Problem-solving - Work on your weaknesses

Every once in a while I do some­thing especially careless on the race course and create unnecessary problems for myself. A good exam­ple happened during a recent one-design regatta. The weather end of the starting line was favored, and the wind was predicted to shift to the right. So most of the 69-boat fleet decided to start near the committee boat. Not surprisingly, we had many general recalls.

After getting caught in some tight jam-ups dur­ing these starts, I had a "great" idea. Why not come in a little late at the committee boat? That way we wouldn't have to fight the crowd, we didn't risk being over early, and we'd be able to tack immediately for the favored side of the course. It seemed so logical.

Unfortunately, as we lined up lor the next start, it became clear that we were in big trouble. About a dozen boats, who had the same idea I did, were redefining the concept of barging. Half of these got peeled off on the wrong side of the committee boat and came back for a second try; the other half were luffing, dead in the water, at the committee boat's transom. There was no place to go.

When the gun sounded, we were stuck head to wind, waiting for the traffic jam to clear out. When we finally crossed the line, the front-row starters were almost out of sight. It wasn't a pret­ty picture. And, of course, there was no general recall this time.

As we sailed up the first beat, I kept flashing back to our bad start. Wasn't there some-tiling we could have done to avoid this problem? Of course there was!

Several weeks before the regatta, I had sat down and made a list of my own sailing strengths and weak­nesses. I did this primarily because I had never before sailed with my two other crewmembers. I figured if I told them all my weaknesses, they could cover those areas. Similarly, if I shared my strongest points, they wouldn't have to worry so much about those.

I did a very sim­ple exercise: I drew a line down the middle of a piece of paper (it was actually a page in my sailing notebook); on the left side I wrote the heading "Strengths," and on the right side I put "Weaknesses" (you could be more positive by calling it "Opportunities for improvement"). Then I made two lists as follows:

List your strengths
A strength is something at which you are particularly good. On my list, strengths included such diverse things as match racing, starting in the middle of the line, playing oscil­lating shifts, and good eyesight for seeing marks. Any skill you have that might help you get around the race course faster than your compe­tition should go on this list.

Listing your strengths is a good way to build, or re-affirm, your own confidence in yourself. It also gives you a useful catalog of your strate­gic and tactical weapons. Your goal should be to sail each race in a way that allows you to take maximum advantage of your strengths.

For example, in the last race of the regatta after my bad start, we had to beat one other boat to win. Since I've had a lot of match racing experience, that tactic was part of our game plan. We didn't have to use it, but we were ready in case.

List your weaknesses
A weakness is any area of the game where you feel you have a competi­tive disadvantage. I know, for exam­ple, that I'm not very good at going all the way into a persistent shift. I also keep my head in the boat too much, and I get frustrated in very light or fluky wind.

In hindsight, it's clear to me that almost every problem situation I get into is somehow related to one or more of my weak areas. Identify­ing these weaknesses is therefore a necessary first step in avoiding future problems.

Making a list of strengths and weaknesses is just the beginning. Once you've got your list, here' are some things you can do to maximize its usefulness:

1) Read the list before every regatta. Reviewing your strengths will help make you confident and get you psyched up for achieving your potential. Reminding yourself of your weaknesses will lielp you develop a learning attitude, which is so important to have while racing.

2) Share your list with the other people in your boat, especially if you are sailing with new people. Your team will function more effi­ciently if everyone can "play to" their strengths and get support in their areas of weakness. I usually tell my crew, for exam­ple, that I am good in tight, tactical situations involving the rules, and they let me handle those situations. I also tell them I don't always look around enough, so they make sure to keep their heads out of the boat and tell me what's happening.

3) Make a plan for how you can add to your list of strengths and reduce your list of weaknesses. One of the best things I've done in the past is sail with people wlio are strongest in the areas where I am weakest. Remember, your goal should not always be to avoid your weaknesses while racing. The best way to get rid of them is to attack them head on, and a good time for this is during races that don't count so much. If you have trouble start­ing at the leeward end, for example, get in there and fight it out. As they say, practice makes perfect.

4) After each regatta, make any necessary changes to your list.

In theory, making a list of strengths and weaknesses should have prevented the disastrous start I described earlier. Unfortunately, I made two mistakes. First, I didn't spend enough time thinking about and going over that list with my crew before the regatta.

Second, I never told them that occasionally I do impulsive, off-the-wall things like coming in late at the committee boat. As one of them later said, "If I'd known you were planning that, I never would have let you do it." He probably would have suggested that we start nearer the middle of the line, giving up a bit of distance for a more conserva­tive, clear-air start.

Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. We finally got clear air and sailed a very good first beat. Because some of the leaders over-stood the windward mark, we man­aged to round about eighth. From there we used our good crew work and consistent speed to claw our way back to second at the finish. We recovered well from our embarrass­ing start, but I definitely made the race a lot harder than it had to be.

Strengths

Match racing situations
Rules knowledge
Starting in the middle
Starting when the leeward end is favored
Playing oscillating shifts
Knowing course geometry
Speed on runs
Playing current

Weaknesses
Playing the corner when one side is favored
Very light or very heavy conditions

Tuning subtleties
Starting at an end
Starting when the windward end is favored
Getting nervous before race

ABOVE: Here's a short list of sailing strengths and weaknesses for myself. My actual list is quite a bit longer and more specific. For example, instead of "Knowing course geometry," I might say "Ability to identify laylines, rhumb-lines and which is the longer tack." By getting to this level of detail, I have more concrete skills to build on or improve.

BELOW: Use this form to create a list of your own strengths and weaknesses. Keep it in a handy place where you can add or subtract entries after each day of racing, and consider sharing this with your crew before your next race.

David Dellenbaugh, former starting helmsman for America3, publishes Speed&Smarts, a monthly newsletter of how-to information for racing sailors. For subscription information call: 800-356-2200. To order a new subscription, click