By Doug Peckover

• Purpose: good fleet simulation, good warm-up
• Duration: 10 minutes
• Setup: two marks 10 seconds apart when reaching

Operation:

1. Boats round the marks by jibing in a figure of eight configuration.
2. Between marks, boats must avoid collisions, with starboard having right-of-way.
3. The drill continues until people are tired.

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By Doug Peckover

• Purpose: good for beginners, experts, and mixed classes
• Duration: 20 minutes per race pair
• Setup: small starting line with a windward course set for a 10 minute race

Operation:

1. Races are held in pairs – the first is a "scratch" and the second is a "handicap."
2. The scratch race is a normal race with a 3-minute start. In this race, the fleet spreads out. Finishers are given their handicap (the number of seconds after the winner) in 5-second intervals. So a boat finishing 17 seconds behind the winner is given a handicap of 15 seconds.
3. The handicap race is where the real fun begins. The starts are in the reverse order – if a person with a 15 second handicap starts with 15 seconds to go in the next 3-minute sequence. In this race, the fleet comes together at the end (not uncommon for everyone to finish within 20 seconds).
4. The next race in the pair is run, with everyone getting a new handicap.
5. We get 3 races/hour and keep going until a break
6. Optional: finish rounding the starting mark rather than sailing through the starting line. This adds to the downwind tactics and, in the scratch race, makes it easier to get a handicap.
7. Benefits: in the handicap race, people who normally are at the back start first in clean air and have a good chance of winning. People normally at the front start last and get to sail through the fleet – great practice for everyone. Anyone can win a handicap race. The different levels of skill for the conditions, and even the different speeds of different classes, are automatically factored.

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By Doug Peckover

• Purpose: build muscle memory for starts, good warm-up
• Duration: 10 minutes
• Setup: regular starting line with an optional mark 100 yards to windward

Operation:

1. One minute sequence with the starter counting down every 10 seconds.
2. After the start, everyone is called back 10 seconds into the race.
3. If a windward mark is used, and at the starter's discretion (say, when some good sailors get a bad start), no one is called back and the race is for real. Every start could be real – no one knows. The course is a simple windward-leeward.
4. Between starts, people then have just a few seconds to set up for the next.
5. We can get up to 10 practice starts in 10 minutes - very intense.

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