Written briefing for rookie crew?
Posted by euph_22@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 13 comments
After several years of racing on other people's boats, I'm planning on racing my boat in the local club racing fleet this season (pretty casually, not expecting to be competitive just having fun and seeing if I enjoy running my own program). Fortunately my boat is very easy to sail and I'm planning on doing JAM, so as long as I have a couple of crew who know how to use a winch I can talk them through getting around the course.
I'm mostly planning on using my clubs social learn to sail program to pull in crew, so want to plan for crew who don't have experience racing. Can anybody point me to a write up for a briefing for first time rookie racers?
Just thinking about how to set up newbs to have a good time and hopefully avoid extra stress on the course. This is definitely intended to be supplemental to a pre-sail briefing and some practice on the water pre-start.
Brave-Entrance7475@reddit
A written brief may not be the best move.
How about a daysail followed by discussion over burgers
Brandgeek@reddit
My first few times crewing, before the race starts, I wish my captain would have told me exactly the type of things he was going to ask me to do, and exactly how he wants them completed.
Don’t wait until mid race to introduce your crew to something new. They don’t need to know the correct terminology at the beginning, they just need to know what rope to pull and when. And some other basics like how to ease the sail out vs bring it in, always wrap the winch clockwise, give it 2-3 wraps, put the winch handle back in the holder when the sail is set, etc. oh and a few practice maneuvers before race start is always helpful.
If they stick around and become reliable crew, then you can start dialing in their roles and become a well oiled machine.
Strict-Air2434@reddit
PFD's all the time. Cocktails and weed AFTER you're back at the Club. No yelling. The rest is just practice, practice, practice. I had one hell of a crew...
indigoinblue@reddit
I realize this isn’t exactly what you asked for…
Remember that everyone brings their own strengths and weaknesses with them. Not everyone will be good at this no matter how much they practice.
Urgency does not justify yelling at your crew. Learn to handle stressful situations calmly. Your crew will respect you more for it. They will also perform better for you. Your goal is to attract crew, not repel them.
Work on communication. The crew should agree on what you expect them to do when you issue a command. Names for parts of the boat will come in time. Commands can’t wait. Use the same exact commands. Variation causes confusion.
When you get back to port, have a debriefing with your crew. Be patient and articulate your thoughts clearly.
Have a man overboard plan. You may even want to practice it with them.
This is my 20th year racing. It took me 3 years just to fully grasp my job as a grinder in JAM. Even when they think they understand what they’re doing, they likely won’t have situational awareness which takes years to learn. Try to have grace by reflecting on your own learning journey.
euph_22@reddit (OP)
I absolutely agree with all of this, andt absolutely appreciate you saying it.
"When you get back to port, have a debriefing with your crew. Be patient and articulate your thoughts clearly"
This, I would say it's also important to highlight what they did well. Which isn't to say you can't call out mistakes of improvement but also call out successes.
And "Urgency does not justify yelling at your crew." I've spent 6 years crewing for a legendary ahole and yeller, so I'm definitely aware of this.
SVAuspicious@reddit
Yelling is a sign of anxiety and insecurity.
indigoinblue@reddit
These ‘yellers’ (many of them old yellers) are partly to blame for the decline of interest in our hobby.
SVAuspicious@reddit
I have a couple of dozen pages (27 to be exact) on a range of subjects that I have put together over the years for offshore delivery crew. A good bit isn't relevant to 'round the buoys racing and there are some bits missing for you. I think the overall approach is absolutely relevant.
I started this material because I realized that hitting people with a fire hose of information all at once simply doesn't work. Your idea of writing things out is entirely consistent. Well done. Mine is broken up into topics that I send in the run up to departure one or two topics at a time in an email of the day each morning. I've found understanding and retention is better and the approach has helped with retention--both crew retention and information retention. I get more questions (which means more reading) and people show up.
"Everyone knows" is a trap. Everyone doesn't know.
What I write about food and snacks is not exactly what you should convey, but the subject should be addressed. Cooler, refrigeration, respect for others, clean up, water conservation, etc.
Do not assume everyone knows how to use the head. Packing guidance. Personal electronics including charging. Roles and responsibilities. Communication (radio and person to person). Failures. Transportation (in your case parking). Medication, allergies, and medical conditions. Waste management.
I cannot tell you how important toilets are. I have an email of the day for the head and it's part of my onboarding. I have a (clean, spare) joker valve and point out the little slits everything goes through and explain that if you clog it I will stand behind you to hand you tools and dispense advice.
Communication may include a chain of command for race crews. You/skipper/helm, maybe a tactician (often main trimmer), foredeck lead on some boats. Certainly say and mean that questions and chit chat are generally fine, but there will be times has to be set aside. People need to understand that "good question, not now" is not an attack.
When I have the opportunity I let people drive. It's huge for motivation. I'm not suggesting docking or during the race. On the way out and back is a good time. Good time to take pictures for people. Also good to sail a bit and have newbies trim with coaching from your experienced hands. It's good for the newbies AND for the experienced. It's good team building.
Yours is a good topic. Good job, skipper.
sail fast and eat well, dave
pdq_sailor@reddit
I raced at a very high level for a number of years.. Successful racing boats are always developing crew.. What we did was to bring on new crew to sail with us and be trained along side experienced.crew... We practiced sailing together rand how to execute each maneuver... be it straight sailing and sail trim, a tack or gybe, a sail change, reefing man over board drills fire drills.. etc.. You are looking to develop competence.... We developed competence and then kept on going until we developed excellence..
Zealousideal-Ad-7618@reddit
You might find this series of articles by Nikki Henderson interesting-
https://open.substack.com/pub/saltedlife/p/how-to-build-your-sailing-playbook
planeray@reddit
I dunno man - every boat is so different. What works for me might not work for you. Beforehand, I usually send them this link as an overview.
Once on the boat, I go through my 3 basic rules, in order of importance;
We all come home in one piece (point out lifejackets, safety gear, explain the boom etc).
It'd be nice if my boat and other people's boats come home in one piece (explain how everyone is responsible for looking for other boats and that they won't get in trouble for telling me about a boat I already know about).
If I raise my voice, it's nothing personal - it's all over once we're back at the dock (explain I might be louder so they can hear me over the wind, it they're about to hurt themselves, or worse yet, bleed on my boat).
Fred_Derf_Jnr@reddit
Write down all the individual tasks required for each manoeuvre and then have a sheet where you assign those to the crew. Break this down to the minutae so that nothing gets missed, so include adjusting the Vang/Kicker and other sail controls into that process.
Talk through the manoeuvres before you go out with the crew and when doing those manoeuvres to help you all familiarise yourselves with them.
For example, tacking would be Check clear to tack Unclear leeward jib sheet Prepare windward jib sheet Ease traveller Begin steering into the rack Take up tension on new job sheet Ease old job sheet and clear the winch Sheet in new job sheet Pull traveller to windward Check the slot
Golywobblerer@reddit