Dave Perry’s Playbook: Winning the Pin

In this three part series, Dave Perry discusses the starting options. In Part 2, Dave talks us through how to start at the pin end:

“The Pin is the Devil’s Playground!” I’ve heard myself preach this 100 times; I only wish I had listened to myself more. I love winning the Pin; who doesn’t? But it don’t come easy; and when it goes bad, it goes really bad. Here are some tips for starting well near the Pin or left-hand end of the starting line.

It is critical that you know where the close-hauled layline is to the Pin end of the line. Do many trial runs and at varying speeds. The “downspeed” layline will be come up much sooner than the “full speed ahead” layline. Try to find something on land that lines up with the layline through the Pin to use as a reference. Pay close attention to the effect of any current.

The saying is “the last one in wins the Pin.” I like to hang out to the left of the Pin with about 1:00 minute to go to the start. Here I can monitor any last minute changes in the wind direction or velocity, and can see where the fleet is setting up to start. When possible, I try to be the last boat on port tack sailing past the Pin. In a perfect world, each boat in front of me will tack onto starboard tack, and I can be the last boat to tack and therefore be the closest to the Pin at the start (“last one in wins the pin”).

The key to not being too early at the Pin is to note the time to start when you sail past the Pin on port tack. If there are 30 seconds to start when you pass the Pin, and the boat in front of you tacks onto starboard 5 seconds later, that would put you about 5 seconds from the Pin with about 25 seconds to start if you tacked in front of them. That’s too early. If you pass the Pin with 30 seconds to go, you are looking to tack to starboard with about 20 seconds to go, figuring you can kill 5-10 seconds if needed.

I learned a great trick from Neal Fowler in college sailing. I was trailing him in on port tack with about 30 seconds to start, looking to win the Pin. Suddenly, Neal gybed and tacked (did a 360), and was now behind me with about 20 seconds to go. When I tacked onto starboard, he simply tacked to leeward of me and won the Pin. I’ve called that sudden 360 move “the Fowler” ever since. It works! Obviously, in a keel boat you would need to make that move with more time to go.

Dave Perry, an entertaining and educational speaker, is available to share his Playbook and more with clubs and organizations in 2024, either in person or online in a webinar. He can be reached at davperry@optonline.net.