{"id":160160,"date":"2025-09-30T06:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T05:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=160160"},"modified":"2025-09-30T06:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T05:07:08","slug":"5-expert-tips-how-to-be-a-yachts-watch-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/expert-sailing-techniques\/5-expert-tips-how-to-be-a-yachts-watch-leader-160160","title":{"rendered":"5 expert tips: How to be a yacht’s watch leader"},"content":"You learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. But when you\u2019ve had a bad result, how do you get past the negative emotion and start turning that into a positive to take forward into your next race?\r\n\r\nTerry Hutchinson<\/a> has been grappling with this challenge for more than four decades. He says he\u2019s still learning. Even for someone of Terry\u2019s deep experience at the top of the sport, every day brings up new scenarios and new lessons, sometimes painful but always useful if processed in the right way.\r\n\r\nBut how to learn those lessons and improve teamwork without resorting to finger pointing and ending up in the blame game? It\u2019s a tough job but it\u2019s vital to the overall mission, not to mention making sure everybody is enjoying the process.\r\n\r\n\u201cGood communication creates clarity,\u201d says Terry. \u201cHow do we communicate so that we keep our focus on the details and the process of racing well? The goal must be clear decision making without emotion. When you can make a decision without any emotion, you tend to make a higher percentage decision.\u201d\r\n\r\nEasier said than done in the heat of battle, which is why you need to read and absorb Terry\u2019s best five tips for rallying the team after a bad outing on the race course.\r\n

Own your mistakes<\/h2>\r\nWhen training recently on the TP52<\/a> we had a boat handling mistake which ended up with the spinnaker going underneath the bow \u2013 the worst possible thing that can happen.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\u2019t an error on the bow, it was a steering error, and I pointed this out to the helmsman, and he got it. It\u2019s not about attacking anybody, it\u2019s simply that the only way we learn from these situations is by acknowledging them and working out what we\u2019d do differently next time.\r\n\r\nArticle continues below...\r\n\r\n[collection]\r\n\r\nWhenever any of us makes a mistake, we\u2019d better be the first to acknowledge it, because without that how can you build the credibility to call anybody else out?\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019re finding it difficult to get someone to own their mistake then I\u2019ll bring the ownership back on myself, because nine times out of 10 it\u2019s down to a communication error. So you get them to talk through what they were thinking. You don\u2019t need them to say, \u201cHey, I screwed that up.\u201d You just need to ask how they can be supported in those situations to eliminate that happening again.\r\n

Do your own job<\/h2>\r\nWhen the majority of the crew are amateur sailors just doing it on the weekends, one of the things we\u2019d instil is, \u2018Know your job. Do your job 100% perfectly first\u2019.\r\n\r\nAnd when you develop the consistency to do that, then learn the job of the person in front of you and behind you. Not to do their job, but to help support them when they need a hand. It\u2019s a great focus for every team member to work on their own skills before they\u2019re too critical of others.\r\n

Debrief later<\/h2>\r\nAt the end of every race and practice day you should be creating your \u2018capture list\u2019 to write down all the things that happened, both the good and the bad.\r\n\r\nYou want a daily debrief with the whole crew but generally it\u2019s better to do it the morning after, before you go out racing the next day. Sure, you can do it when you come ashore but people are tired, they need to eat, drink and rest. So aim for the morning after when moods are likely to be a bit less emotional.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_159454\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Photo: Rapt.Tv \/ Alamy[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSometimes things happen in the middle of a race day, showing up an error that needs sorting as soon as possible. If you have a boat handling area error and there\u2019s not a lot of time, get the relevant people together for two minutes, have the conversation and report back to the team before the start of the next race.\r\n\r\nThen there\u2019s the \u2018personal debrief\u2019, where you might have a serious conversation with yourself. People know that when I go to the back of the boat by myself, that\u2019s my time to reflect, get my head back into the game and be ready for the next race.\r\n

Prioritise big errors<\/h2>\r\nAlways aim for as much detail as possible on your capture list, but at the same time don\u2019t expect to tick off everything on the list. Use the capture list to identify what you did well, not just what you did poorly, and use the list to drive the narrative in your next debrief.\r\n\r\nWhen you have a long list of things to address, just pick a maximum of three things that had the biggest impact on your race result. Start with something that went well, then move to the meat in the middle \u2013 something you feel you can improve upon \u2013 and then finish up with something positive. You don\u2019t want to start the day out with a whipping; make sure you set out with a positive team mindset.\r\n

It's how you finish<\/h2>\r\nAt the recent Maxi European Championship we were getting great starts but just weren\u2019t getting anything to show for it. We knew that we\u2019d got to just keep close, not hit any panic buttons, make sure that when the opportunity arrives we were in a position to take advantage of it. Remember, it\u2019s not how you start but how you finish.\r\n\r\n
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\"\"<\/a>If you enjoyed this\u2026.<\/h2>\r\n
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Although he\u2019s the crew boss and watch captain of 100ft Maxi yacht Scallywag in his own right, Pete Cumming is always eager to learn from the best. After operating as a driver\/trimmer on board Volvo 70 Tsch\u00fcss 2\u2019s line honours victory in the Transatlantic Race 2025 in June, he was inspired by the calm leadership of watch captains Neal McDonald and Stu Bannatyne. \u201cNeal and Stu are really good at making sure everyone on the boat is connected with the decision-making process, which keeps everyone motivated and all pushing towards the same objective. Which might seem really obvious, but I\u2019ve been on plenty of boats where the front end of the boat has no idea what the people at the back are thinking. \u201cThe moment Neal or Stu come off watch, they\u2019re checking in with the navigator, Campbell Field, just getting an overview of what\u2019s going on before they go to sleep. Are there going to be any sails challenges coming up in the next four hours while they\u2019re off?\u201d Done right, the watch captain spans many roles, from co-ordinating the boat handling up on deck to making sure everybody on their watch is physically and mentally able to work to their best within a demanding and maybe even sometimes hostile working environment. Here are Pete\u2019s five key tips for being the best watch captain you can be. Staying in the loop I think it was Brad Butterworth who said that when a team breaks down, lunatics start running the asylum. When there\u2019s no communication through the boat, and maybe a lack of trust, you get in situations when the crew suddenly decide they\u2019re going to call the gybe because the navigator\u2019s asleep and you don\u2019t want to disturb him. With the seasoned pros this lack of comms is never allowed to happen. Article continues below… It\u2019s the watch captain\u2019s job to make sure the chain of communication is always operating smoothly. Splinter groups develop on boats all the time, but if you can work with the navigator and the guys on deck so that everyone\u2019s got buy-in to the strategy and the decision-making process, it makes the world of difference to the atmosphere on board, and ultimately to the team\u2019s performance. Earn respect To be an effective watch captain you\u2019ve got to earn the respect of the people around you, and that generally only comes with experience, a sense of competence and a good deal of self-confidence without arrogance. If someone questions you, you\u2019ve got to be able to cope with that and not look weak with your decision-making. Sometimes there can be big egos on board and you have to be able to stand your ground. You also need to lead from the front and occasionally show the guys that you\u2019re prepared to get your hands dirty and do a tough or unpleasant job yourself. That said, it\u2019s important to choose the right moment. Don\u2019t go down a rabbit hole of trying to get one small job done …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5203,"featured_media":160162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[975],"tags":[846,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160160"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160163,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160160\/revisions\/160163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160160"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=160160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}