Start with a purpose
Connect line bias, pressure, fleet behavior, and the first shift to choose a start that supports your race plan.
The McBride Racing Tactical Playbook
Build a playbook for the moments that decide races
Study real racecourse situations, learn the cues that trigger each move, and give your team a shared tactical language. Start with the free examples, explore Race Course Decision Making in the interactive reader, or take the complete books with you.
Explore free tactical playsFree examples · Interactive RCDM reader · Books available through Amazon
Protect the next decision
Use leverage, lanes, and fleet geometry to stay in control instead of relying on low-percentage escapes.
Debrief the choice
Separate the quality of a decision from the outcome, then identify the cue that should guide the next race.
Go deeper
Two books. One clearer way to see the race.
The tactical system
McBride Racing Tactical Playbook
A scenario-based guide to the recurring situations that shape sailboat races. Each play connects the setup, move, common mistake, pro tip, and best team communication.
Strategy meets tactics
Race Course Decision Making
A deeper framework for race-course philosophy, wind strategy, tactical choices, and the decision process that ties them together. Read it online with text, diagrams, and audio.
Read free examples
Start building your tactical playbook now
Each example turns a racecourse situation into a move your team can recognize, discuss, and practice.
01
Starting 1.1
Create and protect a starting lane with a repeatable positioning play.
Read the free play →02First Beat Strategy
Connect the start, first shift, fleet position, and long-term race plan.
Read the free play →03LM 2.15: The Next Level
Use speed, gauge, and predicted competitor responses at the leeward gate.
Read the free play →04Downwind 5.1
Work through a downwind passing and mark-approach situation.
Read the free play →A framework for the entire racecourse
Tactics become easier when sailors can name the situation in front of them. The goal is not to memorize isolated rules. It is to understand the changing relationship between wind, course, fleet, and opponent—and select a move that keeps the highest-value options open.
Core tactical topics
- Pre-start positioning, time-and-distance, acceleration, and lane creation
- Upwind shifts, pressure, leverage, consolidation, and fleet management
- Laylines, approach lanes, mark-rounding traffic, and exit strategy
- Downwind modes, passing lanes, gybe timing, and pressure positioning
- Risk management: when to attack, when to protect, and when to reconnect
Turn concepts into race-day instincts
The McBride Racing Playbook gives sailors a shared tactical language. Coaching, video, and GPS review can then connect each concept to real moments on the racecourse. That combination makes tactical learning more concrete and easier for teams to communicate.