Many people have wondered what it takes to put together a good team for sailboat racing, whether at the club level for weeknight racing, on the national or international level, or even at the America's Cup. Surprisingly, the answer is the same at all levels; it's organization and practice, and done correctly it results in a lot of fun for the entire team.There are as many different ways of approaching your sailing experience as there are boats to sail. On any boat that requires two or more sailors, the crew organizer, (which may or may not be the owner), will have to make decisions on how to put the team together.

COMPETITION LEVEL
First, determine at what level you are going to play and what some of the goals for the team are, and make sure you and your crew are on the same page. At one end of the scale, for the casual racer it's just fine to start organizing on a Monday morning to go out for the following weekend's race if you have a goal of just getting on the water with some friends. At the other end of the scale; at the Olympics and America's Cup level, it's a seven-day a week job, and there are many different levels in between.

CREW LIST
Second, develop a crew list. If you are racing Snipes or Thistles in the local fleet your crew list may consist of family members sitting across from you at the breakfast table. If you are racing a larger boat, or at a higher level it will take a little more work. Figure out if you'll need a large pool of potential crew or not. With larger crews especially, the more regular a core crew you have onboard and learn to work together, the better you will be as a team. But it is good to have some rotation of crew to bring in fresh ideas, to train back-ups, and with the majority of racing that goes on, this will inevitably happen anyway.
      As part of developing your crew list you need to know the positions on the boat and if there are special skills or assets needed by each crewmember. If you are just trying to figure out what the positions are on board the boat and what you should be doing, practicing is the best way to figure it out. This way you can match people with the positions they want and are physically able to do. You can benefit by trading positions onboard to get different perspectives on the other positions and how what they are doing affects your job.

PRACTICE
Third, practice is the key to the game and one of the most important aspects, as in most sports. It makes racing more fun because at crucial moments in the race the well-oiled team will make maneuvers, starts, or mark roundings with a minimum of unnecessary ruckus on board and distraction from keeping the boat trimmed and moving. The best racing experiences and boats I've sailed on were when everybody knew each other's job, but only did their own.
      Develop a pre-race routine for every part of getting out on the water, with small tasks for each person on the team. Some programs have the crew get the boat ready, and others the owner will take care of it all. Decide what works for your team and how to maximize your sailing and racing time.
      And finally, have a couple of quick crew meetings or debriefs during the day, generally before and after racing to discuss ways to improve. Although racing is great practice for racing, it's not generally the best time to do extensive amounts of crew training. If problems come up during a race address the solution, not the problem, and to the person who's job it is, not to everyone on the boat. Be a good teammate, help each other out, and you'll have some great experiences on the water.

HAVE FUN
Remember, if you don't have fun and you don't win, you lose twice.


Brian Ledbetter -- A partial list of sailing achievements:
  • 1992 Olympics, Silver Medal, Finn
  • 1988 Olympics TeamFinn
  • 1990 Goodwill Games, Gold Medal
  • Seven-time Finn U.S. Nat'l Champion
  • Two-time North American Champion
  • 3 year College All-American,
  • U.S. Naval Academy, 3 Nat'l Champ.
  • OneWorldChallenge,
  • Sailing Team Operations/Crew Mgr.
  • Strategist and Main Grind/Pit Assist.


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Organization and practice results in better performance and more fun for the entire team.

                by Brian Ledbetter