Expert sailing skills: How to be a great crew boss

Slick, safe manoeuvres are all about teamwork, and a confident crew boss calling the shots can be a huge asset. Annie Lush explains the necessary skills to Andy Rice

Being an effective crew boss relies on good preparation and a great sense of timing, says Annie Lush. “The role basically comes down to organising manoeuvres, so it’s about having the right kind of communication and using the right words to make sure the front, the middle and the back of the boat are all working together,” she says.

On smaller boats around the 40ft mark, Lush says it’s common for the pitman to take the role of crew boss. “But when you’re on a 100ft superyacht with maybe 30 crew, you’ve probably got a dedicated crew boss who is most likely spending a lot of time in the ‘engine room’, next to the grinders and the pedestals.”

Having someone who understands the role of the pitman is key, but having good tactical knowledge of the race course is also very important, Lush points out.

“You don’t necessarily need to understand every role on board, but when things go wrong, which inevitably they will do, then you need to know what the priority is for the tactician at that given moment.
“That way, you can help minimise the damage on the race course and restore the focus on the bigger picture as quickly as possible.”

Here are Annie’s five best tips on how to be an effective crew boss:

Build your playbook

You should be looking to build up your playbook from the moment you step on a boat and keep on adding to it and refining it as you go along.

That means I always carry my wet notes with me as well as marker pens and tape for calibrating sheets and halyards and anything else where you need to replicate settings.

The longer you sail on the boat, the more manoeuvres and experience you build up, the more comprehensive and refined your playbook will be. It’s your bible.

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Set your stopwatch

Key details in your playbook are the times it takes to execute any given manoeuvre in a range of wind conditions and sea states and with crew you have on board. Just because someone on board a TP52 says, “Oh, we could get set up for a gybe-set in 35 seconds,” that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do the same.

We realised this on [all-female] Team SCA. Record how long each manoeuvre takes and then make sure the tactician and the afterguard know exactly what that figure is. During an in-port race in the Volvo Ocean Race it looked like we were getting the kite down too early compared with two of the men’s teams next to us. But they ended up getting their kites down too late – we rounded inside them and were ahead out of the leeward gate.

Better too soon than too late

Which brings us on to the next point. If you don’t know how long a manoeuvre will take because you’ve never done it before, take your best guess at the expected time and add a few extra seconds. In more than 95% of situations it’s better to get ready too soon than too late, especially at leeward marks or gates.

Tacticians frequently underestimate the length of time for the middle and front of the boat to get set up for a manoeuvre or a sail change, so be clear with your language and your tone of voice that they need to make their final decision about whether to do a gybe-drop or a straight take-down of the kite with an absolute minimum of 90 seconds, if that’s the time you’ve got down in the playbook [or your head] for that manoeuvre.

Mind your language

A crew boss needs to be clear with their tone of voice and use of language. People say I sound a bit like an army sergeant major when I’m the crew boss, but I’m okay with that because you need everyone to be absolutely clear about what’s happening next. The whole crew needs to use the same terms so you minimise any risk of confusion or misunderstanding.

Instead of ‘Yes’ say ‘Copy’. Instead of ‘No’ say ‘Negative’, because ‘No’ can sound too much like ‘Go’. Instead of ‘Stop’ when someone is winding a sheet or a halyard, say ‘Hold’.

Every time a point of confusion or misunderstanding comes up, make a note and discuss it at the next debrief so you have a plan for how to communicate more clearly next time.

Offshore discipline

Going offshore requires an extra level of discipline. People in their specific roles absolutely need to stick to those roles unless someone else really needs helping out at a particular moment.

Don’t be tempted to let someone sleep a bit longer and risk getting something wrong because you’re trying to do it short-handed. Putting a reef in is much easier when you have the right number of people involved.

Think when using your head torch at night. It’s good to have it set to red to preserve the helmsman’s and trimmers’ night vision, but some marks on sheets or deck you can’t see with red light, and you might be in gnarly conditions. So sometimes it’s quicker and safer to switch your head torch to white light, then switch back to red light when you’re done with the tricky part of a manoeuvre.

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