The Role Of The tactician

RESPECT

Themost importantaspect of Liking on the role of tactician is gaining the respect of the helinsperson and the crew that are aboard to feed you prudent information. On some boats gaining this respect is automatic and on some boats you have to work for it. One way to gain early respect is to involve the crew in pre-start data building and involve them in your overall strategy building of the race to come. In the worst case you may have to step on some toes to gain the respect you need to do a respectable job as tactician.

PREPARATION

Once you have gained the respect of the crew it is business as usual. Before you even step on the boat you should know the weather forecast for the day and what time the tide is changing and in what Aimction the current or tide is running. Also you should go over the !ing instructions with a fine tooth comb so there are no little sunrises along the way. Once all the information is stored in your memory you can move on to the pre-start data building.

DATABUILDING

It is always important to go upwind and do a few tacks to get your instruments calibrated. After this you should go back to the startand go upwind again and get compass headings on both tacks for easy referenceontheupwindlegs. Oncethisisstoredinthedatabankyou can move on to finding the favored end of the starting line. Every tactician has his own way of finding the favored end; what works best for me is running the line on starboard tack and lining the boat up perfectly on the starting line and writing down the compass course. Then simply add 90'. This will give you the true wind direction as compared to the starting line setup. when you compare the number you have to the true wind direction you will have a good idea which end is favored and by how many degrees. Also a series of wind shots will confirm the information youjust compiled. Wind shots will also show you which way the wind is shifting. This is very important information for the first weather leg; if you hit the first shift of the race it could take a little pressure off you as tactician (not to mention your helmsman and the rest of the crew.)

STRATEGY BUILDING

After data building it is important to build a strategy for the race to come. Strategy building includes knowing what the wind and apparent is doing. Another important aspect of strategy building is pressure and knowing where the cells of wind are stronger and from where on the course they are coming. Once you have gathered all this information you can begin to build your pre-start strategy. More often than not, this strategy will change as the race unravels.

INFORMA11ON AND COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

It is very important to put people on the boat in charge of gaining information and conveying that information to the tactician. The biggest mistake is having too many people shouting out too much information. This will only confuse and cloud the tactician's decisions. If the information coming in is done thoughtfully and in the form of information not advice, it will make it much easier for the tactician to take in the information and use it effectively. There is always more than one smart person on every boat; as long as you all work together and use the proper communication channels you will be that much further ahead of the game.

DECISIVE DECISION MAKING

Recently I was in the office talking with one of my bosses and the conversation turned to tacticians. Being fresh off a Mumm 36 win, he attributed most of the credit to his very formidable tactician. The interesting thing about the conversation was the fact that the tactician aboard his boat was totally decisive in his decision making process and he lived and died by the decisions he made. No matter how good or how bad things were looking the tactician stuck to his original or immediate game plan. There were never any decisions made by committee, although the person I was talking to insisted he had the final say. AU kidding aside, the tactician must be an aggressive, fast thhiking and decisive decision maker with the ability to move forward all of the time. After hearing this story it encouragedmetotryitinmynextregaa& Mynextregattabappened tobetheJ/35NewEnglandChampionshipswherelhadthedubious pleasure of being tactician. After winning the first race on Sunday we were in contention for the regatta title. Before the startof the last race I decided the northerly was dying out and the westerly was going to fill in as it often does on Long Island Sound. We started near the pin and we were going left and looking good when all of a sudden there was ahuge shift to the right and we rounded the windward mark in the bottom third of a very competitive J/35 fleet. Downwind we noticed the wind was still shifting to the right (looking upwind)and we decided to play the right side on the second beat. As the beat reared its ugly head we got forced left a few times and found ourselves flushed even worse. Instead of giving up we decided the next beat with the wind going even further right we would stick to our guns no mauer whal As we started up the beat we were in really bad air but going to the right side of the course. As the crew started to moan I said we were going right if we had to set the spinnaker to get there. Then, as before, the wind shifted even further right and the two boats ahead of us tacked away which cleared a path to the righl Wesailedthroughafewleftiesandlookedprettyterrible. As we approached the Connecticut shore there was more pressure and a huge righty just as there had been the previous two beats. We tacked on the shift and ultimately finished the race well enough to finish third in the regatta.

The moral of this story is: if you stick to your guns and use all the stored information you compiled during the day, your finishes will ultimately get better rather than worse.