Strategery with Dave
PACK MEAT: A GREGARIOUS SAILOR IN HIS/HER COMFORT ZONE
David Sample

I should have prefaced my last [first?] article in the April Mainsheet with a warning: Following any/some/most or all the advice and tips I write about is likely to cause feelings of light headedness, euphoria, delusions of grandeur, chest thumping, and possible head congestion caused by a temporary swelling between one's ears. These symptoms will usually manifest themselves after crossing the finish line and may last for a few minutes to a few hours. If you might be uncomfortable with any or all of these, please DON'T read any further and disregard everything I said in my first [last?] article. Anyone who is honestly comfortable in their current position within their respective fleet[s] should totally disregard this and all further communications with me and forego any more reading of "Strategery With Dave"!

gregarious - adjective: \Gre*ga"ri*ous\, a. [L. gregarius, fr. grex, gregis,herd; to assemble.
adj 1: tending to form a group with others of the same kind
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

The first time I ever heard this word was while taking horseback riding lessons in California, at the tender age of 10 or so. The instructor was a grizzled retired rodeo star named Mr. Phillips - a man of few words but when he spoke, people listened. At the first classroom session he told us horses were gregarious, explained what that meant, and then went on to [hopefully] teach us how to deal with and/or counteract that tendency. By now, I know many of you are thinking to yourselves, "What does this have to do with racing sailboats?"

PLENTY! Most folks would probably never realize or admit they have this tendency while sailing. I have written in the past of "The Comfort Zone". This is where most sailors go when they get nervous or have feelings [even subconsciously] of doubt in their ability to make the proper strategic/ tactical calls, or deal with sail trim/boat handling issues constantly assaulting their senses. This condition usually becomes more pronounced as the wind speed and/or wave height increases. The anxiety that grows in one's mind ["Can I pull this off?"] usually gets more severe as the race goes on. That anxiety short-circuits the proactive decisionmaking processes [again, conscious or not]. When this happens, whether it's racing a sailboat or anything else in life, most folks head for their comfort zone. In sailing that means sticking with the pack: not starting on port or at the port end even when you KNOW it's the right call; or lining up neatly [pecking order] out on the starboard extension of the starting line [outside the RC boat] with everyone else even when you KNOW you should be the most leeward boat in the pack; in a windy race, waiting to raise the chute to see what the others will do when you find yourself in the TOTALLY uncomfortable position of LEADING at the weather mark. I could name many more but you get the picture. Any and all of these actions will result in GREGARIOUS sailing because they guarantee that those who are guilty will stay with the pack, and IF one actually breaks free of the pack they will usually do something to get back into their comfort zone. This is a very serious condition because - like the plague - it affects all those on the boat and soon most all of the crew will be doing things to "help" maintain this position. Folks, this is relegating one's self to being PACK MEAT!!!

Doing well at anything is fun and gratifying. The opposite isn't. Doing well makes one want to do it more. Doing badly just makes most people want to give it up, or at least put very little effort into it. The only way to ever break out of this snowball that continues to grow and pick up speed as it races toward its own doom is to..... are you ready for this? PRACTICE!!!!! Practice isn't a day sail where nothing is ever trimmed and everyone sits wherever they wish in the boat. You CANNOT improve at anything unless you actually DO and REPEAT that process, as well as you can, as often as you can! If every time you go to the lake, even for a day sail, you spend at least 15 minutes intently striving to do everything on the boat as well as possible, you will improve. The only fly in the ointment is practicing incorrectly, as that just reinforces and ingrains bad habits. This is why most folks must sail against someone more accomplished than themselves or ask for some coaching and/or critique of their sailing.

It never ceases to amaze me that people will spend big bucks on a boat and sails but then never do what it takes to get the most out of it. A well-sailed old boat with old sails [but a smooth bottom] will beat a poorly sailed new boat with new sails every time! I watch people when they go out on the lake to "practice". Usually they leave the dock, sail half to two-thirds of the way across the lake and then tack or jibe. Then they do the same thing again, and so on. Folks, that ain't practice! Most sailors can get their boat going relatively well given enough time in a straight line. This isn't how you race a sailboat, at least not if you want to do well. There are starts, tacks, crosses, mark roundings/sets, crossings, douses/mark roundings, all interspersed with puffs and shifts, and finishes. If you do any of these things no better than the pack, you will always be in the pack. Even if you did nothing to change the first thing [starts], if you could shave off 3 seconds [which is EASY] from where you now are in your sailing every time that you did even ONE of the other many things, you would miraculously find yourself in a much improved position at the last thing...... the finish! Try it and see.

One last note from the dictionary: gregarious - Habitually living or moving in flocks or herds; tending to flock or herd together; not habitually solitary or living alone.

Birds of prey are not gregarious.

David E. Sample
Bullet Sails
501-569-9207 home/work
501-580-6885 cell