Although there are no spinnakers in high school sailing, the downwind legs are far from a parade to the next mark or the finish; with good technique, you can make significant gains. To be aware of and to react to strategic considerations such as the effects of current or better wind pressure and tactical considerations such as getting inside overlaps on other boats, both skipper and crew need to keep their heads outside the boat throughout a reach or run. But to get your boat where you want it to be, you need to maintain top boatspeed through jibes and transitions between reaching and sailing dead downwind.