Five Minutes of Fury

The pre-start is the most important
part of a match-race.

Dennis Conner says that the first five minutes after the start of a match-race are the most interesting part of a race. That’s when a trained eye such as Conner’s can pick out the relative speeds of the competing yachts and determine who has the upper hand.

The most important part of a match-race, however, is the five minutes before that, the pre-start. That’s where the fight for the race begins. For five furious minutes the teams joust, thrust and parry trying to intimidate the opposition. Dialling-up, circling, chasing, hooking, luffing are all part of the pre-start vernacular.

Coordination is a major component of the pre-start, and not just relating to dexterity. The helmsman, bowman and trimmers all need to be in synch with each other to time the speed build and hit the line as the start gun is fired, like Stars & Stripes in its Flight 3 match (upper right).

The challenger fleet features some of the best starters in the business, including Alinghi’s Brad Butterworth and Russell Coutts (lower left) and OneWorld’s James Spithill and Peter Gilmour (lower right). Herewith, some of the best images from pre-starts during the quarterfinals.

Charge! Prada and Alinghi say as they enter the start box shortly after the 5-minute preparatory signal (left). Run away! Prada seems to say moments later (right). On port tack, Prada had to keep clear or else risk a penalty. The two boats dialled-up head-to-wind, with Alinghi’s course dictating how Prada can escape. In this situation, both boats wound up tacking away.

Stars & Stripes versus Wight Lightning, Flight 2. With 90 seconds to the start both boats were on port tack, Stars & Stripes to leeward and ahead, in the lower right side of the box. Stars & Stripes wanted the right side of the beat, so the goal was to start to windward of the British. Stars & Stripes luffed Wight Lightning to clear them away (left). Stars & Stripes later tacked to starboard and crossed the line with a 4-second advantage.

In Flight 4, Stars & Stripes entered the start box on port tack (left) and spun head-to-wind before Wight Lightning, which stalled while dialling up. With its bow ahead of the British, Stars & Stripes was in a bad position. But the British had trouble getting their boat going, and Stars & Stripes gained a 14-second as the race started.

The bowman and helmsman must have clear communication at the start. The bowman is the helmsman’s eyes for distance to the line. The helmsman must coordinate his speed build with the time to the line. Oracle BMW Racing’s Geordie Shaver (left) calls the distance while helmsman Peter Holmberg rolls OneWorld and gains a 3-second advantage during their Flight 2 match.

Sweden’s Victory Challenge and France’s le Defi AREVA have had some of the most even starts in the quarterfinals. Victory’s Orm won two by one second each and le Défi’s FRA-69 won one by 2 seconds. They also had this even start in Flight 3. Onboard conversations as the boats entered the pre-start indicated that le Défi wanted the right side of the start and the Swedes the left. The boats approached the line early, resulting in a split tack start with the French boat taking the right and Orm the pin end.