Team Racing? What is it?Team Racing is a type of sailboat racing where competitors not only try to win the race for themselves, but also make sure their teammates finish well too. The Midwest Team Race Challenge is a three on three team racing, meaning each team has three boats and two teams race at a time. To win the race, the total finishes of a team need to best the total finishes of its opponents. The Races: Although
team racing does occur with larger boats, the majority of races are
done on
dinghies small dinghies. Races generally start with the 3 minute horn
system as
described in Rules of Racing. In normal racing, most boats line up on
the line
with speed. This is not always the case in team racing, since it could
be advantageous
to push opponents away from the start and cross the line10 to 20
seconds after
the start (hopefully with your teammates well ahead!). There may be an
advantage of heading out to the right side of the course and boats
often start
on both starboard and port (Starboards keep this in mind!).
Although often the strategy maybe to go fast the first leg, this must be balanced with keeping teammates balanced. Getting one teammate out in front may be good for getting first place, but if the other two teammates are behind, slowing an opponent may be a better use of the windward leg. This usually means luffing on top of an opponent for a short period. This strategy is fairly easy as long as teammates pay attention and the first leg is usually tame in terms of complex maneuvers in comparison of what follows.The next
leg is a short reach, 5 to 10 boat lengths, over to the downwind leg.
Because
the opponents can shadow the wind, the downwind can have plenty of
gybing, and
even the occasional tack, with the winning team trying to get a better
position. At the bottom of the course there is another short reach,
again 5 to
10 boat lengths depending on the speed of the boats, and plenty of mark
traps
occur at this location. The loosing team tries to pull a fast-one and
begin
winning, and at the same time, the winning team tries to better their
position.
The final leg is the desperation point for the loosing team, with only
a couple
minutes remaining in the race. This is where you will see teams push
opponents
outside of the lay lines, or stop them dead in the water. The race
finishes
when all six boats cross the line. The last place boat should almost
always finish
(in case of protests, which depending on the team, there could be
several).
The way to
win, is through the following combinations. There are three that are
considered “Stable”
which the play is to “go Fast” and two that are unstable, which the
play could
be to convert to a stable combination. These classifcations are
generalized and some combinations could be argued either stable or
unstable.
For more information see www.teamracing.org
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