Sailing in your usual club race with less than 15 boats and sailing in a major regatta with more than 50 boats are two different kinds of racing. Below is a list of strategies used by Ray Wulff that he implemented all year in preparation for the 2002 J/22 World Championship:

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  1. I got rid of my watch. Instead of looking at what the countdown was, I did my thing while listening to my crew. It made for the best starts of the year.
  2. Never start at an end the first race of the day. People were all ramped up to get going and caused bunching at the ends of the line. Instead, we just found a hole where we could live off the line for more than five minutes.
  3. Start at the favored ends after lunch. After the first race of the day and after lunch, people were a lot less aggressive on the line. That is where we attacked an end.
  4. Always sail the favored tack regardless of our location on the course (especially downwind).
  5. Make a real effort not to get on the layline until about 25 yards from the mark. By not over standing, we made up a boatload.
  6. Cleat the guy in the breeze so I had a reference to drive down the waves in. Also we pumped the main in unison with the spinnaker while rocking the boat to windward. Seemed to work really well.
  7. Don't tack because you are bored. Sometimes in a long race (one mile beats), you have a lot of time to second-guess yourself. Instead of focusing on that negative energy, stay on the favored tack and tweak the boat until the helm is neutral.
  8. Before each race we would start doing "laps" upwind and downwind just to windward of the starting line. This got us into the rhythm of the wind and the waves 15 minutes before the start. That way we could tell which phase we were in right after the start.
  9. Hike between the windward mark and the offset mark ('nuff said).
  10. If there were big differences in breeze and direction, we always sailed for the pressure.
  11. If there is significant chop (which for the East Coasts was an understatement), we moved our crew back four inches on the rail while going upwind. The result was a neutral helm and better stability.
  12. While going upwind and downwind, we would apply backstay to keep the rig from pumping in the waves. We usually sail with the rig so soft that if there is significant chop, we need to keep this in check. If we don't, the rig wants to shake the wind out of the sails.
  13. We added a longer "Jr. Fatso" carbon tiller extension that let me sit further forward and, in general, let me feel more comfortable upwind and down. I would definitely put it on the holiday wish list.