Your sentence ......"which meant it (Puerto Calero-Hesperia) had to constantly avoid having the wind taken out of its sails (by the other boats)"

ES context: Según se mueve, un barco desvía y altera el flujo de aire que lo propulsa, así que el flujo de aire que deja a sotavento y por popa siempre es más flojo y turbulento. Este concepto del desvente*** y de las turbulencias, es fundamental para controlar a un oponente una vez que se ha traspasado la línea de salida. Para ganar ventaja sobre su rival, un competidor puede utilizar maniobras de desvente*** con objeto de obligarle a meterse en posiciones que sean como callejones sin salida; tanto obligándole a cambiar de rumbo (virando, trasluchando, arribando, etc.), o bien haciéndole aguantar y quedarse en esa posición desventajosa viendo así como su oponente se escapa.

PARALLEL TEXTS:

ES - Otra cosa es lograr ganar. Básicamente, para conseguirlo no hay que correr más que los demás, sino hacer que los
demás corran menos mediante las técnicas de ‘desvente’***
y derecho a paso. Y aquí, el conocimiento del reglamento
es tan importante como la táctica y la velocidad.

EN - Quite another matter is managing to win. Basically, it's not a matter of just sailing faster than anyone else, but making others lose time by ***taking the wind out of their sails*** and exploiting right of
way. And this is where a knowledge of the rules is just
as important as the tactics and pure speed.

GLOSSARY ENTRIES:

Taking the wind out of his sails -
Sailing in a manner so as to steal or divert wind from another ship's sails.
http://www.fortogden.com/nauticalterms.html

Took the wind out of his sails
Often we use "took the wind out of his sails" to describe getting the best of an opponent in an argument. Originally it described a battle maneuver of sailing ships. One ship would pass close to its adversary and on its windward side. The ship and sails would block the wind from the second vessel, causing it to lose headway. Losing motion meant losing maneuverability and the ability to carry on a fight.
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/traditions/html/navyterm...

Taking the wind out of his sails - To sail in a way that steals the wind from another ship cf. overbear.
Overbear - To sail downwind directly at another ship, stealing the wind from its sails.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/g/gl/glossary_...

In racing, and you are downwind from other boats, you are getting what is called their dirty air....

as in this explanation:

***If I wanted to beat you on the race course, I want to make sure that I'm always ahead of you, so my boat is always between you and the mark," says Vines. "I could also position my boat so that I'm giving you what's called 'dirty air,' which is air that isn't coming cleanly from down the race course."" It's air that's been distorted or disrupted. If you can set up your boat properly like that on the race course, you can affect your opponent's ability to handle the wind in front of you."


Just as important as wind theory, the changes in boat construction have turned the sport on its head. Racers are no longer held down by clunky wooden hulls and inflexible aluminium masts. Today's modern racing dinghies soar through the waves with fibreglass hulls designed after months of computer simulation testing. The art of sail making has also greatly benefitted from computer modelling and masts have evolved into composite fibre mechanisms that can be adjusted for a myriad of sailing conditions.



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Note added at 2 hrs 4 mins (2005-08-22 12:33:19 GMT)
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AKA Wind Shadow: constantly having to stay out of their wind shadow: or bad air: desvente= bad air in sailing..

Or Wind shadow: constantly having to avoid their wind shadow...or bad air:
Here:
Wind Shadow
An area of wind turbulence and reduced wind speed occurring either behind the yacht while sailing upwind and in front of the yacht while sailing downwind. Also known as "bad air" or "dirty air."



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Note added at 2 hrs 9 mins (2005-08-22 12:38:17 GMT)
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MOre examples:
foot only as much as you need to keep your sails ahead of their wind shadow. ... At every post-race rap session the subjects of boat speed and going the ...
www.rebelsailor.com/foot.htm - 6k - Cached - Similar pages


Reynolds Sailing Catamarans and multihulls, boat builders and ...Take it to starboard and sail faster with no wind shadow but sail a longer ... But Flyer hit the wind line just one half a boat length ahead of Hats Off and ...
reynoldssailing.com/en/update/feb04.asp - 38k - Cached - Similar pages

Here are the English and Spanish versions of the America's Cup web page, which gives a good technical explanation of the phenomenon.

Better known as the condition where the wind velocity changes from point to point in a given direction. Better known in aeronautics but also utilized in navigation

I know its a tactic for winning races, to get in front of another boat and steal the wind from it; but I'm sure there's a more technical name for that... :)

Terry McLaughlin Wins the 2003 Knickerbocker Cup - [ Traduzca esta página ]... stealing from your opponent," which means using sails to "steal" the wind from the ... with the winner not being determined until the final few boat lengths toward ...
www.antonnews.com/manhassetpress/ 2003/09/05/sports/onthebay.html - 19k - Resultado Suplementario - En caché - Páginas similares


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Note added at 42 mins (2005-08-22 11:11:24 GMT)
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I believe you can also refer to it as "cobvering a boat" so you could also say :

"escape from covers"

www.antonnews.com/manhassetpress/2003/09/05/sports/onthebay...
With the wind filling in quickly from behind “Jaded” surfed up to be the next boat behind us, a number of the boats between us had gone to the mat with the squall and so now we were just one boat in front of “Jaded”. Covering them as we went left we kept our lead on them and crossed the line in front and won the 2005 Nationals.

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Note added at 42 mins (2005-08-22 11:11:40 GMT)
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meant "covering a boat" sorry :)

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Note added at 45 mins (2005-08-22 11:14:22 GMT)
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www.jsalis.org/Lessons/Tactics/Tactics_09_Covers.html "cove...


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Note added at 22 hrs 46 mins (2005-08-23 09:15:43 GMT)
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HI! I just found a term in a saliling glossary that describes it:

BLANKET - To block the wind from the sails of a boat that is to leeward; a tactical maneuver whereby a boat uses its sails to blanket the competitor's wind, slowing him down; to take wind from a sail.

So another Sugg. would be "constantly having to avoid blankets"
Hope that helps!! (again :)

http://www.marinewaypoints.com/learn/glossary/glossary.shtml...