Reading the race course: Wind bends and lanes

Knowing how to “read” the water is a skill that separates reactive sailors from proactive ones. While many sailors focus on wind shifts, understanding how wind bends around land features or along shorelines can offer massive gains—especially on the first beat.

Wind lanes — areas where the wind is funnelling more consistently—often form due to thermal patterns, geographic funnelling, or water surface differences. When you spot a streak of darker water upwind, it’s usually a sign of more pressure. Coaches: challenge sailors to identify these areas before the start and build it into their upwind plan.

Wind bends, on the other hand, aren’t necessarily shifts—they’re gradual changes in direction caused by land shapes, cloud cover, or even sea breezes rotating around a bay. Learn the local effects by watching how boats lift or knock in different areas over time. If the fleet always lifts on one side of the course, it’s probably a wind bend, not a lucky shift.

Key coaching question: Can your sailor explain what they saw in the water before each leg and how it matched their plan?