Stuart Walker’s Talk on Competition.
November, 2005 Annapolis MD US Sailing One Design symposium.

Belonging to a group is genetic. Small packs equaled survival
Jeffery Weld, a Brit spit fire pilot…. Reminisced…. Fear…, fight’s, drinking, dinner, Formed a very tight bond.

So, belonging to a group matters.
The trick is to you must make sure that all of the group matters.

There is always a hierarchy within this group.

Competition will draw people out.

Why do we compete? …
We compete to dare. … To test … Put your best out there and have it evaluated…. Fail and you Fail yourself.

This is tough!

So, competing is a fragile psychic thing.

So when you are competing within your GROUP you are dealing with your friends.

You are also dealing with your opponents.

So, as you advance in the ranks… your winning is resented.

Resentment is important.
It’s built into the nature of a competitor… You especially resent the guy who in public willingly shows his superiority. (Me for instance)

Now it’s human to deny this behavior and the feelings.
But Resentment is the engine of a competitor ...
Resentment drives competition.. It’s certainly not love of the sport.

Denial is important to maintain competition in the group.
You deny in both directions… You deny winning and loosing are important.
You deny that you resent X for winning and yourself for loosing.
This is just a pretense. There is not a world free of resentment!

So, we as humans are ambivalent about competition and groups. … it’s a fragile environment that we live in here.

I suggest you respect this feeling!
Eg. Women dropping out of sailing is fueled by resentment.

Solution is to emphasize Respect within the group and deal with resentment by recognizing its importance (fuels competition) and it’s downside (undermines respect for your friends)

It’s NOT important to bring everyone up to the top… eg “make everyone a winner:
It IS important to belong to a group .. be part of the group … and take your part in the group. Groups must recognize that this is their foremost goal

It’s not important to just have parties. The Party is not causally related to sailing
However Parties are part of sailing experience.

A fleet leader is very important. You die or thrive based on their leadership

Leaders set an example
Leaders Imply and Not Demand “we need you on Sunday” to make people part of the group.

If you as a leader are a “true believer:… People will naturally follow.
Well… If Stuart is racing… then it must be worth while… I’m going.
EG…. Do you have crew??? We need you …. Make those phone calls.

Fleet’s (Groups) free of resentment are not possible
Public Anger though is a big turn off.
This must be recognized and crushed immediately.

Walker interviewed the fleet after a recent world championship. Only three people were satisfied with their performance. MOST were unhappy with performance…. It fueled the drive to do better the next time.

Buddy Melges HATES to loose…. So… you Must recognize that resentment exists
But you have to avoid expressing this resentment and the conditions that would bring this up.

Emphasize the LAST boat. If you loose the last boat in your fleet … You have a NEW last boat… etc etc and your group will decline.

So you manage the game itself… and make sure each event is planned to work

Ritual is needed.

In New Zealand… after racing you were EXPECTED to be in the club house. They had a ritual of 3rd bought the beer, 2nd served the beer and 1st did something. (I think thanked the RC)

Annual events with historical records are important. EG the Soling race on the Severn on New Years Day.

Trophy’s and Trophy presentation. You must recognize the hierarchy and announce it.
Don’t half butt the trophies.

B fleets are not good. It detracts from the larger event… You win the xx fleet… BS!

Fast guys helping the slow guys will ALWAYS bring resentment.
Nobody wants to hear what they should have done when they are competitors.

One solution was Walker and Merrit who were equally good Soling racers would debate the race at the bar and the fleet would listen in. Everyone attended.

NOW…. The fleet does not want to hear S Walker telling them what they should have done…. And why he was great today.

Personal handicaps are a big winner … Line honors for a one design fleet gets one trophy… Handicap winners get three deep in trophies.

Note added… Personal handicaps takes a Portsmouth rating for your boat and now applies it to you. Your personal rating is now adjusted… If you sail well… you beat your rating… if you sail poorly you loose. In practical terms… you collect times on all boats in a one design fleet. The time differences becomes the basis for a personal rating. You are scored on finish position…. Personal handicap, Overall on handicap... across fleets, and Overall on personal handicap. LOTS of trophies are given and the number match what the group says about competition, resentment and belonging to a group.

Food for thought

Mark Schneider

Very interesting. I don't agree with all of it. I don't agree that members of the fleet resent it when the leading sailors in the fleet tell them what they could have done better. And I don't agree that you should not try to get all the members of the fleet to the top.

What we are doing with our fleet racing is, after the races are over for a given day, we have a marker board at the beach and talk about the races -- sort of a mini debriefing clinic for all of us.

We discuss what worked and what didn't work. We talk about tactical things, rules situations that arose, wind shifts, what was the favored side of the course and why, geographical influences if any, current if any. We talk about sail trim and settings and downhaul, etc. and what seemed to work best for the wind and water conditions experienced during that particular race day. Was somebody pinching too much or footing too much? Did crew weight seem to be a factor one way or the other in these particular conditions?

