Contemporary Team Racing Glossary
Balance : A term used to describe the relative comparative height of two boats with regard to the finish line. Two teammates who are covering opponents will want to balance themselves upwind and slow their respective opponents so that both teammates cross the finish line about the same time and the opponents cross behind.
Bow Out : The situation when two boats are overlapped and the boat to leeward has more forward position on the boat to windward. The boat which is to leeward and is bow out has great potential to pinch off the boat to windward.
Drop : A term used to describe the action when a competitor falls back in the race course so that she may place herself to weather and in front of an opponent she hopes to cover.
Jibe-Jibe : The maneuver of jibing twice, consecutively when sailing downwind in order to change the way the overlap is established by two boats. The jibe-jibe is performed by the leeward boat to gain luffing rights on an opponent overlapped to windward.
Mark Trap : The maneuver executed by the first of two teammates with an opponent in between as they approach a mark. The first teammate sets up at the two length zone and traps the opponent behind so that teammate in third may pass the mark ahead of both boats… thus passing back the opponent in the middle.
Pass back : The maneuver used by a competitor to slow an opponent so that she a loses position and a teammate moves ahead a position.
Pin : The action taken by a competitor to force an opponent to sail a further distance than necessary by physically blocking her from tacking. The offensive move is used to hold an opponent so that a teammate may move ahead of her.
Rag : A term used to describe the action of luffing a sail to windward of an opponent so as to slow both the yacht to leeward as well as the luffing yacht herself. The action is performed to slow a competitor so that a teammate may move ahead.
360 Penalty : An alternative penalty which may be taken when a competitor acknowledges fault by turning 360 degrees.
Red Flag : A. Notification that a competitor is protesting. In the case of protest, the loser will accrue 6 points or more, depending on the rule infringed, to her finishing results.
B. On the water Umpiring will also use flags to point out the boat at fault if no 360 is done in a protest situation. When the umpire make a decision and flags a boat, that boat must turn 720 (2 X 360) degrees because they did not acknowledge fault with a 360 turn.
Speed Passback . The technique used by a competitor to slow an opponent so that she loses a position and a teammate moves ahead a position. The speed passback is performed when the opponent in the middle has poor position on a teammate to leeward. With a speed passback, just the bad air from the weather teammate is enough to slow the opponent in the middle, pass her back, and bring the teammate ahead. A speed passback does not require luffing and would be best utilized when speed is vital and the weather teammate does not want to loose position in the race by luffing and slowing herself.
Up-Down : The maneuver executed by a windward overlapped boat on a reach heading up so as to break an overlap and then heading back down to re-establish the overlap. If a boat surfs into a windward overlap on an opponent, the windward boat will perform the Up-Down to change the way the overlap was established to limit the leeward boat from luffing her.
