Starting

Note: When Brad sends long emails, if you have a printer, it’s best to print them out before discarding them. Then you can leave them in your book bag so if your professor is incredibly boring, more boring than Brad’s email, you can go with the lesser of two evils. You can also leave the printed email in the wash room for those particularly long sits when you’d read practically anything, like ingredients to deodorant or tooth paste. It may also come in handy should you run out of TP. Of course, don’t forget the heating value of hard copy emails. Line your jacket with them to keep out the chill on those winter-like evenings or toss them in the fireplace for an extra spark of warmth. Personally, I like making paper airplanes out of my coachisms but my daughter Theresa likes them for Paper Mache’. Daughter Jen actually reads them to see what torture dad puts his other kids through. At darts, we’ve been known to use my emails for “backing” to secure dart board wobble (we use different methods for player wobble) and of course they are very handy for those big, pint-size spills. Stan has been printing and saving my emails for raft building. Just another month and he’ll have enough to finish building. The hell with balsa wood, bamboo and reeds, Stan’s going to make his own “Kon Tiki” out of this stuff. He expects to float off to Tahiti by the end of June.

Buds,

I have this compelling urge to talk about starts. First off, is being prepared for them. That means checking out your boat to see if it's tuned properly (rig,set,trim) and reminding yourself what boat you are sailing, and in what wind conditions, by throwing a few tacks and circles and gybes and rocks (acceleration drill) in to know that you're in sync with the situation. Of course there's being aware of the line itself; how long, how favored, and things like how aggressive (or talented) the fleet is, tide/current considerations and all that. Obviously, it's nice to be watching the breeze throughout all of this so as to get a feel for the strength and magnitude of the shifts in what will most likely be an oscillating breeze (we don't do steady breezes in college sailing much). So there's a lot to prepare for and having a standard operating procedure (SOP) can be handy. For instance, when it comes to feeling the trend of the wind, I break it up into 30 second intervals based on five modes (hard left, left, middle, right, hard right). Always looking upwind, always reading the breeze. Other parts of a SOP are listed above. You need to come up with you own. Did I mention everything? Not even close (like line sights, knowing the course, wind characteristics such as "is a fan puff day?", keeping close to the line at all times and preferably to windward of the line, except when team racing).

All of this means close to crap if you are not prepared mentally. If you don't like something about the situation (I hate this type of boat, I hate these conditions, I don't enjoy who I'm sailing with, etc.). Then you need to take upon the attitude of "embracing the challenge" and developing a positive outlook. Even when the situation is hunky dory, you still have to possess the right mind set,;the strength and confidence to pull off a solid start. You need to be mentally ready to play. Starting line tactics typically involve the most aggressive aspects of collegiate sailing, along with mark roundings. You can have a ton of aggressive bones in your body, but starts are about an aggressive mindset. This requires some confidence, so a "YES I CAN" attitude is in order. Naturally confidence grows when you perfect your starting line skills and this email will delve deep into that but it goes beyond that. It’s about strong will, determination, how you perceive yourself and how you want others to perceive you. You can have all the skills in the world and be too laid back or even afraid to use them. Some people think if they speak up for what is technically theirs (rules-wise), then "people won't like them". Some people think they don’t belong starting next to an All American anyway “who am I to dick with them”. Some people are afraid to start near a good sailor, as they may get dusted off the line. You can't play this game with those kinds of insecurities and be much good anyway so you might as well jump in and play with the big boys and girls. Hey, everybody’s human and the mental game can take its toll, or give you an edge, that’s everybody’s choice. The jitters, or whatever you want to call it, make it harder to focus on the important things, like where the dark water is, the heel of the boat, your boat’s angle to the buoy, and your position on the fleet. Have a little confidence in yourself and your coaches and take it one race at a time. You must challenge the competitors around you. Get yourself to the front row, maybe even with good speed, maybe even with a whole to leeward, maybe even with a nice lee bow clamp on the boat above you. Maybe you can get your bow poked out and start playing the game from the top end, not the arduous, peril-stricken back seat. A leeward boat has right-of-way, they may have to luff slowly, but right-of-way nonetheless, and they are in a controlling position (in relationship to the boat above). A boat head-to-wind (or above close-hauled in some cases) is a boat in “safety position". Nobody can mess with you if you're already "up" (yes, I know that what goes up must come down). A boat that starts in less crowded areas of the line has more room and possibly more options. A less crowded area does not mean starting at the unfavored end of the line each race. It means keeping a heads up and looking for the other uncrowded areas of the line by paying attention to the PRE-START FLOW (another little item in a SOP).

Starting is serious business that we need to work on it all the time. Just remember, those that are dusting you off the line probably went through the same process as you to build up skills and confidence.
It’s time to let them know there’s a new sheriff in town.


