How to find, use, and escape bad air

In this report, the SailZing team offers advice on when to hold, and when to fold:

You’re off the line fast, in a clean lane. Then a boat tacks right on your nose, and your wind pressure drops.

The telltales sag. The tiller goes light. Boats you were beating start climbing past you. Nothing broke, and you didn’t change your trim. You just sailed into her ‘wind shadow’, the patch of slow, churned-up air her sails leave behind.

Every mid-fleet racer knows that feeling. Most of us never learn exactly where that bad air sits, so we keep sailing into it. This post shows you how to beat the shadow.

In this post, you’ll learn to see the shadow on the water before it hits you. You’ll know how far it reaches, which way it points, and how to use it against other boats. You’ll also learn when to escape and when to sit tight and take your lumps. – Full report