5 expert tips: How to build a great sailing crew

Super crew, coach, and keelboat and dinghy champion Richard Parslow shares tips on how to form an effective sailing crew, with Andy Rice

Every crew has its own DNA, its own ecosystem. Making that the best and healthiest crew dynamic possible is a big part of what interests Richard Parslow. “Psychology is a huge part of the sport,” he says.

“They say the longest four inches in golf is between the ears, and how we interact with each other in the boat also has a huge outcome on the race course. I’ve been fortunate to be on a lot of successful teams where we’ve had a shared outlook on the campaign, usually pretty laid back, laughing a lot, but in the background really organised and committed to doing the work.”

When it comes to building a crew, he says: “You need to think carefully about the team you are assembling, choosing those who are the best fit for the long term, not necessarily because they are the best in the world at a particular job.” Here are Richard’s five best tips for getting everyone on the crew pulling in the same direction.

Have shared goals

I remember driving back from a youth event once and my helmsman said what a good regatta we’d had, and I was thinking how badly it had gone. He was enjoying himself and I was all about trying to win the event. It’s really important at the start of the campaign to make sure everyone’s goals are aligned, that you share the same aims.

Assuming it’s about winning, everyone needs to be highly motivated. Back in the day when we raced on the Ultra 30s you had nine people on a big dinghy which capsized easily, and you could just about swap out one person in a weekend without it affecting your team coordination and performance, but no more than that.

That was a big part of why we used to win in the Ultra 30, that consistency of crew on board.

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Bring skills

As well as skills to race the boat, make sure the crew brings complementary skills for the onshore stuff and the logistics – the ability to work with glassfibre or carbon, metal work, fix engines, maintain the coach RIB, cooking and good technique in the protest room. Have as many bases as possible covered within the team.

Hone the process

I’m a big believer in the regatta process, that you’ve got a consistent thing that you do every day. It starts before the event with logistics of travel and accommodation and then goes into a daily process for each race day, from ‘wake up to write up’.

Everything on a checklist is one less thing to think about on what’s already a hugely complicated day. Man is a habit forming animal and we’re very happy when we’re able to go through a repetitive process. It means you’re unlikely to forget anything. Without a systematic approach, because of potential ‘diffusion of responsibility’ in larger teams, some things might slip through the cracks.

Cool off

I’ve been pretty lucky with most of the teams I’ve been on – there hasn’t been any sort of toxic breakdown. But certainly when everybody’s under a lot of pressure, emotions can get high and people get upset and angry and things are said.

A really good way to get back down from that high level of emotion – anger, even – is to go back to your process…“Okay, what went wrong there? Did someone just mess up, or is there something wrong with the process? And to make sure it doesn’t go wrong again, do we just need to practise more, or do we have to re-think the process?”

That approach gets you back to a place where you’re not so upset any more. It depersonalises the problem and works towards a collective solution rather than pointing the finger.

Have a laugh

Campaigning across a whole season can be a long, hard slog. You’re going to spend a lot of time together, training, travelling and competing. Whatever level you’re operating at, you need to have a sense of humour that works for everyone on the crew. You’re going to have things go well and a lot of things go really badly. And it’s when things go badly you really test your team bond and the power of the relationship on the boat. Sense of humour is a massive part of getting you out of those moments and back on the right track.

Some people swear a lot, but try to avoid effing and blinding all over the shop – it increases pressure and tension on board, If you’re upset about something and you swear, it doesn’t make you any less upset, but it makes the other people around you more upset. Then they’re likely to react. And the more upset you get, the less good decisions you make.

Clear, calm communication will produce a quieter, more efficient racing machine, and whether you’ve had a good or bad day, you should always be able to find something you can share a laugh about!

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