As I understood your post, it was not the skipper who ran up to correct your error, it was another crew member, probably a regular on that boat.

And you did not really describe the cirumstances at the time. Were you racing? Were you preparing for the start, when there is a lot of pressure and maybe no time to be explaining things -- just the need to get it done right now? Or were you just on your way out to the race course with plenty of time to do some training and explaining?