Foot Off to Build a Lane
Boxed in with a boat on your windward hip and bad air to leeward? Bear away a few degrees, foot for speed, and forereach into the clear air ahead to open your own lane.
Sometimes you come off the line trapped: a boat is locked on your windward hip so you can't tack, and a boat ahead-and-to-leeward is dumping bad air back on you. You can't point up and you can't escape sideways, so you go the other way — bear away a few degrees, ease the sail, and foot. Sailing a touch lower and faster, you slide down and forward into the clear air ahead of the leeward boat's shadow and forereach into your own lane. Hold that low, fast mode until your air is fully clear; pinch back up too early and you stall straight back into the bad air.
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
- Bear away a few degrees and ease to power up, because the extra speed is what carves the new lane.
- Foot toward the gap ahead-and-to-leeward, because that is the only clean air available when you can't tack.
- Hold the low-fast mode until your air clears, because pinching up too soon drops you straight back into the shadow.
- Use this when a tack would only put you in worse traffic, because footing keeps you moving forward instead of sideways into trouble.