaving the dock: free of spider webs, not stuck or tangled, none missing.
- Rig and sails set for today's conditions.
- A plan: where to start, which way to go.
- Watch running, synced to the warning signal.
Doing it with Sail Tactician
The headings are still yours to take: read them off the watch or a compass and write them down. Where the app helps is the line, the debrief, and a warm-up routine you can run on purpose.
Questions
How early should you get to a sailboat race?
Aim to be at the course 30 to 45 minutes before the warning signal, so you have time to learn the wind, check the line and do a practice start.
What should you do before a sailboat race starts?
Sail upwind on each tack and note your compass headings, look for pressure and current on the course, find the favored end of the line, take a line sight, practise a start, and make a plan for where to start and which way to go.
How do you know if you've been lifted or headed?
Compare your heading with the baseline you took on that tack before the start. If you can point closer to the windward mark than before, you've been lifted; if you're pushed further away from it, you've been headed.
Sources
Standard pre-race practice for club racing. Sail Tactician behaviour from the in-app User Guide, version 3.2.
What changed
- First published.
Put a racing instrument on your wrist.
Start line, wind shifts and VMG at a glance, and a coach in your pocket afterwards. Free to download for Apple Watch and iPhone, with the full debrief on your first five races.
Download on the App Store