Asymmetric Techniques - Downwind Strategy

Multiple 49er World champion Chris Nicholson explains what he focuses on when it comes to the downwind leg

This week we talk to Chris Nicholson, current 505 World Champion, three-time 49er World Champion, crewmember of Amer Sports One in the Volvo Ocean Race. Nicholson explains his downwind strategy.

1. Where to look for the breeze
2. What to look for before you gybe
3. What you should be thinking about when you reach the windward mark
4. Laylines into the bottom mark
5. Gybing tactics in stonger winds

In skiffs, finding the strongest wind pressure is generally the biggest priority downwind. Knowing where to look for it, though, can be pretty tricky because you’re often travelling faster than the breeze.

My general impression is that a lot of skiff sailors look too far behind them. My angle of focus is about 45 degrees to windward of the bow. Look much further behind you than that, and the breeze you’re looking at may never reach you. Basically, the faster your boat, the further forward you need to be looking to see the breeze that will affect you.

I also look to leeward in a fairly wide arc to see what breeze I can expect to pick up when I gybe. I don’t find it too easy to work out the breeze I’m going to be in when I’ve gybed, so this is why my point of focus is wider. But I think in a 49er you should be looking out beyond the aft quarter for an idea of what to expect after the gybe.

You want to look for the darkest water and aim to pick that breeze up. If you can see lighter water ahead and to windward, then you need to be looking over your shoulder to see if you’ll be getting more wind if you gybe. In bright sunlight, when the sun can make it quite hard to pick out the strength and direction of the breeze, I use polarised sunglasses as these really help bring out the contrast in dark and light on the water.

It can pay to swing a little higher on the trapeze to help you look around more easily at what’s going on. I’d guess I spend around 30 to 40 per cent of my time looking around. 49ers are difficult to make sure they’re going at 100 per cent pace all the time, but it’s worth sacrificing a bit of all-out speed to keep an eye on the bigger picture.

Finding the strongest breeze remains the priority until the boat is going really fast in strong wind. Then angle of breeze gets more important. Knowing how to weigh up the relative merits of gusts and shifts is really down to experience.

Approaching the windward mark before deciding which side to hoist the kite is a good example. Check the angle you’re approaching the windward mark to determine which you think will be the favoured gybe (starboard lift = gybe set, starboard header = straight set), but also look for any puffs coming down either side of the track and weigh up its merits.

Say you’ve done a typical hoist around the mark and you’re now going downwind on starboard. Now you’ve got to be careful not to allow boats behind you to get down inside your line and stop you gybing on to port. The trouble is in the 49er, things so happen quickly you don’t always have time to react. And you don’t want to gybe out too early after the windward mark as the wind that you get on port will have been mashed up by the fleet.



Obviously as you approach the layline your time for gybing is running out, and I like to try to gybe a little bit early of the lay so that I can still get back to the centre of the course. In light winds you can sometimes get away with overstanding a little bit, as other boats above you try to soak too low to get to the mark, but be careful. Take a careful check of the pressure across the course before making this crucial gybe.

In strong winds, bear in mind it could take some time to get the gybe in safely, especially if there’s a big seaway, so aim to get your gybe in early. In Sail Melbourne recently, we were taking some huge distances to do the gybe, so give it plenty of time. When it’s windy, we’re not too sad if one or two boats are going to roll us, just so long as we keep on moving.