Sailing 101: The Regattas and Races

Welcome to Sailing 101! Class is now in session! This is the second of a three-part series intended to educate Tulane fans on the basics of sailing, our newest varsity sport.

Each story in the three-part series will focus on a different aspect of sailing: 1) the boats and sailors; 2) the regattas; 3) the national structure of collegiate sailing and how to win a championship. Part one was released last week, and part three will be released next week.

Part 1: Boats/Sailors | Part 2: Regattas/Races | Part 3: College Sailing Structure

NEW ORLEANS – After last week's Sailing 101 lesson on how sailboats work and what the sailors do to make them work, now is a good time to teach Tulane fans what the goal of college sailing is.

What is a regatta? How do you win one? What types of racing will Tulane do? To find out, read below.

To start, a regatta is the name for a sailing competition. Much like a tennis match is divided into games and sets, regattas are divided into many races. Wining individual races or placing well in them goes a long way toward winning a regatta.

Regardless of the type of sailing being done at a regatta, the goal for each boat is usually the same: be the first boat to complete the course.

Courses are set up with a starting line and a buoy directly upwind of the starting line. Boats must go from the starting line around the buoy, return to the starting line and go around buoys positioned there, make a second trip to the first buoy and come back to the starting line; essentially a two-lap race.

The "starting line" for sailing races is imaginary. The line is a distance of water between an anchored boat holding race officials and a buoy. All boats racing must be behind the starting line when a race begins, but jockeying for position to be as close to the starting line when the race begins is key.

Being too far behind the starting line at the beginning of a race can be costly, but so can being ahead of the line. Boats who are judged to be ahead of the starting line when the race begins are penalized by being forced to turn around and go behind all other boats, a huge cost of time.

The buoy that the boats are racing toward is placed at a variable distance on the day depending on the speed of the wind. On a less windy day, the buoy may be as close to the starting line as a couple hundred yards. On a windier day, the buoy is placed farther away, possibly as far as a half mile. The goal is to make each race take about 20 minutes, and the buoy can actually be moved during a race by officials if the direction of the wind changes.

How each race is scored depends on the type of racing at the regatta, but getting across the finish fastest is key. Certain races may have as many as 20 boats competing simultaneously, and photo finishes are not uncommon. Officials at the finish line may have their view obscured by multiple boats, so drone technology has recently been used to determine order of finish.

When a race is finished, just a few minutes will elapse before the next race begins. In all disciplines except singlehanded (one-person) racing on smaller boats, the host institution provides the boats used. And coaches are not allowed to communicate with their sailors during races. Only in the short intervals between races can coaches discuss strategy or make substitutions to their sailors.

During a race, sailors can be penalized by officials for a variety of offenses. Official boats are located at different points on the water to assess penalties. Illegal acts while sailing include contacting a buoy, hitting a competitor's boat or impeding an opponent. For committing an infraction, boats must complete a "penalty turn," or a 360-degree spin that can be extremely costly on time. Severe infractions may even result in a double penalty turn.

"It seems silly, but it's a really good use of a penalty system," Coach Charles Higgins said. "Because it's people crossing the line in order, time is relative. While one boat is moving down the course, the other is not."

There are three different types of racing that may take place during a regatta, each with different scoring systems and rules: Fleet racing, team racing and match racing.

FLEET RACING
Fleet racing is by far the most common type of racing, with four of college sailing's six national championships using this format.

The number of races at a fleet regatta is equal to the number of teams competing times two divisions, with 30 races held if 15 teams are competing, for example. All teams compete simultaneously in fleet racing, so if 15 teams are present, there are 15 boats on the water at the same time.

The top division is called the "A" Division, and the lower division is the "B" Division. The A Division boats will contest a few races, and then the B Division boats will race. The division will alternate every few races until all races have been completed across both divisions.

In the fleet format, regattas are scored by placement. The winner of each race gets 1 point, second place gets 2 points, and so on. At the end of the regatta's races, the teams' scores are totaled and the lowest combined score across both divisions wins the regatta.

TEAM RACING
Team racing, most commonly done in the spring, is the type of racing that sailors seem to enjoy the most.

"Undoubtedly the most exciting aspect of sailing and also is the one that's the most fun to watch is team racing," Higgins said. "We get excited for when we start doing team racing in the spring. There's never a dull moment."

In team racing, two teams compete against one another at the same time, each getting three boats on the water for a total of six boats racing at once. Boats are scored in their order of finish, and the team with the lowest score in those six boats gets a win for that race. For example, if Team A finishes in positions 1, 4 and 5, their total of 10 points would beat Team B finishing in position 2, 3 and 6 (11 points).

All schools in a team racing regatta compete in a round-robin tournament, meaning every team races against every other team. Once the round-robin is completed, the top four teams based on wins will enter a Final Four round.

The Final Four teams will then face each other in one more round-robin. After the final four round-robin, all teams are ranked in their finishing order based on their total wins for the regatta, preliminary round-robin and final four round-robin combined.

Team racing also uses a different course than the standard course described above. Team racing competitions take place in a "Digital N" format with teams racing in an "N"-shaped pattern around four buoys. The starting line is at the bottom left of a capital "N" shape, and the finish line is at the top right.

Team racing is also the most strategic, with teams planning out offensive and defensive strategies to overtake or hold positions in the race. Team boats work together try to blockade opponents into weak, higher-scoring positions. Collisions are quite common, as both teams are constantly battling each other with moves and countermoves.

MATCH RACING
Match racing is the least frequent and most highly specialized format in college sailing. Boats used for match racing are larger (about 20 feet long) and hold 3-4 sailors.

Regattas using the match racing format are true head-to-head battles. Each race features just one boat against another, with each race scored on a pure win/loss basis. At a match racing regatta – like in team racing – round-robin tournaments are held between all schools. At the end of a round-robin, the top four teams will square off in best-of-three semifinals and then best-of-three finals.

Match racing is the least common for multiple reasons. First, host teams need to have the larger boats available for use. And even though it seems simplest, the roles on a match racing boat are more specialized. Often the best match racers in the country have a significant skill gap over the rest of the country because many schools do not practice match racing.

So you know what the boats and sailors do, and now you know how they compete in races and regattas. Up next week in our final edition of Sailing 101: How college sailing is structured regionally and nationally and how to win a national championship.

Join us next week for our third edition Sailing 101.

Tulane University Athletics

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