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Italian Team Accademy lessons

A semi-serious guide to SOL.
The following  notes  were  collected  during  hours  of  Soling  by Gilles,  during  days (and  loooong nights) trying  to  understand why  the top SOLers, were  doing  what  they did, and do.
The  only  one  that  is  mention  here is "the Prof" , alias ita10267.
I  got  the  extreme  privilege  to  be  beaten, ops theached, by  him  an  incredible  number of time.  But  every time  during  the  analysis of the race in  chat  I  was  able  to  collect  few  words/rules applicable  either in SOL or IRL.
Of course  for  each  rule  a  book  could  be written but this is just a memo to stick in the cockpit. under the name of Prof´s Rules.

Chapter 1 - Strategy
s1- Never sleep
 this  is  know  as  rule#1 in SOL
s2- Cover
 like  you  see  in  match  race of America´s Cup
s3- Cover
 but  here  you  should  cover  the entire fleet...   this  means  that  sometime  you need to pick "your" opponent.
s4- Depend  where  one´s  want  to go
 To  select the correct point(s) towards you  want to move  yours dot  is the essence in SOL and IRL. The "point"  is (not) normally, the waypoint
s5- Footing  toward  the wind shift
 technics also note as Wally. see  also external source.
s6- If the wind  shift to the left go to the left, if to the right go right.
 Right? not for me...  never got  if it is meant the left of the wind or the boat or both....
s7- if  there is a slow rotation stay outside
 to use the slingshot effect.
s8- The Horses are  counted after the line.
 The ranking after the  start  and  in the middle of a race  stay for cosmetics

Chapter 2 - Tactics
t1- Cover
 always cover...
t2- If  you  made a wrong decision  the  faster you correct it  the better it is.
 The  risk  is  that waiting  the  situation evolve in a even worst direction.
t3- Tactics  degrade  the strategy  to the  fastest routing.
 (Ok,  this  one  is  taken somewherelse...)
t4- Surprise  weather  can  screw up  everithings. Even  the  perfect strategy
t5- To cover sometimes is necessary a rebecchino
 Like  the  name  of the sail Genoa is coming from the italian city with light wind, "Rebecchino" is a nautical term originary also from Genua indicating a double tack/jybe within a really short distance just to ensure to cover the opponent.
 
Chapter 3 - Weather
w1- Keep the weather slider ahead.
 is  more  important  to  know  where  you want to be and how you will  go there than  where  you are now.
w2- Decide  where  you want  to be  in the  middle.
 Weather instinct  is  required  here,  the  router will  confirm your feeling (see 76 article routing for not routers)
w3- The angle is more important than the pressure.
 This is usually the strarting point for endless discussion.

Chapter 4 - Polar Curve
p1- VMC
 (see rule s4 & w2) a lot  of post and reference  in 76 and AGage blog explain  that. You  just MUST know it.
p2- VMG
 This one is normally easier but is just a special case of p1.
p3- Use polar hop
 What to do when the polar has holes and bumps....

Chapter 5 - DC. Delay Command and command
d1- The sign of a DC must be checked 3 times.
 More than one safe win was  blown away by a wrong DC....
d2- If the  WX is stable and you plan to be away long time (3 wx update...) put the DC in CC  and not in TWA.
 Better  to  move slowly in the correct direction than going back to the start.
d2.1- If you are going through a windshift have the boat on cc and not twa...
otherwise the result could be impredictable,  specially  with WX update
d3- ensure fully awake before making slight course adjustment........
 
Chapter 6 - Murphy  applied to SOL
M1.1 The  big mess will happen  during the weekend... :-)
M1.2 the crucial phase will be  at 3:00 AM...  whatever fuse.
M1.3 the crucial phase will be in conjunction with a dentist appointment booked since 4 months.
M1.4 A short meeting  will  be just  to long so that you will  miss the turn or hit the land.
M1.5 If you are distracted (by a short nap, a meeting, dinner, or family...) the boat/boats you are covering will tack or gybe while you are away.

/also known as Watson paradigm)
M2- Internet connection will  be broken when you should  make a turn  around a cape or mark...
M3- Internet server worldwide will  collapse o in the most interesting phase of a regatta o just 2 hours before  the arrival of a regatta lasting many weeks.
M4- Rich get richer

Knowing the rules is easy...
Knowing when to apply which one is ART,  and  this is the domain of the best. (excpet  when rule t4 is enforced)