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Picture Perfect Buoy Rounding

© Anne Schwab

The other day I was looking at a picture I have hanging in my house. It's of a buoy rounding at a regatta. I was in my M16, approaching the mark with a pack of other M16's. I can still hear the shouts, curses, and the crackling of sails in the squirrelly wind that day. I can still remember how I felt. Powerful, positive, well-positioned.

Now, let's talk about buoy roundings. As you know, the most important element of a good buoy rounding is to get inside, without port-tacking anyone, and get positioned to be able to get around the mark first. Too close to the buoy and you hit it. Penalty. Not a desired outcome. Too far away, and you get stuck in a muddle of boats, all yelling,

"Room, I've got room!"

"No you don't!"

"Starboard! Starboard!"

"Get outta my way you &*$%#^!"

"Who you calling a &*$%#^?"

And so on. And there you are, in the thick of it. Trying to hold your own without fouling anyone.

The best thing to go at this point is to get your nose in and stick it out. Make sure you establish a good overlap to claim room and then sail on in. Play with your sails a bit, try and catch whatever breeze there may be. The problem with packs like those is that the air gets trapped in all the sails, and you have to work to find it. Try shifting your weight on the boat to tip your sail as far toward the wind as you can, especially if you're going downwind. If you're on a boat that uses a whisker pole, or spinnaker, here is where a talented crew comes in very handy.

If you can leave it up until the last minute, your spinnaker/whisker pole will be a great advantage to you in helping you maintain a higher speed approaching the mark. However, all is lost if your crew is unable to get it down in time, and you are forced to sail past the mark struggling with a tangled spinnaker. Not a good rounding when you are looking back at your fleet rounding the mark while you drift on down the lake, unable to head up into the wind because of your mismanaged sail.

If you get everything ready in time, then try to swing a bit wide around the first part of the mark, so you can hug the back end, rounding up right against it as you head on towards the next leg of your course. Don't hug the mark too soon, or you'll be forced to take the rest of it wide, leaving room for others to slip in between you and the mark and get better position on you on your next leg.

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