I think this kind of group clinic after fleet races helps to keep the group united and interested and gets them thinking about what they can do to improve their performance next series race day. It gives help and hope to the tail-enders and keeps them involved and working to improve. And the session is incredibly informative to everybody.

Of course, this kind of thing is only really useful for one-design fleets (and formula fleets that race boat for boat).

Obviously, not everybody is going to get to the top of a given fleet and not everybody is going to win a national championship. But the important thing is for people to feel that they are continuing to learn new things and learn how to apply their new knowledge, even if it is just to beat one other boat in the middle of the pack, or at the back of the pack.

It's the little victories that keep people coming back for more. Works for me.

I very much dis-agree with the point about the front of the fleet helping the back.

In the Sprit 15 class (Dart 15 as was) at Grafham once a month there is a Pro-am session for the afternoon race. Bob Carter (Sprint 15 fleet captain) splits people up, so roughly, fastest helps the slowest AROUND THE COURSE for the first lap. The "Pro" MUST NOT cross the line in front of the "Am" (after lap one). At this point the "Pro" is set "free" to then sail away (if they can). This means that the first lap, in order for the "Pro" to be in with a chance of still winning he (or she) must help their "Am" to sail the first lap well. It has done a very good job in getting many boats in the fleet out.

The only problem so far is when the "Am's" just turn up once a month for a bit of "free training" and don't sail the rest of the time.

But generally, it is a great idea and well worth copying.

Another point is that the people need to be approachable and not live in towers. People ask me for advice and I will freely give it - But the best thing I have found is when I don't know something, say so. Someone asked me how to make their boat go faster. I talked them thru how to measure mast rake and rig tension, how to trim the sails. They then asked, "But how do I make it faster". My answer was "find out what the correct settings are, I don't know that they are, but I've told you how to measure and understand. You need to find someone who knows the boat to get the "fast numbers" as I've never sailed a Hobie 17".

Oh, and just have some fun, I can give you general pointers that usually work, but there is no substitute for asking someone who knows (and is willing to tell you).

One thing I missed from Stuarts discussion, is the team who has accepted that the race is not against others, but a measurement of their own skills, knowlegde and abilities. With this view on racing, not winning isn't a big issue, but a way to measure where you are, and an opportunity to learn more.
This team either have a plan for world domination trough perfection in their class, or want to see how good they can possibly get within their constraints (time, money, family etc), and accept that. It's not that tough if you are ready for it and know that you are working with yourself and your team.

Personally, I am happy if fleet leaders care enough to come over and give some advice on both boat and performance on the water. I can see (and have seen) resentment over this, but I appreciate it and always carefully consider whatever advice they offer.

Jake had a perceptive post in the Alter Cup thread, which I found pretty relevant to this discussion also:
http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...Forum=Test&Main=62407&#Post62585


Eric Twiname wrote a great book on this subject, "Sail, race and win", highly recommended.


A very good write up Mark, thanks! The "do not let the loosing boat quit the game" part is just so true, as is the "group inclusiveness" discussion (classic Mazlow)..

Nice write up Mark,
You could take the sailing out and apply it to almost any sport. I really saw how this all could apply to a cycling team I use to train with. The part about not losing the slowest participant was so important. Our training rides were constantly growing while others were shrinking soley because we took care of any person who started with us. They became better and I would tell them that they should not have a goal to beat the fastest guy. They should find their place in the hierchy and aim to out do the person just above them. Learn from that person; watch them; follow them; pass them. They could then climb their way up the hierchy until they were one of the top performers. I beieve the same goes for sailing. If a group is shrinking, find out from where it is shrinking. My guess is the slower guys are finding better things to do on their weekends than go out and get throttled around the bouys with no support or help. The groups that are growing are probably supporting and encouraging the slower guys.

-Rob V.
Nacra 5.2
Panama City

Wait...did he say parties weren't important?

You cannot find out whether or not people are satisfied with their performance by asking them. The guy who finished first cannot say, "I felt that I sailed really poorly," because that makes it sound like everybody who finished below him was REALLY bad.

The people who got the second- and third-place trophies cannot say they were unhappy with their performance, because that sounds like they are taking away from the accomplishment of the winner or the person who finished above them. Their politically correct response would be, "I sailed my best, but so-and-so was just sailing better."

In reality, no one-design racing sailor is EVER completely satisfied with his or her performance, even if they won every race by a leg.

When my father won a race, or a whole regatta, he would say, privately, "Yeah, I only made about 1,000 mistakes." And he was serious about that.

That's what racing is all about: Gradually eliminating your mistakes. But it is not possible to eliminate ALL of them. And THAT is what drives people to keep trying, whether they are at the top or at the bottom. There is always room to get better, no matter where you are on the ladder. And that is what is so fascinating about sailboat racing: Nobody ever completely masters it, and you always keep learning new things -- and there are always new things to learn.

