Loose vs Tight Cover
Use a loose cover — staying between the fleet and the mark in clear air — to guard several boats or in shifty wind; save the tight cover for slowing one rival in steady breeze.
When you're ahead, covering is about choosing which boats to defend and how hard. A loose cover keeps you between the pack and the mark, in clean air, roughly mirroring the fleet's direction — so no rival can split away and gain unguarded, and you stay flexible when the wind shifts. A tight cover is the opposite: you tack directly upwind of one rival and drop your bad air straight onto it, which slows that single boat but lets every other boat sail free. Tight-covering pays in steady wind against one threat; in shifty wind it's a trap, because chasing one boat sails you out of phase with the shifts and the rest of the fleet escapes. Read the situation: how many boats are you guarding, and is the wind steady or swinging?
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
- Use a loose cover when guarding several boats or in shifty wind, because tight-covering one lets the others escape.
- Use a tight cover to slow a single rival in steady wind, because your bad air directly costs them when they can't get clear.
- Stay between the fleet and the mark when loose-covering, because that position guards every boat at once.
- Don't tight-cover in shifty wind, because chasing one boat sails you out of phase with the shifts.