Clear your air — tack and cross
Same dirty air as the pinned case, but the boat behind is far enough back that you can tack onto port and cross cleanly into clean air.
You're in the boat ahead's dirty air again — but read the gap behind you before you decide. Here the trailing boat is well back, so there's room: tack onto port and you cross ahead of it cleanly, straight out into undisturbed wind. This is the same situation as the 'pinned' scenario with one difference — the size of the gap — and that difference flips the right answer from 'foot off' to 'tack and cross'. Always check what's on your tail before you tack: a clean cross is the fastest way out of bad air.
Opens the animation on the boat-length grid — scrub it, edit it, or use it as a starting point. Free, no account needed.
How it interacts with other rules
- Rule Tactics — Clear your air — pinned, foot off · see also
The same trap when the gap is too small to cross.
- Rule Tactics — Clear your air — tack out · see also
The clear-behind version of tacking out.