More on starts...

Beneteau 25 Platu 25 World championships 2009

Here you can see the perfect type of start which we were also doing in the sigma 33 nationals 1996.

The spanish, 006 on the bow, ESP 25068 sail number, come in late on a practice start.

They find a gap with boats too close the line to effectively accelerate, pause before dropping into it, and then come in and harden up to attack the windward boat and expand their leeward gap to bear away for speed into.

Some boats are over early, clearly, but 006 rolls the FIN filming boat and pokes out from his windward opposition, who is adminttedely a dog. (perhaps they picked dog boats to punch out from underneath)

We did much the same, holding back on a slow to medium speed STB reach and poking up in a hole just big enough to do this, actually way tighter than ESP 25068 had, and just having better timing and to get through. We relied on a transit I had (first half of week) some miles away and the fact we stripped the boat out whereas most would have had maybe a tonne of shite on board.

These last two bloggs have helped me build confidence and PMA for the start. I get too flustered and sometimes too much of a defensive position rather than closing the door on bargers, by just moving up on the line or luffing.

LACK of speed is actually the key, being a bit more relaxed and looking to respect those who have a position and attack others, or exploit weaknesses.