Looking Back on Skipper Development 2021

How does a good Club Skipper become even better?

When sailing club members enjoy a Rally, they’ll want to come again, they may even bring a friend next time.  Good Club Skippers are one of the essential ingredients of a successful rally.  Step forward the RYA Midlands Skipper Development Programme!

The Skipper Development Programme was devised in part by RYA Yachtmaster Instructor Keith Harding.  Keith is Principal of the RYA Training School Reach 4 the Wind and we were onboard Keith’s Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 35 Reach 4 the Wind.  The programme is intended for skippers who are interested in taking out a yacht on club rallies.

Many skippers agree that their success in an event is 20% reliant on their practical sailing skills but 80% reliant on their people management skills.  Some of those people skills can be sailing specific, but many are found in everyday management situations.

Our Programme – Weekend 1

Four candidates, selected by their individual clubs and unknown to each other, arrived at Ocean Village, Southampton on Friday 24 September 2021 to start the first of two coaching weekends. 

The plan for our first weekend was to dust down our practical skills and since the forecast was for light airs, simple and complicated manoeuvres would be on the agenda.  Friday evening however started with a working dinner.  Leading names in sailing, what did they consider were the important attributes of a good skipper?  What did we collectively think were important factors and out of all of those and others, a little dose of honest self-appraisal.  These strengths and weaknesses highlighted areas for attention in the coming days and beyond.

No sooner had we compartmentalised these attributes, then Keith introduced the myriad of legal matters that skippers need to be aware of.

With the breeze building slowly late Saturday morning, we were pleased to set sail in Southampton Water and get the practical skills refresher underway.  This would include implementing Keith’s “Golden Rules of Sailing” (available to all course participants!).

Relaxation was in order on Saturday evening with a well-deserved pub meal and overnight stop in Cowes.

Winds were lively on Sunday as we continued our practical refresher.  Naturally we really didn’t notice that lunch didn’t happen until after the close quarters manoeuvring in Ocean Village ended at 4pm….

Our Programme – Weekend 2

We’d only 5 days to wait for our second weekend starting on Friday 1 October.  Weekend 2 was to be more focused on our skippering skills, specifically the softer skills necessary for skippering on club events.

Weather-wise, the winds we hadn’t seen the previous weekend were forecast to be back with a vengeance including occasional rain on Saturday and Sunday.

Now that we knew the ropes, it was into action literally as soon as our feet hit the deck on Friday night.  The skipper was nominated, we were to cast off as soon as we were fully prepped and ready.  The Skipper would have to negotiate the destination and timing of the essential evening meal with the crew and as with any charter boat, you’d need to know what was on board and where to find everything important.  As darkness fell, the Skipper had to get his crew working quickly and efficiently as defined by Keith who would be a fly on the bulkhead (but taking notes!).

During the weekend, all four candidates took turns in all the key roles of skipper and crew; compiling the sailing logbook with tidal info, weather forecasts, pilotage and passage plans.  We debriefed each day’s activities as they happened and again for the weekends overall.  The final act was the individual 1 to 1’s and action planning with Keith.

As a bonus, anyone who had not sailed on a fully reefed yacht in F8plus winds and heavy rain in the Solent was able to add this to their experiences of sailing.

In Conclusion

Having come through the RYA training ladder, we know that skippering a yacht brings responsibilities for the safety of your vessel and all aboard.  However, there’s much more to consider in keeping a well-motivated crew.

So what did we take away from the Programme:

- How to get the best from your crew, not just the best, but to enable each crew member to make a valuable contribution.
- Multi-tasking, much more efficient than doing the necessary tasks in series.
- On matters of safety, have clear policies e.g. on wearing of life jackets and enable the crew to help enforce some important safety rules.
- To take account of strengths and weaknesses of your crew and spot the tell-tale signs of someone becoming dissatisfied or feeling unwell.  Give crew members pride in what they’ve achieved, irrespective of how big or small the task.
- Don’t just do what makes you the skipper look good, but do things to make the individual crew members look good. Be more crew focused.

In my view, this is an essential programme for sailing club skippers and if we can all remember just a few of these points on each passage, the good club skippers will become better club skippers.  Thank you Keith!