How clouds impact your race strategy

The movement of clouds is easy to forget when the action is in front of you, but the key to your next race win may very well be above. Here’s how to play the clouds, by Chelsea Freas for Sailing World:

So many factors go into prepping for a typical around-the-buoys day race: rig tune, sail selection, start line bias, course skew, and currents, but one of my biggest pieces of advice to sailors is to remember to regularly “look up!” One overlooked component of sailing strategy is how the wind behaves around the clouds and by understanding how they can influence wind patterns at the surface, you can gain a competitive edge on the water, especially if you are the only one looking around at the clouds. Clouds are a big topic, of which entire books have been published, but to get you started, here are my five top tips for cloud management. – Full report