New Years Resolutions For A Successful 2016

I don't believe in New Years Resolutions.  On the other hand, I do believe that every big success begins with an expertly crafted plan. Starting the year off with a clear picture of where you are going and how to get there will help to reinforce new habits while they become part of your routine, and eventually part of your psyche as an athlete.  On January 1st, instead of resolving to do a bunch of things that you'll forget about over the course of the next month, block out a few hours, sit down, and make a plan using the following four ideas:

1. Set Goals - Start by setting your goals for 2016 and beyond.  This can be one of the most daunting parts of the process, because writing down your goals means that you might fail.  Despite this, if you don't set goals that scare you, you'll never even begin to realize your potential, so dream big, keep them private if it scares you to share them, but write them down so that you know what you're planning for.  For help setting functional goals, be sure to check out our Goal Setting Worksheet available on the Sailor Resources page under the "How To" section. It's never too early to start setting goals so think long term!

2. Plan ahead - Instead of setting a goal and hoping to achieve it, set a goal and PLAN to achieve it! Setting a detailed plan in place to achieve your goal is a super important part of the process of success because it provides you with a document to check in on every few weeks to see whether or not you are on track to achieve your goals.  Your plan should focus on the granular details of how you are going to achieve your goals.  What skills do you need to acquire? What drills will you need to do to develop those skills as quickly as possible? How much time will it take? Is that amount of time commitment realistic?  If not, how can you make your training more effective?  To help put together a bulletproof plan, and keep track of your progress in the new year, check out our Hours Tracker Template here.

3. Stick to the 70:30 Rule - As you put together your plan, it's important to keep the 70:30 rule in mind: at least 70% of your time on the water should be spent training, while 30% should be spent racing.  Racing should be viewed as an opportunity to demonstrate and experiment with new techniques that you learn in practice, NOT a time to develop new skills.  Color coding your plan (see step 2) can really help to visualize whether you're getting enough practice time!

4. Put In Hours Alone - While a lot of people believe that sailing against other boats leads to faster improvement, and this can sometimes pay out, in the long run, rising to the top requires hours to be spent on your own, putting in the hard work.

Wishing everyone a productive New Year!

- Willie out

Romain Featured In Lead Up To ISAF Youth Worlds

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"Romain Screve has his work cut out for him over the next few weeks; competing in the 29er, he wants to bring home the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship title. At the worlds, being held in Malaysia Dec. 27 through Jan. 3, Screve and his crew Quinn Wilson will face the top young talent in the world, each team selected by their national governing body to represent their country. In most cases, these are the teams being groomed for future Olympic events. Qualifying to compete in the worlds was no easy task for Screve and Wilson. Against a tide of unfortunate circumstances they barely won the opportunity by just one point at the US Youth Sailing Championships (the pinnacle event for youth sailors under 20 in the US) held in Bristol, R.I. over the summer."

-Michelle Slade, Marin Independent Journal

Check out the rest of the article here

3 Aspects of A Solid Game Plan

Creating a solid game plan before every race is an important tool to help everyone on the boat understand what the big picture objectives are in the race, and if you make a good plan, it’s the key to long term improvement.  When you check in with your coach or your teammates, be sure to check these three boxes to ensure that your game plan is air-tight:

1. Observations:  Each good game plan starts with a series of objective observations about how the course is setting up.  “Darker water left,” “Oscillating shift pattern,” “Flat bottomed clouds on the right,” “Skewed starting line,” “Less current on the beach,” and, “Windy conditions,” are a few examples of observations that might factor into a game plan.  Taking the time to list your observations at the beginning of a game plan will help everyone onboard begin to visualize how the race will look, and what types of tactics will come into play.  For example, noting that, “The wind is 100% driving force or stronger,” should put you in a mindset of minimizing costly boat handling.  In addition to setting the tone for the race, this part of the game plan will help you hone your strategic game down the road, as you learn to evaluate more variables at play.
    
2. Plan A and Plan B Objectives: In this part of the game plan, the goal is to pick out the most important factors from your observations, and use them to clarify what the objective of the first beat will be.  If for example, you know that the wind will be light during a race, you might conclude that pressure should be weighted more than shift, so even with an oscillating shift pattern, you may choose to extend to a side of the course to capitalize on more pressure.  On the other hand, in side force conditions (slightly more breeze) you might prioritize shift over pressure, as a one knot pressure difference might be a small factor compared to sailing lifted.  In this step, it’s also important to consider what you will do if your start doesn’t go according to plan; is it best to stick to your original plan, or do the conditions give you the flexibility to change the plan slightly in order to find better lanes?  As a whole, this step sets the objective of the first beat.
    
3. Inside Versus Outside Track: Once we have our objective in mind, the final key is to identify the strategic track that sets us up to accomplish our objective.  A simple decision making model to apply is an inside or outside track on either side of the race course.  Outside track courses should be employed when your objective requires you to win a side.  Going back to the example of light air, if we see pressure on one side of the course, and we are confident that the extra pressure will be more important than the oscillating wind direction, we probably want to start as close to that side as we can, and beat other boats to get to the pressure (outside track).  In contrast, in side force conditions, we might still favor the side with more pressure, but position ourselves on the inside track in order to control the fleet when the oscillations come through, and to keep options open later in the beat by staying off of lay line.

If you can lay out these three components of your game plan before the start, you’ll have a much better chance of pointing the boat in the correct direction in the heat of battle, when the pressure is on.

InstaTips

Recently I started posting a 15 second "Technique Tuesday" clip on the McBrideWilsonSailing Instagram every Tuesday with a description of what to look for for that specific segment of a maneuver.  I started with some of the most common mistakes that I see when coaching, so be sure to check the last few Technique Tuesday posts including:

Side Force Kite Float
Spinnaker Set
Tack Handwork and Footwork

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