How to call windshifts

The most important job on your boat may belong to the crewmember who is in charge of tracking wind-shifts. That's because playing the shifts correctly will often do more to improve your finish position than any other single factor.

I usually organize my crew so one person is in charge of watching the compass (or the true wind direction readout if we have one). This crewmember's job is to keep track of what the wind is doing and call out windshifts in a loud voice for the rest of the crew to hear.

In my opinion, the most effective way to communicate about windshifts is to describe your boat's compass heading in relation to the median heading for that tack. In other words, your wind calls will sound like "Up 5 ... Up 8 ... Up 3 ... Median . . . Down 4 ... Down 10 . . ." and so on. This makes it very easy for the rest of the people in your crew to know if you are lifted or headed (since "Up" means you're lifted and "Down" means you're headed relative to the median).

Calling shifts relative to your median heading is the key. Don't just yell out "235 ... 227 ... 222 ... 230" since it will be difficult for others to keep track of what these numbers mean. Also, if you are lifted 10° on port tack and then the wind heads you 5°, you are not "Down 5." You should say "Up 5" because you are still 5° higher than median on that tack.

Here are a few related suggestions:

• Convince your helmsperson to give you plenty of time to collect data before the start. What you want to get is a wide range of port and starboard closehauled headings, since this is what you'll be seeing during the race. Write these in pencil on your deck.

• Since your wind calls are always made relative to the median, make sure you 1) always have a median in mind; and adjust the median as necessary. If you do change the median, tell your skipper.

• Unless you have responsibility as a tactician, it's probably better to report the facts and leave out the editorial. For example, say "We're down 10" rather than "We should tack on this big header." However, if you're concerned about your afterguard's strategic sense, you might say something like "We're down 10. Should we tack here?"

• Just as you should assign one crew-member to call windshifts from the compass, you should designate another person to look for puffs, lulls and shifts around the race course. That person really needs to keep his or her head "out of the boat." Do this by getting as high as possible above the water. On a bigger boat you can climb up on the boom at the gooseneck (or even go up the mast).

On a smaller boat, sit on the windward rail and stand up every so often to take a quick look around. When you see something, make sure you communicate this in a clear, concise way to everyone on the boat who needs to know, particularly the helmsperson and sail trimmers.

David Dellenbaugh, former starting helmsman for America3, publishes Speed&Smarts, a monthly newsletter of how-to information for racing sailors. For subscription information call: 800-356-2200. To order a new subscription, click here.