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KIMBERLEY WILMOT LOOKS AT THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN A GOOD AND A BAD SKIPPER.
PSYCHOLOGY
OF A SKIPPER
AUSTRALIAN SAILING (^) + YACHTING
APRIL-MAY 2015 MYSAILING.COM.AU
SKIPPER PSYCHE
THE skipper has one of the most important roles on the
boat. They keep the crew and boat safe, and usually the
owner happy. But how do they handle the pressure when
the going gets tough? With so many people in the sailing
industry calling themselves a skipper, what does it take
to be a good one?
“Clearly more races are lost than won so if you
generalise that is it easy to say you have got to have a lot
of really good skippers around the world and they can all
sail a boat and get the trim and balance, do all that right.
But I think the difference between the really good ones
and the bad ones is the ones that make the least mistakes,”
explained America’s Cup Regatta Director and Wild Oats
XI tactician Iain Murray.
“It is easy to turn a little mistake into a big mistake.
Everyone is going to make mistakes, it is how you deal
with those mistakes and come back from there. The good
guys chip away. The bad guys go to the casino.”
Thanks to social media and the Internet, skippers of the
big time campaigns are more accessible and in the public
eye than ever. Look at the 2014 Rolex Sydney Hobart. The
pre-race banter between Ken Read of Comanche and Wild
Oats XI’s Mark ‘Ricko’ Richards was played out on national
television and on computer screens around the world.
We saw a lot of this the 34th America’s Cup during the
press conferences. Even when Oracle Team USA wa s 8 -1
down, skipper Jimmy Spithill never showed any doubt
that the team could win. Instead he planted the doubt in
his oppositions mind. Spithill simply asked the question
‘what if he loses?’ From then the seed had been planted
and Oracle Team USA went on to win the America’s Cup
with one of the biggest comebacks in sporting history.
You may say that a portion of the Cup was won in the
press conferences with Spithill’s confidence and ability
to make Emirates Team New Zealand's Dean Barker
question himself.
Murray explained, “In the Cup, when the stakes are
high the pressure is big, the psychology of things like the
press conferences is quite substantial. In my mind Jimmy’s
famous statement just flattened Dean.
MAIN: Preparation
and knowing your
boat can win races is
key when put in high
pressure situations.
ABOVE: When
someone else’s
money is on the line,
it is hard not to feel
the pressure to win.
ACEA/GILLES MARTIN-RAGET