Mike Broughton's Cowes Week nav tips

Former Whitbread navigator and Cowes veteran Mike Broughton gives his top tips for winning this week

Get the crew to help - Many brains pooled together make navigation easier. When you are struggling to find a mark, get the team on the rail to help. Let them know roughly where to look, for that Yellow buoy (25 degrees on the starboard bow at one mile). This then frees you up a little to concentrate on the best strategy for the next leg. I have found that by going through the process of explaining to the crew where to look, you actually find it much quicker. Get the person who finds the mark to describe its actual position relative to an object on land behind, rather than another yacht as this makes it easier to relocate.
Kitchen Roll and White Spirit - Not just for wiping up spilled coffee off the chart, kitchen roll has many uses for the navigator, from cleaning binoculars at the start of each day, to drying chart booklets and plastic tide slides. I find tide slides (or the 'wheel of fortune') very difficult to operate when wet. The best fix is to break open the slide and dry each bit with kitchen roll. For years I have struggled using spit and elbow grease to remove chinagraph course markings from plastic charts. The simple answer I was reminded of recently sailing aboard Nokia is White Spirit. You only need a tiny amount in a very small container, but works brilliantly.

' Seats of the Pants' versus tactical software - Most of the top larger boats now have a computer on board, with a tactical programme that incorporates electronic charting. Generally speaking, sailors are very quick to embrace modern technology, and in particular tactical software over the last two or three years. Even in the Tour Voile, Mumm 30s sport a RaceVision on deck screen with Deckman software. Tactical software can be very powerful, but only utilise it as an aid. It takes a long time to master and integrate into the decision making process effectively. Remember the best software cannot yet tell you about that wind that is 'lifting those boats inside you' and making them point consistently higher, and tell you to get over to that part of the race course quickly. So the answer is 'seat of the pants' though tactical programs continue to get better. You can now set up a programme that does not need any attention while you are busy sailing boat on boat but still displays your position based on a moving radius around your yacht. Thus allowing a position update with a quick look at the wind trends, and be hiking hard again before you have said 'Jack Robinson'!

The Best Tidal Stream - When starting with a west going tide into the prevailing southwest wind, the area of strongest tidal stream, will be around 300m north of the Cowes Green. Look in particular for 'Micky’s Tidal River'. On the ebb, this is a local river of water that looks brown and flows between 0.8 and 1.4 knots faster than the rest of the ebb. It is actually a layer of fresh water that is usually only 400m across and sits on top of the more dense salt water. It runs west, just north of Gurnard buoy, prior to swinging over towards West Lepe Buoy and then swinging back towards Yarmouth and merging with the strong tide off Sconce.