Sailboat Racing Trim – Part 2

This is the second in a series of posts based on Bill Gladstone’s book Racing TRIM from the North U. Series.  Every few days, I’ll post about a chapter or two.  This will be my short summary of what I’ve read.  You can read the posts to get my abbreviated summary; or you could read through the books with me.  Your comments can help point out what you find most interesting, or even poke fun at what I do and don’t know.  If you are interested in getting this book, you can find it in the online store section of NorthU.com for $25 each.

Chapter 2 gives an introduction to crew handling.  Here are some of the things that I took away from thsi chapter:

• If you want to do all of the jobs on a boat; you should sail single handedly.  Otherwise, it is necessary to organize crew.
• Each crew position should have clearly defined responsibilities.  It is necessary to divide and conquer. Trying to do everything (or someone else’s job) will compromise the performance of the boat. 
• Less experienced crew members should be paired with more experienced members in order to learn from them. 
• There should be two teams on the boat.  One team should be sailing with the sails that are up.  the other team should be taking care of the transition to the next meneuver or sail change. 
• It is important to practice — and go through each person’s responsibilities before you get out on the race course.  Practicing maneuvers in silence or rotating crew positions can be helpful techniques.  Having a tuning partner (another boat) or practice match racing can be helpful too. 
• Always pay attention to weight placement to maximize boat speed. 
• It can be helpful to find inexperienced crew and train them.  This can help develop loyalty and trustworthiness. 
• Women may not have the raw muscle that men do; but it is often made up for by extra attention to detail and technique (yes this was really in the book.  I’m not ad libbing here). 
• Add responsibilities and rotate positions to grow your crew.  This will give crew members a better understanding of the way the whole boat functions. 
• Encourage dialogue from crew members about speed, boat position, and performance relative to other boats, etc. 
• Address issues constructively and quickly.  Don’t let things fester. 
• Agree on consistent terminology for easy and efficient communication.  For example, trim and ease for sheets/guys, in and out for crew weight positioning.  Speak loudly and use hand gestures along with repeating calls back.  That way it will be clear what the call is – and that it has been heard.  
• There are a variety of suggested practice drills listed at the end of this chapter too.