Debrief

Hi,

that helps a lot, thank you very much.

Most of the time I do coastal and offshore races. So in case you have any special hints for that, I'm happy to read.

Thanks

Hi,

For inshore racing, a navigators debrief very much depends on the questions that arise at the end of a days racing. I personally ask team members what they would like to learn from a days racing before I start processing information, as you can spend hours answering questions that may never be asked.

An initial and simple debrief will consist of revisiting the pre race strategy and comparing that to what was executed on the course. Then talking through the positive aspects of a days racing to embed what works well. Also review the mistakes that were made to address and learn from them. This can stimulate many questions that can be answered by looking at the racing data.

Using Sailing Performance tools (mainly Race Replay), questions such as below can be quickly and easily answered:

1. How was our VMG up and down today compared to targets? What was our setup when we seemed to have good VMG against other boats?

2. Which periods were good VMG% and why? Heel? Crew weight? Trim changes? Incorrect targets?

3. How was our heel compared to target up and downwind heel?

4. Was there any correlation between good VMG and heel or rudder angle or forestay load?

5. Any learnings from sail crossovers? i.e. how was the A1.5 on the first run of the second race vs the A2 on the second run? Or, was the change from the Code Zero to the spinnaker worth it? Which was faster at the tight angles? Where is the new crossover? Was it worth having the GS up?

6. How was the boat balance upwind today? i.e. rudder angle on average? Was rudder angle higher or lower than usual? Does this correlate to any rig changes (rake), or different main trim setup?

7. How was our PolBSP% performance on the reaching legs? If fast/slow is it a polar issue or a calibration issue?

8. How was calibration today? BSP within bounds? TWA/TWD shifts upwind?

9. Did the observed winds correlate well to the forecast?

10. Did our logged current calibrations match the current model?

11. Were there any dramatic shifts in current calculation with course changes? (a good indicator for BSP calibration and Leeway calibration).

Offshore and/or coastal racing can be fun to self debrief and then share findings with the crew for discussion. Many of the questions/answers are the same as for inshore, however most races are tracked and it is relatively easy to review a race and compare your performance and decision making against your closest competitors. Where did we gain (or lose) and why? Were those gains/losses a direct result of our decision making? If I could race the race again, what would I do differently?

I hope this goes some way to answering your question.

Regards,