by Pam
I have always rejected the 'time on the water' teaching, believing that spending time perfecting a bad habit would just make me really good at being bad. I wanted to learn perfect technique first and then spend time practicing that. Was it really necessary to re-invent the wheel and go through the time and frustration of learning what does and doesn’t work? I'm now questioning my rejection of the 'time on the water' teaching.
At
the Laser Masters Worlds this past September in France, I got to be a fly on
the wall and watch the interaction of the sailors and listen to the chatter.
There was so much talent there and everyone had an opinion. All this free advice was
being given and yet many of the top sailors didn't appear to be paying
attention or listening to each other.
I
listened with interest to the advice of Steve Cockerill of Rooster
Sailing as he described the choice between the full rig or Radial.
Steve chose correctly for the conditions and went with the Radial and won his
division. Al Clark, like Doug, chose a full rig and joked with Doug about how
they chose the wrong rig but at least Al hadn't done it two years in a row. Brett
Beyer won his division with all firsts and I listened as he talked about going head
to head with Al Clark, knowing he couldn't beat Al on boat speed in the light
conditions and had strategically split from him when Al didn't have to time
react and follow. We spent time talking with multiple sailors who won their
divisions. And many more who were former world champions. With 500 sailors
there, it was a Who's Who type of event.
I
can't recall specific examples or conversations but over and over again, I was
struck with the impression of being surrounded by what felt like a humble arrogance.
Confidence might be a better word. At that level, the guys don't learn much from
each other. They talk at each other and share their experience about what is
working but they aren't seeking advice from others or listening to it. They've
learned there is more than one way to do the same thing. They've perfected their own
techniques and they sail their own race. They know their competition's
strengths and weaknesses and they sail tactically against them but they make no
attempt to copy the techniques of others. I had never really been around so
much confidence after racing. It was a real treat.
The Final Beat is an entertaining blog and an excellent
resource for pointing a sailor to the best information and expert advice for a
sailor to get better, quicker. I've often pointed out something on the blog to
Doug and asked if he'd tried that. The answer is usually no. When various high
level sailors have talked about technique, I've asked Doug if he has tried
that. The answer is usually no.
What
I didn't understand is that Doug's answer isn't arrogance. The response to most
of my "have you ever tried …" questions is something along the lines
of 'he's a better sailor than me in those conditions and he gets to practice in
those conditions all the time and I'll never be able to beat him by trying to copy
him.' Similarly, Brett Beyer would never attempt to copy Al Clark's techniques either.
Training with them at the venue before the event is a different matter.
The
learning process (or should I say training process) is more tactical. It's a
matter of learning the strengths and weaknesses of their competition and then matching
it against their own and finding a way to use it against them. That's a totally
different game than I've been playing. Doug calls it sailing the course vs the
competition. He decided long ago that he would rarely be the fastest around the
course and there was a higher percentage of success in sailing strategically against
his competition.
Long
before Doug arrives at an event, he knows who will be competing, who is good in
light, medium, or heavy conditions, who chokes, who pulls rabbits out of hats,
who has been on the water the most, who is winning, and he usually has a pretty
good guess of who will win the event. He is always gathering information about
his competition, even during fun weekend sailing. His mind is always geared
toward observing and finding the strengths and weaknesses.
Definitely
a different game than I play. I just show up and hope for the best.
