Team Racing Tips
Contemporary Team Racing
A Manual of Team Race Tactics and Strategy
Gavin D. O'Hare
When I think of sailing, the idea of a team sport is not the first that comes to mind. My sailing experience has always been with single-handed and dinghy type sailboat racing. I always thought of sailing as an individual sport. As a skipper in a single-handed boat, I made all the decisions, performed all the actions, and took responsibility for all the results. Gary Bodie, Dinghy Sailing Coach at the U. S. Naval Academy, gave me my first real introduction to a more team oriented type of sailboat racing, Team Racing. From that point on, I had an entirely new perspective on sailboat racing. Team Racing is composed of all the facets of a sport that I think are essential and contribute to success:
1- Boathandling
2- Understanding of tactics & strategy
3- Teamwork
Each person in each boat on a team must be proficient in all these areas for a team to achieve their goal:
The majority of your team must finish ahead of the opposing team!
The third component of Team Racing, the teamwork aspect, intrigues me. Regular fleet sailboat racing matches you against all the other competitors on the race course. You must use your boat handling skills along with race course strategy to beat your competitors, everyone else; the team effort aspect seems to be missing. Your only teammates may be the crew you have onboard. The feeling of team reliance that I feel when I team race inspires a team spirit that I do not experience during a fleet race.
I have received a great deal of pleasure and knowledge from my interest in Team Racing. The following pages are dedicated to passing on the knowledge and interest I have developed within Gary Bodie’s Naval Academy Sailing Team and further Team Racing endeavors.
Click here to see the Team Race Manual
