Team Racing Tactics
Team racing is a very tactical and technical branch of sailboat racing, combining the need for adequate boat speed and handling with good teamwork and communication.
Consider the following situation in a 3-boat team race (the most common format). If one boat is in 1st place and his team-mates are in 4th and 6th then the team's points are 1 + 4 + 6 = 11 points, whereas the opposition has 2 + 3 + 5 = 10 points and so is ahead. For his team to win the race, the boat in 1st place will have to manoeuvre in such a way as to hinder the two opposition boats behind him or, probably better, the 4th boat will have to slow the 5th boat so that his 6th place team-mate moves up to 5th. He can do this by using the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS), including Appendix D, to his advantage – positioning himself in such a way that the opposition has to sail extra distance to keep clear or sail in reduced wind and so lose ground. If one boat feels that another has breached the Racing Rules of Sailing in any situation she may hail "protest". If the protested boat does not exonerate herself with a one-turn penalty the protesting boat may hail "umpire". An on-the-water umpire will then make a decision, almost instantly, and impose a two-turn penalty on any boat judged to have broken a rule.
There are two main 'moves' in team racing; the 'pass back' and the 'mark trap.' The goal of the pass back is to slow an opposing team's boat in order for the boat that the opposing team was covering to either tack away from the covering boat, or sail ahead faster than the covering boat. A pass back involves three boats sailing upwind. The most windward boat, and the most leeward boat are on the same team. A pass back is initiated when the windward boat sails into a position where it is covering the middle boat's wind, allowing the most leeward boat to sail faster, or tack away into clear wind without the middle boat being able to tack simultaneously.
The mark trap is more complicated. It involves stopping at a mark in a position where the stopping boat can use the racing rules of sailing to hinder the opposing boats rounding the mark and so allow team-mates to catch up and then sail ahead. Another tactic is gybing onto starboard (right of way) when close to a downwind mark, forcing boats just behind to do the same and sail considerable extra distance, so allowing team-mates to catch up.
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