What Winners Do?

I wrote before about the key factor which takes boats and crews from "also ran" somewhere in the top 10, to regular winners: “going the extra mile”. What do winners do differently to those who pitch around between 3rd and 9th places ?

Well I think saying that they give it 110% is meaningful, but winners also give it 110% off the water. This is not a factor of just time though! It is a matter of effort, focus and most of all attitude.

I think that the single most important thing that winners do is that they learn both from their mistakes, and how to improve on weaknesses. As Uffa Fox put it, “if you make three mistakes in the course of a triangle course race, then you will at best get third place..2nd place for those who make 2 small mistakes..if you make just one mistake then you will get first”

One thing here with attitude is that they are prepared to learn, and not rest on their laurels or think that they are good enough not lucky today. This latter description applies to all the loser-boats and stressed out wannabees I have ever sailed with who can get up there in the top ten of an average sized fleet.

Second to this I think winners are better at calculating risk-payoff and actual risk of collision! They are less afraid to use the rules to maintain their position and are not intimidated by bullying rules breakers or other good boats vying for start and mark positions. This is certainly where experience pays off. Like catching a ball, you just know that the boat will squeeze in there or go faster sailing a “banana” to stay in wind. In this also, I notice that winning boats do make tactical errors and begin on strategic errors BUT they recognise the situation and remedy it. This is crucial to performance in a series regatta where you need to be consistent over absolute wins in the week. Also in offshore, knowing when something isn’t working, reacting decisively and getting back into a tactical covering position to re-think strategy are what makes the difference.

Boat preparation: well my attitude is make it easy on yourself if you have a family and little or no boat building and repair experience: buy new. One things winners have is good equipment so you can either use your free time ( if you have any for this as well as racing!) to make old good or to keep an ageing boat in top form OR you can buy newer boats or components. Sounds terribly consumerist, but I recommend using time in the off season for physical training and reading rather than dusty repairs and renovations. Nearly all winning boats have new sails, or those in VGC up to 2 seasons old by the way.

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How do I know all this? Well I am only a rank amateur sports psychologist, but I had the luck to sail with also rans as well as some top amateur winners! If I had sailed only with those top echelon boats then the small mistakes would have been lost on me, and the big gains by corrections to rough errors and high risk taking would have been hidden.

I could have been one of those little groupies with the latest sun glasses, on the boats with the best HC and put up with all the frustrations when they keep on only coming 3rd. Instead I sailed a lot in one design, but moved on to sail with winners in HC fleets and events.

After a time of being on the scene I could get invited to various better boats throughout my career and that is vital for any owner-driver wanting to improve from “also ran” to regular winner.


Now team work of course is a pre-requsite, but not the decisive factor in moving from a "3rd place best" boat to the top: many a good team is let down by bad decision making at the top, er sorry, stern! Team dynamics, building and skills interactions will hopefully be the topic of my next blog!