The Learning Curve in Sailing- Summary from Last Blog

I had a PM from a sailing instructor who thought I had cut a short story long in my last blogg, and was very keen to have a bite size version.

I think we even have to step back a little here and think about what a sailing and racing learning curve is composed of and how it may appear:

What shape is the learning curve in sailing from junior oppi sailor to being Knighted Sir Ben Ainslee??

What are the building blocks of our learning, and should we look to polish these all the time, each in their own case, or to deconstruct them and reassemble as a whole? 

Marginal Gains vs Diminishing Returns vs Clutching at Straws at the Impass

When many sailors meet an impass in their learning and performance, they often miss part of the big picture and instead focus on minor tweaks,

  They are really not aware of the gap to a major part of their learning curve and they try in some area to run before they have bothered to walk in all the key areas.

Very experienced sailors can focus on the 'marginal gains' approach. My saying then "it is all about the basics, and then there are the basics to consider"....rings true within this blogg too.

 Sailing has few tricks, it is nearly all about mastering the obvious basics and learning some of the important theory which can be readily applied to your sailing. (rig tuning, wind shifts, tidal wind vectors, rule situations and so on etc)

The only short cuts to improving your sailing I can recommend are by going to a sailing school, and sailing dinghies, with the combination being really the best to inform your keel boat sailing, or correct your dinghy sailing errors. One hour under instruction or in a dinghy is worth eight hours helming a keel boat. 

Steep, Abrupt Steps on the Learning Curve

To my mind the learning curve has some steep sections followed by practicing at that level for a while, before you move on to learn something  new, and in doing so move onto another steep section. 

These are what I can summate as > 

1) boat preparation and rigging, 

2) sail set-boat-balance-trim-course-steering ( the classic six of learning to sail and remembering to check under way) 

3)  the key four key manoevres- luffing, bearing away, tacking and gybing

4)  tactics & rules, 

5) wind and tide strategy

6) .......and also you can choose to take as either its own entity or as something which goes across all these :team work and the dynamics of the team.

These contain then all the basics of sailing which have to be learned to a level of comeptency across the board, in order for you to continue on the learning curve in an optimal way.

.....If you are missing or lacking skills in just one building block, then this becomes the weakest link in your sail-game! 

Further up the learning curve, it may be one of these areas which requires special focus in order for you to enjoy a good increment in performance.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Thinking About It All- Mastery Again and the Plateau

The key elements of sailing are then a bit like building blocks, but at some points along the learning curve you have to see them as joined-up-writing and be able to practice and race at the level you are competent to. This is then the plateau stage as the proponents of training long periods without apparent gain advocate.  

Communicate to your crew that this is a time for practice and enjoying sailing at the level you are at, and just doing your best without trying to bust a gut so to speak. Consider a series or even whole season as a plateau period. Learn to be content with that!

Accepting our little lot in the world on this plateau, we also demand of ourselves that we perform at this level with fewer mistakes. Practice makes perfect eventually, but also you can consider that repetition irons out mistakes for a base level, which then becomes the foundation or launch pad for taking the next, steep learning section of the curve.

Raising Your Game Means Opening Your Mind 

To raise your game after a period of  'plateau-ing' then you need to do this consciously with planned learning goals and activities which will help meet these, like getting a coach on board or going on a course. Also you must open your mind to new experiences and to going back-to-basics again.

Goal setting for the new steep bit of the curve then should comprise both analysis of your weaknesses from the season and any external input, and also some going out and looking what is available, affordable and do-able for you and your team.

Much of all of this means above all one thing which boat owners can struggle with - swallowing your pride. It may take the owner of a 40 foot regatta machine to go back to sailing a wayfairer at a sailing school in order for them to make that next step up the curve in their ability and results.