"J Peters" wrote in message
...
Keep in mind its not just the traffic at the mark you need to
worry about. If you're sailing in a large fleet and you're not
near the back, you're going to be stuck on one side of the
course or the other until you clear the rest of the downwind
boats. This could mean that you will be forced to sail on a
headed tack for longer than you'd like.

If you take the port-hand gate (looking downwind) then if you tack
immediately you
have right-of-way on all downwind boats still approaching the mark, albeit
you will sail through a lot of bad air and may need a strong nerve. However
if you take the starboard-hand gate and tack immediately you will not have
right-of-way on the
majority of downwind boats who will be approaching the mark on starboard.

Is that what you meant?