What if...
By
Rick White

You are heading for an upwind finish line. (Continued)

In the last few month’s issues we have talked about tacking on the inside layline whenever we do not know the favored end or favored tack.
It is very difficult to eyeball marks and boats upwind and be able to determine the mandatory knowledge you must have, (as we have been discussing) – the favored tack and the favored end. And we talked about tacking on the inside layline – a very important concept.
Suppose the port end were heavily favored. In Diagram 1 a boat rounds the leeward mark and wants to go for the finish. The boat goes beyond that inside layline. He has managed to overstand.
In Diagram 2, let’s assume that each square is 100 feet. The boat now seeing his error in not tacking on the inside layline, tacks.
Should he sail a close-hauled course, or should he drive off toward the mark? The answer is to drive for the mark. If he does so, he will be going faster and sailing a shorter course. On the other hand, his shadow boat (the other option), that made the wrong decision will sail close-hauled ( a slower direction for catamarans) and sail a longer course (although a shorter distance than the boat end, it is still more unfavored than the pin).
It is almost always best to tack on the inside laylines.