Mary, the trouble is getting to the level where you can actually see and deduct what you did wrong, and learn..
If you get that far, you are actually already a fairly good sailor.

Rolf,
What do you mean by getting to the "level" where you can learn?

To the level where you can spot windshifts, more pressure, notice that your sails are trimmed wrong, wrong weightplacement etc. on your own, can start self-coaching and really begin to learn how to work your way up the fleet.
Everybody can learn of course (poor choice of words earlier), but if you dont get systematic followup, getting to this level on your own takes time and lots of work.
I learnt to sail this way, working with a friend on our own and by reading whatever we could find of literature (Your and Ricks book was a treasure when we found it). I am quite sure we could have cut a year or two off our learning curve if we had been part of a course, club, or something. As it is, we have not learnt how to go fast until the last couple of seasons, and still get surprises in certain conditions.

Oh yes, the boat we learnt to sail on was a classic Tornado with sails from the 80's..

What does he mean by that?

I heard something about the Yukon Gold Rush that applies to us.

"Its not the Gold, its finding the Gold"

Would you really be happy winning every race of every regatta?

Dave, it looks like you were responding to me. What I was asking is, what does he mean by managing the game and making sure every event "works." Coupled with the preceding sentence, it makes it sound like you are supposed to somehow make sure the same person doesn't always finish last.

I mean, I know how to do that, but it isn't exactly ethical.

Hi Mary

I believe Sturarts point is that the Last boat may be privately OK with their spot in the pecking order, eg last ... However... If they feel like they are not part of the group they will stop participating. He wants to emphasize that the essential job of a fleet is to make sure that all members are valued. Once you loose the last boat from the group... you have a NEW last boat in the fleet. The social and personal dyanmics change and you may loose someone else.

His point about managing the game was a gear change for the conversation. Stuart's point was addressed to the fleet leaders who control how the game is played. (rules... equipment equity, amount of money spent) and the events that you participate in. His point is that if you run half assed events that don't respect the competition then you will deliver the message that the competition itself is not valuable to compete for. His point is that great events requirie planning ON THESE POINTS about "competition, groups, resentment".

Mary and Scooby
With respect to your points about helping the back of the fleet. I think Stuart would say that to a large extent, the back of the fleet is not competing with the front of the fleet and these people do NOT view each other as competitors in the same way as someone you are battling with every mark rounding. Certainly, I don't look at Johny and Charlie, or Robbie and Mike on Tornado's as competitors in anything but name only.... They are competing on the world stage... while my competitors are regional. I don't believe that Robbie and Johnny deconstruct a race together on the beach. Stuarts point was that competitors do not want to hear what they did wrong and YOU did right to kick their butt from YOU... a coach .. OK. So, its a touchy thing to manage in a group.

Mary, I was not responding to you directly, just to the whole post and the wonderful game of sailing in general. I was happy at the back, and now Im happy in the upper middle. Maybe one day I will be happy at near front. I learn everytime I go out on the race course, and when I sail locally I teach and learn. When I sail regionally I learn and teach. Nationally I learn and pass things on. Thats how we all learned, some of us took it a step further and had coaches, but most learned from watching the boat in front, and then over a beer that night. Thats what it makes it fun and allows me to enjoy the sport. Its generally a good group of people that we sail with. Its sad when the game becomes so important that we dont see the fun in coming in second, or protesting the race commitee for lack of wind(opening up can of worms now). Ive never owned a protest flag, and dont plan on no matter what level of competition I reach. Its just best to sail with people who follow the rules, and are sportsman enough to do whats right, and then buy me a beer when they are wrong and vice versa. It can all be managed with beer, I promise...

Can of worms indeed..

I have rarely seen a cat rigged with a protest flag. Neither have I heard the call "protest" on water, not even in port/starboard situations (just "inspired" language exchanged in the heat of the moment). Dont catsailors protest?

Yep.

I'd then buy a new boat as I'd feel I had mastered it.

Most of the cats used to carry protest flags, but the new racing rules have eliminated the protest flag for small boats. I wish they would go back to requiring it, because on a breezy day in fast boats, sometimes the word "Protest" is not heard by the other boat, so I think it is good to have a visual as well as an audible signal.

Yes, catamaran sailors DO protest. WE certainly do, even in our little, local, weekly fleet racing. It is important for people to learn the rules and get in the habit of paying the consequences for infractions by doing a 360.

In larger, more serious races, if somebody fouls you and you do not protest, and if another competitor observes the infraction, that other competitor can protest you, in turn, for not protesting.

Even if it is a minor foul that does not affect you or your position in the race, it could affect the positions of other competitors. So it doesn't pay for you to be a nice guy to your brother or best friend, because YOU could end up being the one disqualified from the race by third parties.

Mary,

my class is 20 foot, which is just above 6 meters, so we are required to fly a red flag when protesting.
I know the implications of not protesting, but yet I continue to observe that there are as good as no protests called.

Maybe nobody ever violates the rules in Europe.