Things I learned Sailing #4 - It's about how you react when everything you're doing is suddenly wrong

2001 was the last time I sailed the Fastnet Race...

We'd started in tough conditions - Force 7 wind, big seas, and the first 20-odd hours were hard work, so we were quite grateful when we turned the corner at Lands End and headed out across the Celtic Sea to Ireland.  For the first time we had the wind behind us, got the spinnaker flying, and started to get out of survival mode.

The next morning I remember seeing the skipper looking puzzled as he reviewed the latest weather reports - we were sitting in a southerly breeze but the forecast showed northerlies without any sign of the sort of weather system you'd associate with a change. 

A few hours later the sky clouded over and visibility shut down and then, with absolutely no warning at all, the wind literally swapped direction - changing from a run to a headwind in about 100 yards.  In seconds our giant spinnaker wrapped itself around the mast and rigging, the boom swung back and forth at head-height across the cockpit and confusion loomed.

This was the point when it could all have gone badly wrong; we had to change sails quickly and get sailing again so as not to lose time to other boats, but with none of the planning and thought that normally goes into it - you can easily spend 20 or 30 minutes setting up for a spinnaker drop on a long race (it's different on short-course racing) - and with the complication that, because the spinnaker was wrapped all around the rigging, we had to be super-careful not to damage anything.

Practice makes Perfect they say (in one version of the Rule of Ps, at least!) and in our case it was true - we had the spinnaker down, undamaged, and the new sails up in about 5 minutes and were soon back on course. Talking to other crews after the race, we were all confused by that morning - some of the oddest weather we'd seen - but what was clear was that some boats, us included, had done better than others and the difference was all about the reaction to the change. 

The crews who'd done better had acted decisively and immediately - changing sails to suit the new conditions and to stay on course; using practiced processes to do in 5 minutes something that you normally take time over.  The ones who lost out had generally been less decisive; altering course to try and keep their spinnakers flying, hoping the wind-shift was temporary, OR they'd recognized the change but not been able to respond quickly - their sails weren't quickly accessible or they'd lost time with breakages.

That ability to assess a new situation and respond quickly and effectively is a key skill, but you can't just rely on native intelligence - we won-out that day because we made the right decision and we had the skills and were ready to execute it. 

Being Prepared is not just a Boy-Scout thing, nor is it just about having the tools to hand.  You have to be prepared to re-think what you're doing on a moment's notice and you ALSO have to be able to make that change, which means having the right skills and tools to hand (both mentally and physically) even if you are using them in a new way or in different circumstances.

You can't practice everything; but if you practice the *right* things you'll be Ready for Anything