2026-06-24 Wed Nights — Race Results

J/80 Race Coach

TWS ranged from 3.1 to 16.4 kn (avg 9.1 kn; middle 90% was 6.6–12.2 kn).
Direction was fairly steady for most of the race (circular std 17°, mean 318°), building slightly from ~320° early to a peak around 328–344° mid-race, then backing noticeably to 286–303° in the final 40 minutes — a genuine late-race left-hand shift of roughly 30–40°.
Wind built steadily from 6.9 kn at the start to a mid-race peak of 11.2 kn (21:33 UTC), then eased gradually toward the finish (down to 6.8 kn by 22:50).

12 tacks, avg duration 10.7 s, avg speed loss 35.6%, avg recovery 7.8 s.
Best tack of the race: 22:12:00 — 7 s, tight 76.5° heading swing, only 22.6% speed loss. Worst: 21:13:48 — a slow 21 s tack with a wide 144° swing and 51.1% loss, the slowest single tack logged all season.
As in most other races, tight/quick tacks tended to cost less speed, though one exception (21:26:54, a tight 67° swing) still lost 39.7% — angle alone doesn't fully predict outcome here.
5 gybes, avg duration 11.4 s, avg speed loss 26.3%. The two lightest-air gybes late in the race (22:39, 22:50) were the cleanest, at 18.5% and 15.7% loss.

Beat boat speed averaged 78.4% of polar target (3,474 samples, avg TWS 9.2 kn) — the best relative boat speed of any race in the light-to-moderate wind group reviewed so far.
Average TWA was 47.4°, about 7° wider than the polar-optimal 40.1° at this wind speed — a moderate gap, not as extreme as the higher-wind races but wider than most other light-air nights.
Actual VMG averaged 3.10 kn vs. a polar target of 4.21 kn — 73.6% of target VMG, a few points below the 78.4% boat-speed figure.
Likely explanation: both angle and speed contribute here, with angle the slightly larger factor — the boat looks like it was footed for speed somewhat successfully (best raw speed of the comparison group) at a moderate cost to pointing.

Average heel while beating was 13.6°, between the higher-wind races (~20°) and the lightest race in the dataset (8.1° at 8.2 kn avg) — tracks sensibly with this race's 9.2 kn beat average.
Rate of turn upwind averaged 1.37°/s, unremarkable relative to other races.
Data insufficient: no traveler/vang/rudder data available to confirm power management decisions directly.

Heel scaled down predictably by point of sail (13.6° beat → 4.9° reach → 3.1° run); no finer within-leg breakdown available to say more.

Four other races were sailed in broadly similar (light-to-moderate) wind: Race IDs 4 (8.2 kn beat avg), 6 (7.5 kn), 7 (7.0 kn), and 8 (6.5 kn).
This race had the best raw upwind boat speed relative to target in that group (78.4%, vs. 70.4% / 67.5% / 66.8% / 58.8% for races 4, 6, 7, 8) — but also the widest average TWA (47.4° vs. 37.4–43.7° for the others). Observation: the fastest night of the light-air group was also the one sailing furthest from the polar-optimal angle, consistent with a foot-for-speed approach that this dataset shows paying off in raw speed but costing some pointing.
Tack execution (35.6% avg loss) was mid-pack for the group — better than Race 4 (36.9%) but well behind Race 7 (23.5%).

Tack duration outliers (medium confidence). The 21-second tack at 21:13:48 lost over half the boat's speed — by far the slowest maneuver logged this race. Action: review that specific tack; the 7-second, 22.6%-loss tack at 22:12:00 the same race is a good in-race benchmark for what "good" looks like.
Angle vs. speed trade-off (medium confidence). This was the fastest night (78.4% of target speed) of the light-air comparison group, but at the widest average angle (47.4° vs. 40.1° target). Action: worth a crew discussion on whether footing wider was a deliberate call for this race, and whether tightening angle by even a few degrees would have improved VMG without giving up much boat speed.
Late-race wind shift (low confidence — single data point). TWD backed roughly 30–40° in the final 40 minutes. Action: no immediate technique action, but worth confirming with the crew whether that shift was played or missed on the water.