Silence is Golden

31.7

This summer I got a lift from Olbia airport to Porto Cervo with the North sails guys from Antwerp on our way to the Swan Cup. They were doing the 45 series, I had a more laid back part doing tactics on a compact floating palace just 70' long. Asked them what the one design winter series scene was like in the Netherlands and they said 31.7s were a fun, active class.

So when Yan called me up and said there was a slot for doing tactics on Shark I thought I would check it out. Sunday was a little cold but the light breezes made it bearable and we sailed out of Port Zeelande relaxed but ready to do battle. We would be sailing short up and down courses 3 or 4 times around with downwind finish. The wind was expected to back during the day and the line was biased to port. We went on to win all three starts by being the dominant boat heading out to the left at the pin and we led at every mark and finish. In one race one boat did cross us at the start taking a high risk port tack option but that sent them off to the right and the wrong side of the course. Christopher could have shut the door on them but he wisely let them go, avoiding any hassles.

The boat was skillfully helmed by Christopher and well handled by his crew: Jim, Giel, Jurgen, Joost, and Yan. There's nothing like a fast boat to swell the I.Q. of the tactician and we simply put in a perfect score. Winning is simple: just go fast in the right direction.

Expectations

Crewing is a fantastic learning experience. It´s much easier to be objective about what is going on. Get a hand on the helm and vision gets clouded. I´ve speed tested against guys who always thought they were faster no matter what.

I´ve done the whole season crewing on the Snipe. It´s easier to disengage the ego and maintain positive and objective expectations at the front of the boat. From now on I´m going to helm with a crew´s frame of mind. This might be the most important thing I´ve ever learnt.