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Adding a layer to the mind games that always percolate through an afterguard is this Luna Rossa crew set-up with two drivers who both stay in place during manoeuvres, simply handing over helming duties. AC75 crews are already largely isolated but having ‘your own’ helm has hints of competing watches offshore. For the second Cup in a row it is heads buried in the boat for most, in contrast to the ACC class (right) where crews had the time and visibility to follow – and at times also contribute to – the developing contest


means something else entirely. One of them might be referring to the general pressure of the day, the situation; another might be referring to the emotional pressure of dealing with the fact they fucked up on the last race, or the last leg; and another might be dealing with the pressure of just not feeling 100 per cent that day. So it’s a lot more complex for sailors than it is for London Taxi drivers! SH: It is commonly thought our brains struggle to learn new things after a certain age – a reduction in ‘brain plasticity’. In the AC world all the team are being asked to learn a massive amount every day. How might brain training help in this struggle to learn and improve brain plasticity? VW: This is one of the great breakthroughs in the past few decades, to show that we can carry on learning and that brain plas- ticity does carry on into later life. But I would ditch the term brain training. There is no such thing. If you want to be good at something, get good at that thing. There are some skills we get better at


over time. But we also get better at being able to accept our limits and recognise our shortcomings. So I would expect that the older sailors, more experienced than the others, would be better able to face the truth of what they can and can’t do and then practise and train properly. You can’t get away with anything as you get older! Yes, people are being asked to learn a


massive amount every day, but if that learning is structured, if your scales are flawless, then you can build the chords. I don’t know what the sailing equivalent would be – perhaps starting every day on the water with a short sequence of the most basic elementary manoeuvres? I’m being asked to learn a massive


amount every day as a scientist, so how do I keep up with my students – especially my PhD students? I think the way I do it is because I have a structure in which to put that knowledge and I would guess it’s the


56 SEAHORSE


same for a lot of your sailors. SH: One of the characteristics of helms- men is the tendency to get flummoxed by an issue in the race that distracts them from the big picture… ie winning. VW: It’s a really interesting question. Again one of the things I would say about this is honesty in communication and short key words. So let’s imagine that there’s a mistake that I always make or a mode of activity I always go into. Working with somebody else on a boat, what I would suggest is you have a shorthand system of communication to let me know. I remember working with one sailor


who tended to dwell on their past mis- takes. For minutes it would disturb their decision making after something had gone wrong. But with plenty of rehearsal their partner would spot them making charac- teristic mistakes and would just say ‘TNT’. Now TNT stands for dynamite but it


also stands for ‘the next thing’. It’s a signal to say ‘you’re doing that thing again, move on’. People have to be honest and take it on the chin. So if they recognise when the helmsman is doing it they can help them get out of it – it may not be possible for him or her to get themselves out of it. SH: Like all forms of technology VR and simulation are moving fast. Are there particular new developments that future AC teams need to be considering? VW: Yes! But virtual reality and simula- tion, they’re not magic solutions, it’s a question of what you do with them. My question to any team manager would be: VR and simulation are all very well but, just as your fitness coach knows exactly what they want out of each session, don’t use virtual reality simulation unless you can answer the same question – ‘today we want to get exactly X’. And then ask your- selves is that making a difference on the boat… which is almost impossible to test and so you’re going to have to trust your- selves. Again, it’s about not lying. One of


the things I would be very cautious about is people using VR and simulators that give you the feel you’re doing something but you’re not really being tested in the same way. SH: We know that the AC teams use VR and simulators for design, ergonomics and planning. In addition, they are using simu- lators for crew training. How might you measure their effectiveness in helping with mental development? VW: In theory you would measure it in exactly the same way as now. Is this person performing their task better? Problem is you haven’t got a control group doing exactly the same thing but without the VR and simulation training, and in sailing you never do something the same two days in a row. So it’s always going to be qualitative, always personal assessments… so what I would guard against are the bullshitters who tell you that these things have been proven or experimentally tested. I under- stand that they’ve got to sell these devices, but it’s not possible to say that they’ve been tested in a way that allows you to measure the consequences objectively. SH: Could you describe comparable results you have from other sports? VW: Yes, I could name lots of sports. The keys are always proper preparation, sense of team purpose, honesty at all levels, shared language, and trying to find ways of mimicking the pressure and being honest about what kinds of pressure get to people. In this sense, sailing is the same as any


other highly skilled activity. If I was to say one thing: I don’t think people take the psychology of learning seriously enough. Over 100 years the rules for almost perfect learning have evolved. It’s spaced, inter- leaved learning with regular testing. But I would challenge coaches in any sports to say how you are implementing this spaced, interleaved learning with regular testing in your environment? Because of the speed and consequences of modern sport people





GILLES MARTIN-RAGET


DANIEL FORSTER/DPPI


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