93RAY DAVIES is one of the most sought after tacticians in the world. A
part of Emirates Team New Zealand for nearly 20 years, he’s currently
competing in the RC44 Championship Tour. His affable manner and steely
resolve on the water has earned him the nickname ‘The Smiling Assassin’.LEAVE EGO on THE DOCK
People often ask what is the secret
of Kiwi success at the top level of
the sport? I think it’s because they
are generally easy-going. It’s also
about choosing the right people to
work together in the first place. We
had a very cohesive group in the last
America’s Cup and we could address
issues honestly. People felt they were
in an environment where they could
take it on the chin and learn from it.
Again, the better the sailor the more
they understand the importance of
debriefing, which makes the process
of improvement and development so
much easier. I think that Kiwi attitude- of being easy-going and keeping
the ego in check – is a key factor to
success at any level of the sport.
AVOID HINDSIGHT
The secret to any successful team
is your ability to bounce back from
adversity. The post-race debrief is an
opportunity to assess what went right
and what went wrong.
The key is to be quite clear about
what were the big lessons of the day.
Remember it’s very, very easy to be wise
in hindsight, so you’ve got to be pretty
tactful about how you approach each
issue. Don’t make it personal.1
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BEHAVE LIKE A PRO
The hardest debriefs are the ones
when guys don’t understand that
they’ve made a mistake or don’t like to
admit it because they are too proud.
Most professional sailors are not too
proud and that’s why they’re in the
industry, but the hardest debriefs
are because stubborn owners or
amateurs just don’t realise they’re
making a mistake. People’s pride is on
the line, so you have to be quite tactful
and create a learning environment.
This is where the professionals
should be earning their money, to
prompt the amateurs on the boat
before a situation arises, and then to
discuss any issues in a calm manner
in the debrief. If you’re smart about
your choice of words, you can talk
about the failures of the processes
or manoeuvres on board without
obviously putting blame on any
particular person. It’s vital you learn
to take it on the chin as a team; ‘We’re
all in it together, we all sink or swim
together,’ that’s got to be the attitude.
Even if it’s the owner who makes
a mistake, once you create an
environment where we are all willing
to learn and put your hand up to
errors, it then makes it easier to point
out situations when there has been an
error, no matter who was responsible.EMBRACE THE BAD DAYS
A good team has confidence. They
know when they’ve made a mistake
and they know if it was bad luck or
bad sailing. And when you learn how
to decipher between the two, that can
really ease the situation a lot.
Yachting is a sport of ups and
downs; it’s impossible to always
get the wind right, to always have
immaculate crew work, but it’s all
about improving your averages. The
key is to not dwell on what you think
the problem is. Just address it and
move on.
What I’ve always found is you learn
more from a bad day than you did
from a good day. Unless the debrief
goes absolutely terribly, you should
be able to bounce back from any bad
day because you are learning. And
it’s the learning that you need to keep
focused on more than the results.NO SCAPEGOATS
You hear of boats where someone
gets singled out as the scapegoat for
things going wrong on board. I know
some people treat their crew mates
like that, and I think that’s a terrible
way to get the best out of a team. I
don’t really see the gain in that.
You have really got to create a team
atmosphere. You’ve got your team,
you can’t change it, and it’s all about
getting the best out of each other.
So it’s a very bad technique if you
single out people and make them feel
uncomfortable. I’ve got no patience
for that kind of thing.James Tomlinson/RTP