What a great weekend of sailing in Lake Geneva. Sailing is always a lot of fun being out on the water, going to events in different locations and sailing against other teams. One of my favorite parts about sailboat racing is building the team. Sailing is a total team sport. Communication, synchronization and the ability of team members to make a decision and then execute is one of the most critical factors towards success. This weekend was a bit of a trial under fire for the team sailing Pied Piper’s new Melges 24. Every position on board is important to the success of the boat. Each position has a critical job that must be completed so that other members of the team can complete their tasks. Some people perceive that the helmsmen wins the race and the crew is just along for the ride making sure the sails get trimmed and get set as the boat goes around the course. This could not be farther from the truth. Helming any boat fast requires total concentration on the task at hand. You have to stay in tune with the boat.  On the Melges 24 this includes trimming the mainsail which keeps the boat moving upwind. If you over trim the main and sail too close to the wind, the boat goes slow. If you ease the main too far you will lose distance to the mark. To stay in the “groove” you have to pay constant attension. To help the helmsmen stay focused and keep the boat going fast the crew communicates to the helmsmen constantly. The more detailed information the crew provides the better the helmsmen can optimize his sailing to the changing environment.

 

The team makes many of the tactical decisions dictating where on the course the boat is positioned. Unlike all other sports, a sailboat race is run in a constantly changing environment. Imagine a football game where the field was always changing from smooth grass to a steep incline or even moving under the player’s feet affecting the players’ ability to get from one end of the field to the other quickly. These are the conditions that a sailboat race is held on. Then imagine that there is no out of bounds and no referees making spot decisions on who is wrong or right with regards to rules. Successful sailing is mostly about making the least errors. Your team must be able to perceive these changes in the environment then adapt a strategy that takes you from start to finish as fast as possible. Then the team has to tactically understand how to get the boat where it needs to be in relation to the competitors.

 

Lake Geneva provides a challenging playing field. The lake itself is surrounded by hills. It is long east to west but relatively narrow north to south. This year we sailed in a south breeze on Saturday and a southwest breeze on Sunday. The south breeze is very challenging as the wind is shifting constantly with each new puff of wind. The conditions 20 yards away from the boat may be much different than the conditions the boat is currently in. It is very important to maintain your composure and be patient. The great thing about sailing on Lake Geneva is you’re never totally out of a race and never have a race totally won until the finish. The Melges 24 also provides a great platform to sail in these conditions as the boat increases its’ speed exponentially in each puff of wind. So if you can stay in the wind while your competitor sails out of the wind, you can make big gains.

 

Our Team, being new, had some consistency problems on Saturday leaving us in 10th place at the end of the day. We finished 5th in the first race followed by two disappointing 18th places and then a 3rd in the last race. Overall we were not pleased with the outcome as our goal prior to the regatta was to finish in the top five. Over dinner we talked about the day mostly focusing on our communication and decision making process. Through Saturday there were many missed opportunities to better position ourselves relative to our competitors because we didn’t make a clear decision. We also looked at some of our communication regarding how to approach an upcoming wind shift. Sunday we knew we had to be more consistent and work towards moving up the standings. Based upon our performance on Saturday I revised our goal for Sunday’s racing and figured finishing seventh out of thirty boats would be an achievable goal.

 

Sunday’s southwest breeze was more stable than the south wind we experienced on Saturday. We also had more velocity. On the upwind legs, the team focused on staying in phase with the wind shifts and staying in the middle of the course. When the opportunity to cross boats upwind occurred, we took it. Downwind legs, we worked on not getting too close to the north shore behind the hills that prevent the wind from getting down to the course. So we either drove a low course or jibed immediately at the weather mark if it looked like the starboard jibe would suck us into the shore. Sometimes the Starboard jibe was favored, but the wind speed increase away from shore made it advantageous to take the port jibe out into the lake. The wind lines on Lake Geneva are thin and on Sunday were fairly strong, so sometimes it worked to jibe and stay in the puff or run lower than normal to stay in the wind. Sunday we were able to sail more consistently finishing 8th and 5th. This was good enough to move us up to 6th overall for the regatta.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Jack Jennings

Pied Piper Racing