Starting

Getting a good start in races is a crucial skill whatever our sailing aspirations. We look at developing some of the crucial skills that will help you plan the perfect build-up so that you get to start on the 'B' of Bang!!!

Olympic gold medal winning coach Jon Emmett and Extreme Sailing Series champion skipper Morgan Larson talk about the importance of making a plan for the start of a race. Fail to plan, and you could well fail to start. Says Morgan: "We can address any weak areas before attending a major championship. Getting a good start doesn't guarantee a good finish, but it certainly helps. You are better off ticking all boxes (an OK position, OK acceleration and OK timing)..."

Double Olympic Gold Medallist and America's Cup skipper Iain Percy offers a few tips on how to make the best of a bad job after you've made a poor start. Iain looks at the best options depending on whether you think right or left is the way to go up the first beat...

Ian Williams: what skills are transferrable from match racing back into the fleet racing world? Starting, mental strength, to name a couple. But boathandling and adaptability too....

Jero Lomas, Kiwi bowman back in the Version 5 days of the America's Cup, explains how he calls the start accurately without even using a transit on the shore. After all, as Dean Barker's front man points out, start marks swing back and forth in wind, waves and tide, so is a transit the ultimate way to get a good start? Jero reckons not...

Former Etchells World Champion and America's Cup bowman Nik Pearson reveals his favourite (and almost foolproof) technique for making sure the boat hits the start line on the B of BANG! So simple, you'll be amazed you didn't think of it yourself...

Watching Team Nika win - and dominate - the RC44 World Championship 2017 in Sweden was a lesson in strong, conservative tactics. No surprise when you learn that owner Vladimir Prosikhin had Terry Hutchinson as his tactician. Just as Torben Grael was known for going off on a flyer into the corner of the course (doing a ‘Torben’), doing a ‘Terry’ is about keeping the game tight in the centre of the course. As Terry himself says, “It’s a game of feet and inches.”

Team Tilt skipper in the GC32s and 49er Olympian Sébastien Schneiter talks through the decision-making and preparation process that leads up to getting the perfect reaching start in a high-speed multihull...