Put these factors in order ....

I agree the helm should be calling the overall boat tune as you have much more feedback. But I think what I was trying to get at originally was that worrying to much about your boat tune can slow you down as much as it speeds you up, particularly on a 'tweaky' boat. The times I am usually told to 'shut up and drive' is when our fleet position is fine and our boat speed is fine and I have somehow maneged to find time to start worrying about if we could point a wee bit higher or go a tiny bit faster if we played with this string or that string. Thats the point when I can slow us down by worrying about fine tune

Obviously this is not a problem the good guys have. What Im not sure is wether thats because they are always sure that there speed is as good as it possibly can be or because they always know what is important to focus on at each point in the race.

Neil - harsh and not really fair!

 

Originally posted by Offshoretiger Obviously this is not a problem the good guys have.

Oh yes it can be - maybe not necessarily boat tune but other things for sure. A vital role for a crew is, if you have a helm who gets distracted, is literally to tell him to shut up and sail the boat. One helm I crew for from time to time is far too prone to get hugely het up in tactical duels which don't advance the race strategy, and calming him down when appropriate certainly makes thing faster. But you said the good guys. How about this...

... now a couple of boat lengths behind us, I feel perhaps the most overwhelming relief I have ever known... "You guys just hauled me back from the precipice" I say. Grant looks up, just snaps out a phrase I am beginning to get used to, "shut up Bertrand and sail the boat". My mood is so buoyant that I look up with a huge grin and take my hat off the the crew in an extravagant gesture. Beasho glances up, glances down again, and says "we haven't won it yet and there's a damned long way to go. Sail the boat."

That's quoted from "Born to Win", John Bertrand's book about how Australia 2 won the '83 Americas Cup, and that was one of the turning points in the series. Reckon that's about as top level as it gets...




Edited by JimC

"The more I practice, the luckier I get"  - was that not gregg norman?


"boat speed makes me a tactical genius"- Dennis Connor?

" I've worked myself up from nothing from a state of  extreme poverty" - groucho marks