Sail away from the victim on a beam reach for a 5-7 boat lengths, tack, and drop back onto the same track or lower. Approach the victim from slightly to leeward, round the boat into the wind to slow down and make contact. Boat is under control the entire time, and does not jibe. Crew has time to react. Distance sailed away allows speed control on approach.
Boat sails too far away, can lose sight of victim.
If upwind, boat goes to a beam reach, then tacks in a few boat lengths. In both cases, as boat crosses the eye of the wind, helmsman cries BANG, so that a reference of the boat when it is head to wind vs. victim is established. Boat continues to tack and leaves jib aback, and either reaches off to drop behind victim, or continues slightly upwind to victim. As boat gets close, helmsman stuffs boat into wind, eases the sheets, and sails slowly by victim. It may be best not to try stopping adjacent to victim, but rather sail by slowly maintaining boat control and allow victim to grab a line and be towed as boat slows down.