by providing the environ- ment from which they can get the best out of them- selves.
For example, I have stopped using the term debrief. By definition (cross- examine, interrogate, ques- tion) it does not help to stim- ulate an open, constructive learning process. Instead we have ‘chats’, which turn into think-tank sessions which allow the sailors to step up to the next level. Horses for courses when it comes to coaching. The point is we have a massive number of tools to help our sailors. We just don’t have the time to go through but a fraction of them. The atten- tion span of tired sailors and coaches means you pick and choose what you use, each day.
Left: never argue with coach, as Oracle coach Philippe Presti makes his point to met man Juan Vila and strategist Ben Ainslie after the team had won race 12 in San Francisco. Two apparently similar Dragon shots (above) set side by side show clear differences in trim with both boats using almost identical sail designs
Take the TP52 Super Series racing, it’s ‘point and shoot’. Two days of practice and off to the racing: 90 per cent racing and 10 per cent development. In this class, more in line with most yacht racing, you ‘never take a step back’. In other words you are conservative in development of your sails, bulb, rudder, even some of your sailing technique. Because if you’re wrong, you own it for the regatta and most likely the season. Go to jail, do not collect 200 dollars. Low-risk development.
Your coaching needs to reflect this too, it’s here and now coach- ing, bound by what are we going to achieve today, and think-tank chats at the end (not debriefs) of what we can do better for tomorrow! Longer term does get into it, but limited by the time we have to make meaningful gains.
America’s Cup programmes fall at the other extreme of the equation: 90 per cent development and only 10 per cent racing. No promising stone left unturned means you flip rocks lots before you find anything good under them – that comes with the turf because we’ve got time to get it right so keep flippin’. Dead ends are part of it when you’re exploring any possibility of having an edge. In the end AC programmes progress more towards the race mode
and fewer rocks are turned over, but only in the last month or so. Perhaps what’s equally challenging for the coach is when trying to get the best out of each member of that team you need to know what buttons to push. More importantly what buttons not to push! Dean Barker and Torben Grael are both brilliant sailors. Both have a remarkable ability to take in information and improve their sailing performance. But they do it in very different ways. Dean loves numbers and the complicity and interaction of boat
design. Torben is more of an art sailor – he knows what he likes, recognises what is good or bad, but don’t ask him to explain it. It just needs to be this way… Both are superb, but they each need a different coaching style to provide the paths that will get the best out of them.
Here is a tip: good coaches know when they are teaching or when
they are facilitating the learning. Big, yet very important difference. Sometimes you know more than your players about an aspect of sailing, sometimes they know as much or even more. In that case your job is to get the answers out to everyone’s gain, and the why behind the what. The why is more important than the what. Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime. The why is what coaches need to make sure is foremost in our players’ minds. The why is the launching pad for the whole team, to go to the next level.
Such a complicated world, this coaching game. Great fun at the same time.
My five big tips to getting it right… it depends!!! SEAHORSE 25 ProLine
NO COMPROMISE TETHERS
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4 MODELS AVAILABLE Compliant with ISO 12401-2009 and ISAF regulations (OSR)
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