Forget the Fancy Favourites - Take it Back to Basics

Last year I had the chance to work with Russell Coutts at the Melges 24 Worlds in Florida where we had a three boat program and I was running the coaching side of things for “Team Pegasus”.

After the first training day the group of twenty plus team member gathered for a video debrief I had prepared from the day on the water.

As I looked around the room I saw Olympic Medallists, World Champions a guy who had won three America’s Cups. I had to make sure I knew what I was talking about and did not get all the medals tangled in a knot.

I kept the debrief very simple and to the point and on completion asked Coutts if he would like to add anything as it was his first day at “Team Pegasus”.

The room went deadly silent as the master of sailing went to speak. We were all expecting some kind of huge technical speech. All eyes were fixed on the man!!!

“Gee I didn’t think Aussies new that much about Yachting!” Coutts said as the room broke up in laughter. He then went on to explain that we should forget about all this technical talk about rig tensions, mainsail designs etc. and just sail the boat flat and at a constant angle of heel and hold the tiller straight.

Wow… The world’s best sailor was telling us all to just hold the tiller straight and keep the boat flat? Interesting…

As I travel, coach and teach in boat parks around the world I hear to many Mums and Dads talk about what they need to buy for Little Johnny to enable him to win a Club Championships. They spend all their time and money on getting the hottest gear however when Little Johnny hits the water he can’t keep his boat flat or tiller straight, all because the basics of sailing have been forgotten.

Other sports such as swimming, football, athletics, etc all spend 95% of there training time perfecting the basic skills needed to play the game. As sailors we spend 95 % of our time thinking about the new piece of equipment that can cost in excess of $200 that will make the boat go faster.

If you do not perfect the basic skills you can never play the chess game.

You can only play the chess game if you have perfected the basic skills, hence there only being a small group of elite sailors in the world – too many focus on what they spend rather then on what is going to win boat races.

Break sailing down into these categories; boat, rig, sails, crew skills, fitness. The last two, crew skills and fitness are what you need to perfect to be a champion.

How many times does the local champ finish one minute ahead on the race track?

If you look at his skills he may tack and gybe just two seconds faster! So if you tack twenty times in a race and gybe ten times, all of a sudden just with excellent boat handling skills you are ahead by one minute. This is how you win boat races.

How many hours does the local club Golf Pro practice his swing?

How good would Ian Thorpe be if he turned up to the pool on a Saturday afternoon for two races and did no practice during the week?