whom maketh only one small mistake from perfection, winneth race there with.
They who doth make a platry two mistakes desserve second place and so on......
Top sailors still pertain to this philosophy. In the book "mastery" by George Leonard, we can gain insight from a world far apart from sailing: nemlig Aikido. Mastery is the art of practice makes perfect. You spend alot of time repeating what you love. If you can't do this seeming monotomy to progress and win, then you don't love your sport!
I've written about the perfect race, and hating losing being important. But like many jobs out there you can actually take a rather mechanical or maybe arithmetic approach to improving your sail sport....by identifying, qualifying and quantifying your mistakes.
Okay, so before the race course what mistakes can you make?
Mistakes in Preparation to Erradicate
before you set out...even set foot on the water.,.....blah blah
'
The best way of learning racing is to go out and do it with at least a bare idea of the rules viz:
- Don't go over the start line early
- Avoid collision
That would be enough prepartion for someone who has sailing competence and now wants to race- all entry, insurance, membership etc being paid up and subscribed to, that is . If you can't sail, then the race course on even a small club wednesday is no place to learn....
The usual preparation faults which are meaningful are in my opinion:
a) Boat Prep
b) expectation management with your crew...and yourself.
BOAT PREP
Go and learn how your boat should be set up to make it at least safe to sail.
Thereafter the mistakes people make are:
Not adjusting settings to wind conditions-
I recently went out on a j109 with a leading 2.4m designer. I twanged the shrouds and declared my gut feeling that these were too slack. He disagreed. It then blowed 30knts and I had to fight the mainsail like a Malin on the line. Norths later said they had left the boat to sell in a light airs set up...... nice and soft on the caps and a turn off on the D1s.
Another story...just after I got my first tasar there was an annual pursuit race on the "pond". I arrived after my crew and god only knows how we made it out within 2 mins of our start time alongside the merlins and Flying Fifteens. The boat behaved differently to my prior experience- it was like a bucking bronco. It planed up wind like a motor boat, was more than a handful. IN a lull we fell in back over ourselves and turtled, the mast going into the black slag of the lake bottom. Talk about the slow horse feeling the crack of the whip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In both cases the boats just needed some simple tweaks, 2 minutes really, but more than that they needed some maturity or, learning curve, as you may call it. Both boats needed hard shrouds to give good prebend for the mast. My tasar went out with too deep sails but I had to sail it on mainsheet alone, which was atleast correct.
An OOD boat I sailed on for five seasons seemed only to excel in heavy airs. The rig was a bit hard, but it was more that the helm never learnt how much of a break pad the rudder is! He did zero prep for light airs and was both heavy in gear and heavy on the stick in medium. Only when in really was over 22 knts did he come alive.
Managing Expectations
This is absolutely key in progressing in the sport. Some who have read up on sports pyschology end up actually over managing expectations, or those nervous types who bail out of something exciting, end up not getting "that vital quality you acquire the precise moment after you most needed it.....experience"!
Your own expectations are paramount as owner driver or crew boss. Once you can be objective about these before the race, series or whole season so can you manage the team's progress so much better.
Yachting is both a very passionate yet extrememly calculating business. Like chess on water, while on steroids and whizz.
The real key to this sport is to take that unbridled passion and combine it with objetivity. Your brain must act like a computer while your heart must act -thereafter- like a killer.
Being able to say to your crew, and yourself , that todays race will be such and such a trial to for instance get off the start line and compare boat speed..is a step which will pay enormous dividends and move you out of the leagues of frustrated wannebees who have all the ambition but no humility.
In terms of mistakes, and reducing them or learning from them, a very good start point is to say what we want to correct on that day ahead. Start, tacks, hoist, wind-awareness, rule-application etc.
ON THE RACE COURSE
Okay, so now you have prepared to the above notes. You have an idea of the weather ahead in the very least, if not actually a full picture (think visualisation) of how the weather will change, and how competitors will position themselves.
Mistake 1.
Underestimating your enemy.
What ever your plans for the day, you should know that someone out there wants to beat you and they may even cheat or cause dammage in the attempt. Someone with ambition and no humility, or a lion not ready to give up his crown yet!
