Windward-Mark Trap
First to the mark with right of way? Don't round — slow down. The queue stacks up behind you while your teammates close the gap.
The boat that reaches the windward mark first on the starboard layline owns the racetrack: everyone behind on the layline must wait, and every port-tack approach has to tack or duck. So instead of rounding, B1 eases sails and crawls. The boats astern can't pass to windward of the layline traffic, and the zone shuts down their options. Meanwhile B2 — half a leg behind — sails the deficit away. When the teammates arrive, B1 pulls the trigger, rounds, and Blue exits the mark compressed into a winning combination. Hold the trap only while you have rights: once an opponent establishes an inside overlap or fetches in clear, release.
Opens the animation on the boat-length grid — run it well, then brief it from the same picture. Free, no account needed.
What to drill
- Trap from the FRONT of the layline queue, on starboard, outside contact range — rights stay yours.
- Slow with sails, not the rudder: flogging main, jib eased, ready to pull the trigger instantly.
- Call the release: the trap pays only until your teammate arrives — overstaying gifts inside overlaps.
- Port-tack opponents are the prize: a wall on the layline turns each of them into two extra tacks.