Below is a bunch of old emails globbed together because I’m a lazy Fat Bastard.
That doesn’t make them any less important. So read up, draw your own conclusions, and make your own notes (because one fat bastard is enough).



-Coach
-------------

Did you hear the BU's library burned down?
The saddest part was that half the books weren't colored in yet.

The BC library burned down too.
They lost their book.


=========
Ball Starts-
Ball starts are the essence of starting and if a sailor can not
Nail these they have no business being on the starting line with the big boys.

All you need is one boat, a buoy and a watch.
Set the watch for a one minute start (do rolling starts).
The goal is to be full speed, close-hauled, at go.

Pick either the bow of the boat or the windward shroud as where the boat has to be at "go". Can you be there at GO? Can you be there at full speed and fully pointing? How hard can this drill be when there are not other boats to challenge you? This is a harder drill than it should be because sailors don't know how to set up for it (the wind changes in strength and direction and sailors aren't consistent with their boatspeed through the water). That's why I love it! Sailors think, oh that's easy, why bother with that. Then they do it and get their ass kicked. Doing this drill is a sure way to give notice to a sailor's inefficiency and put them out there practicing it on their own. After all, another great thing about Ball Starts is that you don't need a coach. You know when you nailed one or not.

So how do you set up for a Ball Start? By being consistent in
pre-routing. Specifically, being able to hold a close-reach position 3
boat lengths away from the ball for basically an indefinite period of
time (of course that's actually less than one minute, the length of the
sequence). From this "hold" position you can deal with a directional
shift since if you get headed you can still make the ball and if you get
lifted you can adjust with a quick luff so you don't get sent down the
line and "overshoot". At three boat lengths, you're close enough to the
ball that if the wind dies you can still make it. By sitting in this hold
position instead of sailing around in circles like a headless
chicken, you can focus on the wind speed and direction, items that are
very important to developing a sense of timing for the drill. AND
that's what the drill is really all about, getting your TIMING down.
Getting a good feel for you speed through the water depending on the
boat and the wind (and current) conditions. Which reminds me, this
drill is set up differently when current is involved (it's even harder
as you can't "hold" a set-up position three boat lengths away.
Of course once a skipper and crew's timing is down, we throw in
different drills to work on "adaptability" since in reality, you do
start on a line with other boats and are greatly affected by them.

Another version of the ball start is to make a small gate (there are
many forms of gate start drills that can be discussed later but this is
it's basic form). The benefits of the gate is it is much easier for the
sailor to visualize the starting line because it is an actual line
(although that line should only be a boat length long). The benefit of
just a single ball is that I can line them up perpendicular to the wind
(a starting "line" of single balls) so many of the team can do this at
the same time. Then I run them on a continuous sequence of either 1 or
2 minutes depending on the wind conditions and the skill level of the
sailors. In medium breeze I can get my team to do 15 ball starts in
only 15 minutes. After that they all need a moment to recover and then
it's off to other drills.

I have never needed to make a ball start anymore difficult than
It already is. But that's easy to do. You can try it blindfolded which
is often futile because the communication skills of the crew are often not
good enough to direct the skipper. Nonetheless, I do throw that at them
occasionally (but not when there are lots of balls close together). If
the wind is steady, rudderless ball starts are really not that hard in my
mind but that's because I have lots of control even without my rudder
(through years of practice and my need to "show off" those skills).
Yet I have had difficulty getting even my best sailors to
perfect this skill because it takes a full commitment. The ones that
do, have done so because they believed it was a worthwhile endeavor and
have spent much time practicing it. I tell my kids that if you can sail
rudderless around the race course, if you can do a ball start
rudderless, you can never by an All-American. Surely a lie, but they
understand my meaning, if you want to be really good, you need develop
really good skills. Whether All-American status is achieved or not,
those sailors will remain very skillful, and there's joy, pride and
confidence in that. It is often the confidence in such high tech
sailing skills that bring the confidence in other matters on the race
course.


Other variations (though I won't go into all the reasons):

-Two boats fighting for same ball
-Crews skippering
-Skippers holding main and jib
-Crew calls "trim-in" time
-Sailing backwards approach from upwind
-Crews blindfolded
-Coach calls "trim in" time
-Full speed at 10 seconds -no matter what
-Keep Away (two boats preventing another from getting a good ball start)
-Around the Horn
(detailed explanation needed but it involves making a full circle
around the buoy before the "start" but the bow is always facing upwind).
-Freeze Frame (holding position with bow no less than 6 feet from
buoy. In less than 6 knots, I've got sailors that can hold this forever)
-Pivot drill
-Parking skills (four directions- more elaborate than any "stop and
go". Involves use of centerboard; extreme weight placement; main for
backwind or "power over-trimmed" and likewise for jib. Excellent for
skills leading into another great starting drill "Drop and Duck
Hopscotch".


