Andy Rice What’s the key to victory on the race course? It’s simpler than you might think, says one Olympic medalist - but you do have to go back in time
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ccording to one sailor who’s stood on that hallowed podium, there are three ‘non-negotiables’ that you must achieve if you’re to win an Olympic medal. Or any other major fleet racing regatta for that matter. After winning Olympic silver in the 470 at the Barcelona Games in 1992, American sailor Morgan Reeser has gone on to win numerous world titles in a variety of classes, both as a sailor and a coach. It was some years ago that Morgan happened across a simple formula that he believes is the key to victory on the race course. Now, the gospel according to Morgan goes like this. In order to win an Olympic medal you must: 1. Achieve an average first mark rounding position in the top 30% of the fleet 2. Overtake one boat or more after the windward mark through to the finish 3. Keep unwanted letters out of your scores, e.g. DSQ, OCS, etc In the lead-up to the Athens 2004 Games, Morgan was hired as a coach by Greek 470 duo Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa. Sofia suffered a major back problem in the final year before her Games on home waters. Aside from the crippling physical effects of her injury, which limited her training time in the boat, the former World Champion was also suffering a crisis of confidence. Would her lack of training limit her ability to perform when it mattered the most? Morgan came up with an ingenious solution to Sofia’s lack of belief. He started poring through all the old mark rounding data from previous Olympic Regattas going back to 1992. This is where he came across these three vital ingredients for reaching the podium. When he showed this to Sofia, it made an unsurmountable challenge look quite achievable. Not that #1 is easy. Rounding consistently in the top 30% is still quite demanding. But it takes the pressure off feeling like you need to be pushing the edges of the course, or needing to be the absolute fastest boat. You don’t have to be winning races, just be in the hunt at the top mark. From then on, if you can maintain your position or pick off a couple of boats, that’s all you need. Provided of course you keep those letters out of your scores. Sofia and Emilia would go on to win Olympic gold in the 470, becoming the darlings of their nation. It’s notable that others who won gold at Athens 2004 more than ticked the box for #2, overtaking boats after the first mark. Both the Laser and Finn gold medallists, respectively Brazil’s Robert Scheidt and Britain’s Ben Ainslie, had downwind speed in spades. It was always their get-out-of-jail move if they found themselves struggling after a bad start. In the case of GBR’s three blondes in a boat, Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb had so much
spinnaker speed to burn in their Yngling keelboat that, by Morgan’s recollection, they overtook a staggering 45 boats on the downwind legs across all races of the Olympic regatta. Except for the last race which they missed out because they’d already taken gold with a day to spare. Morgan’s analysis of some pretty basic data, just mark rounding positions, has led to a pretty smart formula that has guided his career ever since, and those of the other sailors he has coached to Olympic and world championship success. Since then, data has proliferated like crazy, with GPS tracking showing us the winning moves by the top sailors. How fast were they? How many manoeuvres did they make? What course did they sail? Did they play the wind shifts better than the rest or were there other factors in play? We’ve seen Strava revolutionise cycling, with road bikers able to compare their performance with friends and other bikers they’ve never even met. If you’ve ever taken part in the Saturday morning 5k ritual of Park Run, you’ll know how motivating the data can be. In sailing there are the GPS tracking options that are handed out at competitions for spectator purposes and post-race analysis for the competitors. SailRacer and TracTrac are two popular examples, and the gold standard is SAP Sailing Analytics. Looking back through the tracking data of past competitions is a staggeringly good venue research tool. Then there are the personal data options, such as Garmin, Vakaros and Sailmon, where you can analyse your data on the fly, actually sailing to the numbers and adjusting your steering, your sail trim or your tactics and strategy based on what the data is telling you. This is the controversial end of the market, because it begs the question, how much data should you be allowed while racing? Of course, you can use whatever you want in training; it’s using an electronic instrument for a competitive advantage that is the area with a big question mark over it. The ability to ping both ends of the start line, see how fast you’re going through the water and compare with speed over ground, monitoring your heel angle and so on. Generally sportsboats and keelboats tend to permit the use of advanced instrumentation in racing. It’s becoming part of the furniture. Now the technology is becoming small enough and affordable enough to be used on dinghies too. Different classes have varying attitudes to the adoption of such technology. Some of the objections are cost-based, others on maintaining the purity of the sport and keeping electronics to a minimum. For me, the relevant question in such a debate is to ask, will it encourage or discourage greater participation in the sport? It’s an interesting question, and I really don’t know the answer!
PHOTO OCEAN IMAGES/RYA BRITISH SAILING TEAM
“It begs the question, how much data should you be allowed while racing?”
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JULY 2022 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
ABOVE The most successful sailor in Olympic history, Sir Ben Ainslie, winning his fourth Olympic gold at London 2012
ANDY RICE As a sailing journalist and TV commentator Andy has unparalleled knowledge of the performance racing scene, from grassroots to elite level
