I have a local sailing club close by so have been intrigued with racing. I am pretty new to sailing but feel very comfortable by now in about any wind condition. I have also done a lot of reading and watching on race 'modifications' and strategy. I have probably ten local club races under my belt. My problem is the start. I am a little self conscious and don't want to get in the way during the minutes prior to the start flag. As I am hanging back a bit, I find that I am lagging well behind, sometimes 2 - 3 minutes just getting off the start line. I have no big goals in being a club champion but it would be more fun to be in the mix. In fact, I had a good start in one race kinda by accident and finished 2nd in my class! But I really don't know what I did to get where I was at that start. Just got lucky. My problem is having some kind of routine or strategy while circling prior to the start. In other words, I don't have a clue. My preference would be to hang around the start line in irons until 30 seconds or so before the start flag is dropped. But that is obviously not a good strategy because I see no one doing that. Any suggestions for a routine or strategy during the 5 minutes prior to start?
Here are my thoughts. Pick a spot behind the start line and time how long it takes to get to the line from there prior to the 5 minute horn. If you can get to the start line in a minute or less, it's a good place to start. You don't want to be in a dead stop 30 seconds before the start. The goal is to cross the line at full speed.
I didn't know much about racing when I started 4 years ago. I mostly watched and learned. I tried to follow the same tacks as the more experienced sailors to the marks. I found this article to be helpful (being crew on an Lightning with some experienced racers helped also). http://www.uiowa.edu/~sail/skills/racing_basics/index1.shtml