Follow the Leader
A snake of boats copies the leader through tacks, bear-aways and gybes, holding one length of spacing.
Boats form a line astern behind a leader (a strong sailor or the coach RIB) who sails an unpredictable course — tacks, bear-aways, gybes, lulls of straight-line speed. Each boat's job is simple and brutal: hold exactly one length behind the boat ahead. Every sloppy manoeuvre shows up immediately as a gap opening (or a bow in someone's transom). It teaches smooth handling under pressure, speed matching, and close-quarters awareness, and it works in any breeze with any number of boats. Rotate the leader every few minutes.
Setup
Open water. Form a line astern, one length apart. Leader varies manoeuvres for 3–4 minutes, then peels off to the back and the next boat leads. With big groups run two snakes side by side.
Opens the animation on the boat-length grid — run it well, then brief it from the same picture. Free, no account needed.
What to call out
- Spacing is the score: one length, held through every manoeuvre.
- Match speed with trim, not by snaking the helm — wiggling loses ground.
- Manoeuvre where the boat ahead did, not when — anticipate, watch their boom.
- Leaders: be progressively nastier — late calls, double tacks, a gybe out of a bear-away.