Short introduction to decision making when sailing.

1. Lets Talk About Decisions

2. Don’t run before we can walk!!
-‘A fast boat, is a tactical genius’ (William Boeing)
- Before you even think about tactical decisions the
boat needs to be going fast.
- If you make the best tactical decisions but you are
slow, you will be last.
- So we need to work on the basics.
- The only way you become quick is HOURS ON THE
WATER. UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN, there is no
other way. It’s boring, deal with it.

3. Therefore….
- UPWIND the helm is concentrating on sailing quick,
concentrating on the boat. The crew can look around
- DOWNWIND the crew is all about the kite. The helm
can look around.
There are TWO sets of eyes in your
boat, if they look in the same place,
at the same things, there might as
well be one of you. Think about it.

4. Overview
- In the next few, SHORT and SHARP pages, (as I know
your concentration spans are short) I will give a brief
and simple, introduction into what helms and crews
should be thinking about around the race course.
-This is just an intro, the initial things, we can build on
it from here.

5. Jobs to do, HELM – UPWIND
- KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST
- Use the 5 essentials to decide where to look
- BOARD = is it in the right place
- TRIM = are you too far forward/back (work as a team)
- BALANCE = is the boat flat, make it flat. Helm does
this with mainsheet, crew does the movement.
- SAIL = look at the leach/shape, is there too
much/little kicker/outhall/mainsheet tension
- DIRECTION = LOOK AT YOUR TAIL TALES!!!!!!!!!!!

6. Jobs to do, HELM – UPWIND
- KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST
- Its also nice to know if you are on a HEADER/LIFT. Is
the tack you’re on taking you closer to the mark or
further away than the other one.
- But look at the sail/boat/tail tales, sail/boat/tail tales,
sail/boat/tail tales. Continuously.
- KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST
- KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST
- KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST
- KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST
- KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST
- KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST

7. Jobs to do, CREW – UPWIND
- You are the EYES and EARS, you are the thinker, you
are the information.
- This is a really daunting task, so I am going to give
you 5 BASIC things to think about initially that you can
feed back to your helm.
- But you MUST QUANTIFY THEM (Remember?) This
means you need to but values on things.
DONT = shout, tack, up, down, go
DO = say, how far things are in distance, or time.
SO NEXT IS 5 THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

8. Jobs to do, CREW – UPWIND
- 1. BOATS
INDIVIDUAL BOATS are ones you are coming in
contact with, like a starboard boat on a collision
course. Use the O’CLOCK system?
FLEET what percentage are right of you and what
percentage are left of you
- 2. WIND
GUSTS NEAR YOU how far they are, how strong
they are and count them in
GUSTS ON THE COURSE are you on the right side?

9. Jobs to do, CREW – UPWIND
- 3. LAYLINES
How far away are they? Are you banging a corner?
- 4. MARKS
Are they to the left or the right. Use the O’CLOCK
system?
- 5. TIDE (not always important)
Is there any, which way is it going? Is it strong? Are
you in it or out of it

10. Jobs to do, PAIR– UPWIND
-CREW do your info in a CYCLE. Boats-Wind-Laylines-
Marks-Tide and once you have finished. Have a chat
with the helm about a decision. Then do it again. And
again.
-When you chat as a pair you have a
decision to make, its very simple. You either TACK or
you KEEP GOING
-Once you have made that decision, based on your
info you do your cycle again, its that simple.
-*****WHILST THIS ALL GOES ON CREW KEEPS THE
BOAT FLAT, HELMS JUST GET COMFY*****
- BUT HELM, KEEP THE BOAT GOING FAST

11. Jobs to do, CREW– DOWNWIND
-KITE PRESSURE – You have three things to say……
Its either LIGHT GOOD OR YOU CAN SOAK
-Other than this just watch the kite.
-Watch the kite.
-WATCH THE KITE
-WATCH. THE. KITE
- That is all.

12. Jobs to do, HELM– DOWNWIND
-Unfortunately you have to make ALL THE DECISIONS.
It is Not easy to split roles and there isn’t any clear
borders. Here is 5 things that I would do.
-CREW, listen to their pressure calls
-BOATS are there any covering you? Are there any
coming to get you?
-SHALL I HEAT IT UP?
-WIND/GUSTS are you in it? If not, why not?
-HEADER/LIFT is this gybe taking you closest to the
mark and which mark are you going to?

13. CONCLUSION
-And that’s it, I have tried to do everything in 5s. Try
and learn them, and practice, talk about it as a pair.
Here is a summary
-Helm upwind – FAST, 5 essentials (plus head/lift)
-Crew upwind – INFO CYCLE 5 (plus keep the boat flat)
-Pair upwind – Chat about the info, decide quickly
-Crew downwind – Kite
-Helm downwind – THE EVERYTHING 5

14. CONCLUSION - Waiver
I have tried to make this simple.
This is not a simple topic.
This is the Basics.
This does not take into account your pre start routine.
This does not take into account your pre start plan.
This does not take into account weather forecasting.
But this is a start.
I’m sorry it is not as short as I would like.