Were you one of the people who thought the reaching leg to the finish was pointless and boring? Reaching legs are famous for not having opportunities to pass. Well, when the reach comes after a downwind leg, there are some interesting possibilities.
In this fleet race at the Newport AC World Series in June 2012, Loïc Peyron surprised Jimmy Spithill to move from third to second in the last moments of the race. I’ll show you here how he did it.
Loïc Peyron on NRG is about 100 m behind Jimmy Spithill on USS as they approach the last mark before the reach to the finish. So, how did Peyron manage to finish ahead of Spithill?
You’ll find more screen shots here of this race, with all the steps between these two images.
You can replay all the past races with the Cup Experience App , available free, in the App Store. (Both the iPhone app and the Android version show races in real time. The iPhone version also has replays. )