Two BU Sailing coaches were down at the Dug Out partying. They were
hootin' and hollerin' when the bartender asked them why they were
celebrating. The smart one said proudly that they had just finished a jigsaw puzzle
and it only took two months. "Two months!?" exclaimed the bartender.
They replied, "Yeah, but the box said 4-6 years."


More Starting Drills

We really need to work on our starting skills. Much of this work can
be done without a coach. It can be done with one or two buoys. It can
be done before practice or on off-practice days. It can be done if you
rig up early at weekend regattas. It can be done between races. It
takes WILL. If you don't have the Will, you won't have your Way (on the
starting line). The easiest way to win a race is to win the start and
don't look back. We will settle for being in the group that gets their
nose poked out and manages to get to the first shift. Rounding the
first mark in the top five is Money.

What starting drills?
#1 Ball Starts -nail them 99% of the time. Then put your crew in the
back and nail them 99% of the time. Then close your eyes and nail them
99% of the time. Then take your rudder out and nail them 98% of the
time. Then stand on your head and well, well then get your head
examined. I am not asking of you anything I have not done myself
(except the head examination). That always the case.

#2 Stop and Goes and other acceleration drills. Load and flatten.
Jump or pump. Sail fat and then squeeze. What ever you want to call,
you must avoid the lee bow from below and the total wanker of getting
rolled from above. You will learn to get more aggressive, including
moving boats out of your way (physically and verbally), or you will not
be mentioned in the same breath as top collegiate sailors. Holes are
fought for, they are not gifts from god that only the "lucky sailors"
get.

#3 Turning skills- pivots, circles, tacking into holes, this means
HELM, HELM, HELM. You never really know about helm until you take the
rudder out.

#4 There's more, but above is a good start (ha-ha).

----------------
Here are some ideas to improve your mental skills.

Games: Chess is the game choice. There are many similarities between
the game of chess and the tactics of sailing, particularly in team
racing. Good sailors are usually good chess players. Maybe you should
take time to challenge each other to a game now and then. By the way,
puzzle games like the ones I have at the boathouse are great for
developing the analytical mind.
That's why they are down there.

Concentration: Try this drill. Sit down between two stereo speakers on
two different systems (could be stereo and a walkman as long as volumes
are the same). Each speaker has something different playing. The
exercise is to affectively shut out one sound and concentrate on the
other and alternating between the two. Every 30 seconds try to switch
from one to the other. Can you pay attention to one without being
distracted by the other? One note on this: Don't use tapes that you
know the words to, the more foreign to you, the better the exercise.

Relaxation: Deep, full breaths with long exhales. Melt the tension
away. It's amazing how cleansing this simple exercise can be. Try it
before starts.

Visualization: Starting well and getting to the first shift are what
will keep you in the top pack. Visualize this and make it happen.
Imagine yourself with a clear air, front row start and then with
complete faith and confidence go out and get it.

Attitude: The next race is the first race of the rest of my life.
Don't dwell on the past, bad or good. Take what you need from previous
experiences and leave the rest "on the cutting room floor".

Mental Education: You must have a complete understanding of how the
mind works. You must recognize your "mental symptoms". You must
diagnose and then you must treat. This requires reading up on the
subject. Fortunately, all of you were wise enough to purchase Brad's
bible, so you have that key information at hand. What's that you say?
You care so little about your regatta performance that you have failed
to be verse in the most important book for a collegiate Sailor?
Say it ain't so.


Sail, Race, and Win
How to Develop a Winning Attitude
By Eric Twiname, revised by Cathy Foster
Sheridan House Inc.

Reading assignment: 28 pages of bliss
Chapter 14- Mental Fitness
Chapter 15- Psychological Barriers To Winning
Chapter 16- Making The Least Out Of A Crisis
Chapter 17- Mental Preparation


Sneak Preview...

The Power of the Mind
The wonderful thing about your mind is that provided you go
About things in the right way it will do a vast amount for you without you
even having to think about it. It does this all the time with mundane
activities like walking and driving the car. This is taken for
granted. If your subconscious mind went on strike you would be in dire
trouble. Every movement of every muscle would have to be consciously
thought out and supervised. You would take a long time to get anywhere.

