Winning Strategies
Positions can change really fast in Team Racing and the teams must instantly decide what is the right
strategy for any given combination.
A team in a winning position will try to sail as fast as possible to get to the finish and secure victory.
Teams in losing positions have two options – either attack forward to improve their own individual
position, or attack backwards to slow down an opposing sailor so their team mate can pass.
Which team is winning? The boat in 1st place scores one point, 2nd place 2 points, etc, and a winning
team total is 17 points or less. If both teams have 18 points, the team without 1st place is winning.
Here is a handy guide using cartoon fish to help you understand what is going on.
- The fish with their jaws open are attacking.
- The fish with their jaws closed swimming normally.
- The fish with their bills out are swimming as fast as they can.
Orange 1,2,7,8 v Green 3,4,5,6
Orange are losing, so their first 2 sailors will turn around and try to slow down the Green sailors in third,
fourth, fifth and sixth. Meanwhile the Orange team’s seventh place sailor will attack the sixth place Green
team sailors. The last placed Orange sailor will just sail as fast as possible to catch up.
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
Green 1,2,3,8 v Orange 4,5,6,7
Green are winning this one so they will try to maintain this position to the finish. The fourth placed
Orange boat will attack the third placed Green boat who is trying to stay out of trouble by sailing as fast
as possible. Similarly the eighth placed Green boat will attack the seventh placed Orange boat. The first
and second placed Green boats will sail normally but are ready to come back and help out their
teammate in third if required.
Orange 1,5,6,7 v Green 2,3,4,8
This is a close one with Green winning by 1 point. The leading Orange boat sails fast to keep out of
trouble from the attacking second placed Green boat. The fifth place Orange boat attacks the fourth
placed Green boat to try and get ahead and let his teammates past. Finally the last placed green boat
attacks the seventh placed Orange boat.
Orange 1,4,5,8 v Green 2,3,6,7
Orange are leading by just 1 point making it another close one which could go either way. All of the top 5
boats will attack backwards with Orange trying for 1,2,3 and Green trying to get to 2,3,4. The Green
seventh and Orange eighth placed boats will sail flat out to try to get into the mix.
Green 1,2,5,6 v Orange 3,4,7,8
Orange are losing badly so their third and fourth placed boats will attack back at the fifth and sixth placed
Greens. This will force the first and second placed Greens to attack back to try and help out. Meanwhile
Orange seventh and eighth will try to catch up, which might result in Orange establishing a winning
3,4,5,6.
Fish courtesy of Brad Dellenbaugh