Deep Dive: Laser Class, Race 4

Over the past 40 or so years, the downwind technique for the Laser has been relentlessly refined. Like many single-sail boats, the Laser is fairly thirsty for horsepower on the downwind legs. While seven square meters might do the trick upwind, it’s nowhere near enough once you turn the corner.

Going directly dead downwind—the old barn door approach—is both slow and unstable. The modern solution for the Laser has been to alternate sailing by the lee—with the airflow on the sail running from the leech to the luff—and broad reaching, with the air flowing in the normal direction. The resulting path isn’t so far different from the ragged path down the road by the proverbial over-served bar patron. The net result is a seemingly direct journey from the pub to the house, but with the subject only occasionally pointed directly toward his front door.
 
In analyzing Race 4 of the Laser during the 2017 World Cup Series Miami, we found that among the top finishers there is a definite outlier in terms of downwind technique: Stefano Peschiera of Peru. While his fellow Laser sailors were fairly aggressive with their course changes in the 12- to 14-knot breeze, jitterbugging from side to side all the way down the track, Peschiera (pink track, second from the left in the two downwind-leg screen grabs above from Race 4) adopted a more subtle approach and a dramatically smoother course.
 
He wasn’t as fast. His average speed on the first run of Race 4 was 6.4 knots, while the rest of the top 5 were between 6.82 and 6.89. On the second run, Pescheira averaged 6.6 knots while the other four sailors were between 6.82 and 7.27.
 
Despite being a bit off the pace according to the speedo, Peschiera passed boats on both downwind legs, going from seventh to fifth on the first run and then sixth to fourth on the second.
 
How did he do that? Because he wiggled a lot less than his fellow competitors, he sailed distinctly less distance. Peschiera sailed 2,528 meters on the two downwind legs of Race 4, while the other sailors in the top five averaged 6.3 percent more distance, 2,687.5 meters.
 
The lesson in this case probably isn’t as much about the distance sailed as it is another old adage—and one that is applicable to all aspects of life—there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And that even after 40 years of the best sailors in the world refining Laser technique, there’s always something different to try.
 
Due to a pair of alphabet scores on the first day of racing, Peschiera is a bit down the standings. But his two fourths on Day 2 showed that he’s no slouch in the largest class at the 2017 World Cup Series Miami. At 22, and with one Olympic regatta already under his belt, his future is very much ahead of him in this class. It would be a mistake to completely disregard his approach to the runs during this regatta.
 

Information on how to follow the event is below:

RESULTS / ENTRIES
A full list of sailors registered to sail in Miami is available to view here – http://manage2sail.com/en-US/eventonly/f61c409e-4fad-49a6-baa6-f9287b804645/style/worldcup#!/entries?classId=e2d355cc-1d5b-4dfb-b6b9-58c9d28c0cfa  
Results will be available from Tuesday 24 January via the Manage2Sail results centre here – http://manage2sail.com/en-US/eventonly/f61c409e-4fad-49a6-baa6-f9287b804645/style/worldcup#!/results?classId=e2d355cc-1d5b-4dfb-b6b9-58c9d28c0cfa

TRACKING
Live tracking and competitor’s analytics will be available via SAP Sailing Analytics throughout the event here – https://swc2017-miami.sapsailing.com/gwt/Home.html#/event/:eventId=b82f9012-47d8-4e9e-b3b2-a690c1db0fe3

PRESS RELEASES
World Sailing will be releasing international press releases after racing throughout the duration of World Cup Miami. All the latest news and reports will be available to read here – http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/news/index.php

TELEVISION
Medal Races on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January will be streamed live on World Sailing’s Facebook and YouTube Channel.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow the event on World Sailing’s social networks and get involved in the conversation using #SWCMiami17
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Twitter – @worldsailing
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SAILING WORLD CUP
The Sailing World Cup is a World-class, annual series of Olympic sailing for elite and professional sailors. Over 2,000 of the World’s leading sailors, representing over 75 nations have competed in the Sailing World Cup which offers a definitive guide to the best-of-the-best in the Olympic sailing world.