My Wife and I have been sailing as crew on another skipper's boat for the
past year, let me share our perspective on this with you, and you can draw
your own conclusions. I'm sure your experience has been similar, but maybe
you can learn a thing or two from ours.
1. Take the time to work with your crew to bring them up to speed. They may
not be available for prctice once a week, but would likely be willing to
arrive early on race day, or to go out for a sail as their schedule permits.
Our skipper hasn't taken the time to really practice with us, and we wish he
had. We have learned routines with him, but still aren't clear on what is
going on at the starts, and are basically following orders. A real bonus
would be to take time at the end of the race to go over what worked and what
didn't. All too often, we douse the sails, fire up the engine and motor back
to the marina. It would be better to take a 10 minute sail talk about the
race, and practice whatever went wrong once or twice so we can see how things
should have gone.
2. Take ownership. You may think that green crew doesn't know whats going on,
but when the skip is telling you to get the tell-tails flying, and you look
up at the windex and see that he's got you too close to the wind, you aren't
going to accept it no matter how long the skip tells you that the boat speed
is your fault. On our boat whatever goes wrong is the crew's fault, or
excuses start coming out... sailing into a calm, a wind shift, poor start
line placement, etc. After about 2 races we were on to the excuses. The is
the single biggest impediment to getting my wife out and on the boat right
now. She's tired of being told what she's doing wrong, when she isn't doing
anything wrong. If she is doing something wrong, she'd rather hear what to do
to make it right.
3. Be sure that your crew is happy with their roles, and good at them. My
wife has been assigned foredeck. She is light and nimble, and is able to call
out where the wind is, guide the foresail around the stays etc. quite adeptly.
Our skipper is happy to have her up there. She wishes she was in the cockpit
learing to run the boat. Of course the skip always helms, and he likes me on
the sheets for my strength. In our sailing classes my wife was wicked-awesome
at the helm. If we buy a boat and get into racing, she will helm for sure;
unless she wants to do something else...
4. Doing well in competition can be measured many ways. Is it having fun?
Crossing the line with the best time? Beating the other boats with the same
PHRF? Let your crew know what your measure of doing well is, and let them
know how they can contribute to the goal.
Maybe in your outline below "put together a Crew" covers all these things. I
just hope some of my thoughts are helpful in your successful season!
Prospector.
Richard wrote:
I want to tell you a short story to give you background, then ask for
your advice about entering a race series.
I have rearranged my schedule so that I can sail next June-October in
a Wednesday night "Beer-Can" race series. I'll be sailing a Catalina
250 or 27 in the "Cruiser" class. (No spinnakers)
I would like to implement a plan that does the following:
1. Put together a crew. (Or if I can put together two crews, we can
practice/race together to keep an edge on and learn together until
June.)
2. Begin practicing and learning on Wednesdays until June.
3. Compete and do well in the series.
My background/experience:
a. Completed beginner, intermediate and advanced U.S. Navy classes
(qualified to rent Cat 250's and Cat 27's.)
b. Crewed in a few races.
c. 100+ hours local sailing experience.
I have several books on racing and rules. I understand the basics of
rules, but right now, lose most rules in the heat of the moment. I've
ordered a bunch of sailing books.
I'm getting a feel for rigging and getting in a groove upwind, but
have no clue what I'm doing downwind. (If the strategy is anything but
head for the downwind mark, I'm not sure what course(s) to steer and
why.) I'm starting to build checklists for what to do at the dock, in
the hour before the race, etc. so I can get into a structure routine.
So..... My questions...
How do you like my plan?
What is your advice on things to do, include or avoid?
What can I do when there are no other boats around to find out how I'm
doing?
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