Things I learned sailing - #5 Pay attention to what's going on around you!

Last time I posted on this thread, I wrote about how preparation helps you overcome the unexpected (Things I learned sailing #4). This time the theme is about keeping your eyes open and learning from what's going on around you...

The race was overnight to Guernsey out via the Needles and across to the Channel Islands, expecting to arrive about lunchtime the following day. We had a good race overnight and, although you can't tell exactly in the dark, were pretty confident that we were at the front of the fleet. As dawn broke we were passing Alderney, the northernmost Channel Island, confident that we'd hit the tidal gates right and that we'd extended our lead over the boats behind us when a sea-fog set in. Normally you'd expect to be becalmed in fog as wind tends to disperse it, but this time the wind didn't drop and we carried on with spinnaker up and barely a drop in speed.

A few hours later GPS told us we were approaching the north coast of Guernsey, with only a couple of miles to go to the finish at St Peter Port, and we sailed out of the fog bank shortly after. It was literally like sailing out of a cloud - one minute grey fog and visibility of about 20m, the next clear skies, bright sun and we could see the finish line in front of us!

Ahead, and just off the finish, we could now see a cluster of other yachts - all clearly much larger than ours and so (we hoped) well behind once the time handicap was accounted for. We steered straight for the finish, to pass close inshore under the harbour wall and get an early beer at the bar afterwards. As we approached a couple of us commented that the boats ahead didn't seem to be moving much or heading into port as you'd expect after finishing a race; we wondered whether they wanted to sail in as a fleet together...?

While we sailed down to the finish line, other boats started to appear from the fog bank behind us, too far back to challenge our lead, but close enough to identify and to reinforce our belief that we were actually going to win the race!

Then we ran out of wind.

We found out the reason the boats in front weren't moving was that they were becalmed - the wind blowing over the island created a calm patch about 1/4 mile wide in the lee of the shore. We, and all the boats in front, had sailed right into it! We watched with increasing dismay as the boats behind us sailed past about 200m further offshore to cross the line well ahead. We eventually finished mid-fleet a little while later, suitably chastened and resolving not to count chickens before they hatch in future.

What the boats behind us did, and we spectacularly failed to, was to observe the conditions carefully, reason out what was happening and correct course in time to avoid the wind-shadow. We were focused entirely on our own plans and we failed to pay attention to what was going on around us; as a result we ended up repeating the mistake of the boats ahead, rather than taking the opportunity to change course and avoid it.

This applies in life as much as in sailing - watch what's going on around you; with your customers, with your colleagues and with your competitors and consider whether what they're doing suggests that you should change what you're doing? You might spot an issue in time to avoid a problem, use something they do to a mutual benefit, or even steal a march on a competitor; if you keep your eyes open...