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 2nd. Good luck at the Trofeo
Rizzotti Regatta & bring home some Italian hardware!