You too should be looking to whom you can roll over on the start, take out in the mark or hoist. But don't underestimate the loser or those around you. Winners go for clear air, boat speed and with a reasonable start, a "tight bombing pattern" up the beat to go all Yossarian on you. They stay clear of trouble, and only take the gloves off when they know they can steer the boat into clear air and boat speed....
Rolling a perpetual loser who is always early and head to wind at the start is fair enough but does that put you in the best start? Or maybe they went on a course and now can rag just behind the start line and take you over early.
Mistake 2.
Being Late for the Start
Being early is not such a problem. You feel the crack of the whip and you also know what it is to mix it at the favoured end of the start line. So you learn.
Whereas, Being late feels not so bad to the loser...you can catch up, find free air, read the fleet ahead, go on a flyer. NO NO and THRICE NO!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sprint to win, to push the chest through the tape, is at the start of short course yacht racing and can even have real meaning in transatlantic legs.
This is a topic in itself, but learn to deonstruct your earlier experience, lose some nerves by training alone and mid line then get the feel for "early", "slow", "too High", "fast" , "gybe" "tack twice" or just Power ON!! Once again computer first then gut !
Mistake 3
Not spotting the first shift
It can happen before the start, but let's take that the start was mid oscillation or on a 90' to the wind to 1st mark.
This is only computer mode. Look at the compass and know whih bearings upwind take you fastest to the mark. Play with lifts and take headers within the "cone" while keeping an eye on the fleet and weather ahead
Mistake 4
Going up the Wrong side
This is where the winners earn their spurs. How?
Well they go out and sail the course on a wide cone. They measure the wind and consider the tides etc and any metereological effects over the 20 mins of the beat. They then react to it.
Often they have had such a good start and enjoy 100% clean air that they can both fool the fleet into going the slow way or cover back on them if it begins to pay (usually right with the fleets' centre of gravity on port roundings)
On a yacht the tactician on the rail will maybe be experienced enough to call side changes post prep'-beat and start. In a dinghy the course is smaller and without other information, covering the fleet is more important if you are ahead.
BEING IN A POSITION OF KNOWLEDGE about sides, convergent over divergent winds, funneling, cloud -gust patterns etc is your armoury.
Losers either go right too early or just go up the middle losing out on any side bias.
Mistake 5
Going on Flyers on Beat or Later
This is the flip side of mistake 4. You "know" that left pays, and go all out left. The fleet hedge their bets and , whoops, the conditions change and dis favour left. Your perfet start is squandered. Alternatively, a la Scott Chalmers, a flyer is used to make up for bad starts or missing the first shift, or a clumsy rounding and hoist.
KNOW THE CONE! only go out of the 60' tacking cone if you are very confident in your "intelligence" or the wind signs spell it out. A winning boat always covers the fleet without "perfect 'gen" even if that means they would sail a lot slower round the course ..potentially if the flyer pays off. Unlike bike races, sailing is not a time trial against the clock in a round the cans situace.
Mistake 6,7,8,9,.-,-,-,-
Handling errors
Tacks, bear aways, hoists, trim, sheeting,
The point is that you should learn where you are weak and overcome these by training.
Mistake 10
Lack of Humility or objectivity, or possessivness at marks
Mark roundings are the most exiting part of sailing. Coming off the start is rarely as all-demanding as the personal or crew effort in rounding marks. At windward, leeward or the odd remaining anarchronistic gybe mark, there are no brakes like on the start line apparently. But break pads, patience and objectivity needeth you in large quantities.
You need absolutely to
a) know your team's capabilities
b) give in to those who are ahead and have rights
c) be possessive about your space to round
Putting the breaks on earns you rights over following boats, forced wide, and respect from those ahead with rights over you.
Mistake 11
Murphy's War
Avoid private boat on boat wars which lose places. Period.
Mistake 12
Lacking Nerve and Killer Instinct
Usually this is either at marks or nearing the finish line. Have the courage of your convictions and hold boat speed and VMG!"
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