Wow -I,ll never forget the stay snapping and mast falling over while we were on the Cape Hatterous leg of the W -1000--MILE RACE --talk about tidal currents WHEWW ! The Gulf Stream and Labadore currents colliding at the Cape.
Racing in Charleston harbor -Long Island Sound --Newport harbor -Corpus Cristi TX -the huge tidal currents along the N Carolina Virginia coast --or Tybee Island -etc --just like San Fran all have similar tidal currents. Most of us have sailed in something similar and can relate to it--Sarnia -Port Huron MI --Great Lakes where Lk Huron flows into the St Clair River at the Blue Water bridge --lots of frieghter traffic too--has a 5 mph current --it is brutal--you have to hug the shore.
Let me put the importance of a loose cover another way ---If you were on the last race of a major regatta and had to beat one boat to win the regatta --would you split tacks and sides of the course on the last upwind beat providing the only possible means of that one boat passing you --a fluke windshift ie , --or would you loosely cover the one boat staying between him and the finish ?
The only gain made by team N during the entire race yesterday -race 12 --was when they split tacks and sides of the course --lETS HOPE THEY DON'T OPEN THE DOOR WHEN AHEAD AGAIN .
Jake made a good point of how readily the boat behind splits and often goes to the less favored side instead of trying to mix it up and grind the other boat down to close the gap.