Your subconscious mind is 90 percent of the whole, with only 10
percent representing the conscious part. Just as walking is done almost
entirely by the subconscious, so is sailing, much more so than you
think. Your conscious mind is simply incapable of attending to every
little movement of your body or tuning into each of the senses that is
providing you with information that is being drawn on. Even tactical
decisions are based largely on the subconscious. A situation develops
ahead and you need to make a response, and that response whether to tack
or luff or whatever, results from dipping into your store of experience
which lies in the subconscious and getting a quick answer. To think
through the alternative moves at the time would usually be disastrous.
There is so much to attend to during a race that quite often you
have to put your sailing of the boat on to automatic pilot while you
look for the weather mark, see what the other boats are doing, or scan the
water upwind for gusts. When you do this you shift your conscious
attention entirely off sailing the boat, which is done subconsciously by
your automatic pilot skills. Only if something goes wrong, like a wave
taken badly or a sudden heel, does a mental alarm bell call your full
attention back to the job of sailing the boat.
Even when you are sailing with your attention and thoughts all
centered on getting the boat to go through the water as fast as it will,
much of your bodily movements and responses are bypassing the conscious
mind completely. We are automatons of our own making, and part of
making your mind work more effectively on the water is raising those automatic
pilot skills- that part which the subconscious mind does for you- to as
near perfection as possible.
When your automatic skills are highly developed you
automatically sail your boat near-perfectly the whole time. The
conscious mind is then free to attend to the tactical side of the race,
looking out for wind shifts and generally being the master of the proceedings
and not merely a slavish servant to the jib luff. Much of the time will
certainly be spent with full attention on the jib or the waves ahead of
the bow- or wherever a particular sailor looks in the prevailing
conditions to enable them to get the most speed out of their boat. But
little will be lost when they must look away and, all else being equal,
it is their studying of the wind and the race as it develops that will
enable them to make the winning tactical decisions.
Beginners have no automatic pilot sailing skills; they have to
Do everything consciously, and even heading up and bearing away have to be
thought out. Improvement is a process in which the subconscious learns
set responses that allow skills such as helming to become a natural,
easy and very automatic process. Once your responses do become
automatic in this way you face a problem: if these responses are only 70
percent perfect and you want to improve your racing, you must make the
effort to take these automatic skills out, examine them, and then raise
them to a higher level of perfection. That is how you improve.


-Eric Twiname


It's time to take it to another level.

-Coach


Chase The Crows From The Corn

Coach speak before the 2001 New England’s

I can't explain how happy I am to see your tacks look so strong. It's a noticeable improvement. I'm happy, but not satisfied, because it doesn't end there. Now you need to emphasize your double tacks and gybes. We should definitely take a few moments to polish them up and have them readily available for your game. I'll always remember what Tim Wadlow whispered in my ear after he had just won the Collegiate Sailor of the Year Award, he said "thanks Brad". I said "thanks for what, you did all the work" and he replied "thanks for making me do all those goddamn double tacks and jibes in practice and thanks for the "Tech Slide". Tim was smart enough to know a weapon when he saw one. There was one weapon I didn't need to teach Tim, that was that "flat is a state of mind". Tim understood that the easiest way to go slow is having your weight positioned incorrectly for the existing breeze. You have to keep the centerboard deep in the water in most cases. You have to keep the bow from burying but it's equally slow if you're dragging your transom. Get the weight right fore and aft and side to side.
Obviously, we should work on feeling comfortable with our starting moves. We should work on the hanger/cherry picker move. We should work on our port tack approach followed by a crisp tack and locking in the lee bow position. We should polish up our load and flatten acceleration move off the start. You are quite versed in the deal by now; you need to be in the front row and to keep a hole to leeward, providing clear air and a lane off the start. If this position was complimented with a solid acceleratory rock, then your nose would be poked out and we could press the speed button.

Rules to Making Life Easy:

Rule #1- Get your nosed poked out.
Rule #2- Read the Breeze.
Rule #3- Sail the good slants.


You don't have to win a single race to get the job done. Our goal will be to get good positioning off the starting line, stay in phase and look to round in the top five. Then grind a boat or two down the rest of the way.




Goals


General Goals:

-Each team member understanding what it means to be part of a Team and
the consequences your actions, or often non-actions, have on the team as
a whole. Responsibility, Accountability, and Respect.

-Recruit, recruit, recruit.
-Train, train, train.


Individual Goals:

-Get a partner (well, that too, but you know what I meant).
-Solidify a practice schedule w/partner and stick to it.
-Communicate with your coaches and teammates.


It's not the teammates in your life that matter.
It's the life in your teammates.


Team Goals:

-Qualify for spring Championships
-Perform well at NE Championships
-Get nationally ranked
-Keep improving towards future goals
Frosh AC's
Women's AC's
Coed AC's
Women's Single-handed Nationals
Men's Single-handed Nationals
Top six in Neisa Rankings


Life Goals:

-Enrich the lives of the people around you.
-Turn work into play and enjoy working at play.

Life is a journey, not a destination.
Live for the moment, rejoice in the good things
along the way and use adversity to build strength,
character, and wisdom.