The crisp air of autumn has begun its weekly sweep across the Northeast, and with it comes numerous side effects. Waters begin to cool off and the days get shorter. Trees full with leaves begin to dry up and turn color. Hazy, sunny seabreeze days are replaced by clean, clear northerlies. And school buses clog the streets each morning and afternoon filled with sleepy yet anxious classmates. High schools and colleges are bustling with students filling up lockers and moving into new dorms. The fall-semester sailing season is upon us.
For sailing in the United States this Monday, our Labor Day, is usually the last weekend of the summer season. Boats are hauled up the beach and into the garage. Covers are installed to keep out the expected piles of leaves. Maybe a few racers are left in they boatyard ready for an upcoming fall series. Most pleasure cruisers are hauled out and put on ice to wait for Memorial Day next year. But, for the high school and college sailor… the fall season is entirely the opposite. The temperatures decline as the season heats up. And the three months of sailing before the Fall Championships and Thanksgiving weekend are what college sailors secretly live for all summer long.
The beauty of college sailing programs is their variety in size and nature. With hundreds of schools and teams involved with this years fight for the six national titles and the Fowle trophy, there are many ways to win. However, there are some pieces of advice that translate across the board from big schools with small teams to small schools with big teams, from teams with student administrators to two-coach programs.
1. Try and get your schoolwork done: Sure, for all the sailors moving their mouse up to the top of the screen and clicking to another site because they don’t need another person besides their parents telling them to ‘finish their homework,’ think again. The best way to be a better college sailor, and indeed a better high school, middle school, or elementary school sailor, is to finish your work before you focus on sailing. By leaving your term papers, problem sets, and reading assignments on shore and finishing them ahead of time or in at least an orderly fashion, you allow yourself to be totally devoted to your time on the water, in the gym and with your team. The best way to find yourself cut from a weekend of sailing is to let your g.p.a. slip to an unacceptable level by Athletic Department standards. Not only do you let yourself down, you let your team down by getting behind in work. Every day that you sit in the library trying to catch up on a paper put off too close to the deadline, your team is on the water trying new plays and honing new skills for the upcoming regatta weekend. Don’t let this happen to you! Get your work done ahead of time, bring your reading in the van on the way to and from practice, type your papers on the way to regattas. Do whatever it takes to get your work in and out of the way of your sailing!
2. Treat sailing like it should be treated: as a sport: At the top level of College Sailing, our game can be played at the varsity level. This means that sailboat racing is taken as seriously as any other varsity sport at the university. As it should be. Even if your team is a club sport, the best programs in the country take hold themselves to varsity standards. Regimented practice schedule, workouts, chalktalks, and meetings are necessities to any championship level team. Being on time and present to all of those activities is not only vital, but should be mandatory for anybody who takes their team seriously. Without commitment to the entirety of a team’s necessary activities, players risk their future involvement with the group. This is important not only from the coach’s perspective, but also from the teammate’s perspective. A sailor who chooses only to skim through the more arduous tasks of being a successful team will be singled out by his or her teammates as someone who lacks the commitment and willingness to be a part of a championship effort. Sailing is no different from football or basketball. Plays, skills, maneuvers, and team cohesion are all critical pieces to a winning effort. If you are serious about taking your team to the highest level, take the sport as seriously as any other. Work hard and commit wholly to your teammates and to the effort.
3. On the water focus on your Fundamental Skills, be Conservative, always Pass Boats: Once at the regatta, whether it is an A and B division event with 8 schools or a National Championship Teamrace, there is still one guaranteed way to win: Low Scores. The best way to do that is to remember a three-part mantra that should improve not only your college team’s experience, but also your racing in general. Whenever you get into uncomfortable places on the racecourse, keep your fundamentals at heart. If you have practiced enough, the sharpness of your most basic boathandling and decision-making skills will prevail over a long series. College series are generally between 12 and 20 races for two or as many as four divisions, that means 24 to 80 races in a weekend for you and your teammates. Keeping a conservative approach, not putting yourself at great risk will ultimately win regattas. There are many cases where teams have been second, third, or worse in each division and still won the event. The collective takes priority when so many races are being counted. Lastly, when you do mistakes, and we all do: keep passing boats. Always look for places to get a point back here and a point back there. Shaving points is a great thing to do when racing in college (Perhaps that’s where we differ from basketball?). If you can pass boats throughout the series, the totals will add up and you will find yourself 10, 20, 50 points better at the end of the event. When one point can decide a National Championship, we are talking huge swings toward the better in your team’s potential thanks to your individual will to pass a few boats each race.
College and High School sailing is a huge amount of fun. That’s the best part of talking about these pieces of advice. If you’re having a good time, these disciplines are easy to utilize and turn to your advantage. Get your work done before you try to concentrate on sailing. Treat your sport and your team with the mindset it deserves: a Division 1, Varsity mindset. Keep the three-point mantra close at heart: Stick to your fundamentals, Be conservative, and By practicing these three ideas while you are in college, the rest of your sailing career will benefit.
