Team Racing Recap

LYC Team Racers, 

We had a great regatta in Jensen Beach this past week.  LYC did a tremendous job with all three of our teams qualifying for the GOLD fleet. Juan Carlos and I were proud to see all of you working together as a team, learning from your mistakes, getting aggressive around the racetrack, and planning and executing together.

Team racing is challenging and dynamic. You have to create a game plan and often change your strategy several times between marks. To wrap up the regatta I want to cover a few topics that stuck out to me this weekend. The qualities that make a good team racer are communication and dependability.  

What it means to be a good communicator in three steps.

If you are talking to your teammates, explaining who you’re going to cover, asking for help, or calling plays out, then you are doing a great job. The first step is to look at which team you’re up against next. Discuss their weaknesses and strengths, make the same assessments for your own team, and decide who’s sitting out (sometimes it’s going to be you).  The second step is to come up with a pre-start plan: i.e. man on man coverage or zone defense. Know before the start which sailors on your team are going up the right, left, and middle of the course. If you can’t execute your plan because a teammate is held back, spinning, covered, or OCS- talk to your team mates and create a new plan. The third step is to carrying out your plan, which brings me to the second quality of a good team racer: dependability. 

How to be dependable to your team.

Once you have talked to your teammates and come up with a plan, it’s now your responsibility to execute. Each sailor plays an important role in the team’s success.  A good team racer knows when to put pressure on the other team (covering / mark trapping) and when to stay ahead (loose covering).  

Your team depends on you to sail your best, to make good tacks and smart decisions up and down wind. Good boat handling is critical. Your team also depends on you to sail fair (not get red flagged) and to race consistently (not spinning at marks or restarting after OCS). If you feel slow or can’t get in a rhythm, sit a race or two out so you can adjust your equipment and practice more. 

Final thoughts.

The most obvious critique I have from this past weekend was the decline in attitude on the last day of racing (Monday). With two strong days or racing, and some luck with good seating, all three teams qualified for GOLD fleet. (Awesome!) But because of the postponement many sailors lost their “race focus” and once it was time to race many sailors felt rushed, unprepared, and stressed. This anxiety led to bickering, finger pointing, and frustration among teammates. (Behavior we didn’t see in the days prior).

There is a happy ending to this story. After 2-3 losses for Orange and Yellow teams you all finally shook off the negativity, compartmentalized the stress and pressure, and changed your attitude. The results were positive, two wins back to back for both teams.

We saw the stress of the final round affect your racing and attitude. I hope you learned that when faced with challenges like that to maintain your composure and think through the situation.

Preparation is essential for success in both team racing and fleet racing- don’t forget to check your sail ties.

Great job to all sailors! And congratulations to LYC GREEN- Alie, Liza, Calli, Mack, Sophia for finishing 2^nd. Good luck at the Trofeo Rizzotti Regatta & bring home some Italian hardware!