The author threads his way in to start a race at last year’s OK World Championship in Brisbane. The event delivered a clean sweep for UK sailors, Nick Craig taking his sixth world title with fellow Pom Andy Davis finishing as runner-up. A steady influx of sailors from Finns and elsewhere has really accelerated technical development in this fleet, not just in obvious areas like masts and sails but with new hulls also appearing over the last few seasons
Manage those expectations in a good way In sailing we can’t help having result expectations – just human nature at work. In the OK Dinghy mine are pretty simple. If I sail really well I will be in the top three in a national-level regatta; sailing ‘well’ will get me fourth or fifth; but a below fifth-place finish would not necessarily go in the sailing ‘pretty average’ category. Note they are not based on results, but on how well I am sailing. Starting, picking the right side of the course, making the boat go fast, that endless list of racing sailboats. Measuring my success on how well I sailed, or didn’t, seems logical.
Back to why we sail, why do we race? Each of us has different reasons that are defined by you, for you. Take a quiet moment to define why you race sailboats and what you want out of it. How it can take you to your happy place. Then make it happen. Hell, this could work for lots of aspects of life too.
Across the board I believe in two premises: 1) Sailors like connection with other sailors, the interaction, making friendships and time away from their ‘normal’ world. 2) Everyone likes that warm feeling of improvement.
Let’s see if we can help define your fun in sailing by putting into words my definition. With the three basic reasons I love being around racing and coaching sailboats. Number one I want to get better at it. To become the ‘best I can be’, all the while being realistic with the time/funds/age equation. To do that, mentally I have to become committed to setting the bar, not chasing the bar. In pursuit of that reset of the bar John Cutler (NZ Finn Olympic bronze medallist) and I do a lot of OK Dinghy sailing together, developing masts, sails, technique, about anything we can think off. Sometimes, after another two-boat training session, pulling our boats up the beach with the sun going down, I wonder
are we some crazy teased-out has-beens still chasing some dream? The locals think so, but we love it. Love trying to figure out the answers to how to be the best we can be.
Spend too much time thinking about sailing or boats? Probably, as my wife has even got used to me explaining my latest idea of improvement in the OKs, coaching or racing, at 2am when sleep is more important… to her! Number two Putting the concepts and lessons, the whole package together for the big regattas. Smaller regattas are for learning. For focus on just a few aspects of improvement. Learning, over just results, is the big picture. The bigger regattas are where all the lessons need to come together to fit the ‘well-sailed’ expectation. I call the big regattas ‘showtime’. Basically, there is learning time and showtime. True in sailing, coaching and life. The trick is to understand which phase you are in. Number three The desire to do all this in a way that adds glue to the sailors around me… the world can seem heartless, with an every man for himself attitude. A bit of glue that brings people together can’t go amiss, can it?
Glueing is not so hard, an open book to what I have learnt that helps other sailors act as glue. Appreciating that, while I know a lot about my field, there is still a massive amount to learn from others. That’s glue. And I don’t know shit about things outside yacht racing where others know heaps. So listen when they talk, learn and understand where they are coming from. That is glue for both of us. First to arrive, first to help and last to leave, that is glue. Glue is best applied before and after sailing. When conversations and interaction are free flowing. Glue, like almost everything in life, is best done little and often.
Bear in mind all that is my enjoyment in the game, yours should be different. It’s up to you to define it and commit to it. Living to what makes you happy with boats will make the sport much more fun and fulfilling for you. That makes it better for all of us, because you will be in the sport longer plus enjoy it more. Re-reading my definition of enjoyment of yachting, I think the locals are right. Simply crazy, nuts! Oh well… ‘still crazy after all these years’.
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Performance Sailing Hardware SEAHORSE 33
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