Time on Distance
Sail away from the line on the stopwatch, turn, and come back to cross exactly at zero — at full speed.
Each boat starts on the line as the sequence begins, reaches away from it counting seconds, turns with a safety buffer in hand, and sails back close-hauled aiming to cross exactly at the gun. The classic split is out for just under half the remaining time, with the turn and acceleration eating the rest. Score every attempt: seconds early or late, and whether the boat crossed at full pace. After a dozen reps a crew knows precisely what 30 seconds of sailing looks like in distance — which is the entire judgement behind a front-row start.
Setup
A start line (RIB + pin) and a sequence on the whistle. Boats take turns or run simultaneously from different spots on the line. Coach calls the gun and how many seconds early/late each bow crossed. Shorten the sequence as judgement sharpens.
Start sequence: 1, 3, 5 minute options — the animation’s countdown matches the one you run on the whistle.
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
- Pick the return tack BEFORE turning — fumbling the turn burns the buffer.
- Out slightly less than half the time: the turn is slow and the return is upwind.
- Keep a 5–10 second buffer to burn near the line: arrive early and slow, never late and fast… but crossing slow at zero is still a fail.
- Crews call the countdown aloud — both heads on the same clock.