A gap in the formation of racing boat crews may soon be resolved following an announcement at the recent Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) annual conference in Galway.
Crew training in various roles on board relies almost exclusively on individual boat owners and skippers. Formal instruction, if any, typically concentrates on the theory of sailing and basic safety measures.
However, with so many aspects of competition on cruiser racing and bigger boats heavily reliant on concentration and co-ordination of numerous handling techniques, massive gains – and losses – are at stake.
More importantly, skipper confidence in the crew affects key decisions especially in breezier conditions. A typical scenario is the decision not to fly a spinnaker in winds exceeding 20 knots when risks of damage and injury increase.
Pilot scheme
Many of the issues rely on crew training on board and traditionally this falls to individual boats that rely on experience rather than formal training and qualified instruction.
A pilot scheme being finalised by Kenny Rumball of the Irish National Sailing School in Dún Laoghaire aims to address the gap. A formal syllabus should be finalised by early 2015 and will be tested in the coming season with production of audio-visual course materials. Training of instructors is planned to follow next winter to roll out a scheme with the support of ICRA to accredited sailing centres around the coast in 2016.
“There is a gap from people doing basic teaching course to going sailing on racing boats,” according to Rumball. “The cruiser racing programme means breaking down the various roles such as bow, mast, pit into all their components.”
Each role is then drilled in step-by-step set-piece sequences for the various scenarios in a typical race.
Until now, there has never been a teaching programme and newcomers on a boat have learned by watching existing crew and gradually learning from their mistakes.
Turning a wheel
But what about the competence of owners that often skipper their own boats?
“Not all owners who drive their boats are competent, so there’ll be a module in the course for driving,” said Rumball. “Driving may appear as simple as turning a wheel but it requires an awful lot of finesse.”
According to Rumball, there is a tradition of “white sails” boats who go out for more recreational sailing so the programme will have different levels of intensity to allow cruisers to develop their sailors.
Part of the motivation for the scheme is to feed future Irish Commodores’ Cup teams with a supply of skilled crews and the anticipated scheme is already being welcomed.
“The traditional way of learning from more experienced sailors has drawbacks as an experienced person may not necessarily have the best techniques,” commented Maurice “Prof” O’Connell who coaches crews extensively and was a member of both winning Irish Commodores’ Cup teams in 2010 and earlier this year.
Rumball has yet to estimate likely numbers but says the point isn’t necessarily to have massive numbers and places the emphasis on delivering quality rather than quantity.
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