An update from our Navigator Luke:
As in all walks of life, everyone onboard a yacht racing offshore has to
make decisions all the time. Big or small, these decisions impact on the boat
in different ways. The crew whose job it is to steer the boat and trim the
sails constantly have to make small decisions about which way to steer or
whether to let the sail out or pull it in. Each individual decision made by
these people has a small impact on the performance of the boat at that time
but, added together, they are what make the boat sail fast or slow.
The navigator (as I see it, and perhaps I would say this as I am one!) and
skipper have to make bigger decisions about what direction they want the boat
to head, given the predicted winds and currents and their impact on boat
performance. These decisions happen far less regularly, but their impact on the
result of the boat of getting one of them wrong can be catastrophic.
I guess you could liken this to any team situation, in which the
strategy (big decision) is set by those leading, and is put into practice by
the rest of the team. All have at least as much impact on the success or
otherwise of the project, but those of the leaders (or in our case,
skipper/navigator) are much more visible.
Last night’s decision to head north before the majority of the rest of
the fleet was a BIG decision. This was particularly the case given that I knew
it was going to result in some short term losses, but obviously looking to make
much bigger gains in the longer term. Again, to use a business analogy, this is
like investing for the long term.
When we were sitting with sails flapping I am sure that the rest of the
crew were cursing my decision to head north. If they were, to be fair, they didn’t
show it and got on with working the boat as hard as possible. Now that
hopefully the decision has paid off, everyone can share in its success!
--
Team Concise
