I never thought I could learn such a lot about leadership, teamwork and camaraderie from a day’s sailing…
It was with some trepidation that I accepted a kind offer (from a supplier and fellow Entrepreneurs Circle member) to go out for a day sailing in Southampton. Having only been used to sailing on cruise liners (and a very bumpy trip to Lundy where I ended up being seasick), I really had no idea what to expect.
Ashley (from Jumpworks) told me that we would be sailing around The Solent on a 40ft yacht and that all we would need to bring was warm clothing and sensible shoes. He did ask for chest sizes regarding the team polo shirts we would be wearing and at this point, I should probably have asked a few more questions – why would we be needing team T-shirts?!
As a ‘free space’ had come up, Simon also joined me for the trip to Southampton. We met up with Ashley and our other sailing comrades at the swish Harbour Hotel for a lovely dinner and overnight stay. During the evening, I asked Ashley who would be sailing the yacht and he replied “We will”. Oops. I suddenly started to get a touch nervous…
The day dawned (beautiful blue skies and a full sun) and after a breakfast of bacon baps we were introduced to our Skipper (Tom) and 1st Mate (Paul) who led us to our sailing yacht.
Tom explained that this was the Southampton Sailing Week Regatta and that we would be taking part in 3 races (yikes!) Tom asked each of us (10 in total) to introduce ourselves, describe any previous experience we had and explain what we wanted to get out of the day.
For me, it was absolutely ‘zero’ experience and I somewhat nervously said that I wished to enjoy the day… Thankfully, about 6 people had prior experience, some had a lot of experience.
Tom then chatted through some ‘sailing terminology’ before allocating tasks to individuals and demonstrating what each of these jobs entailed. We then spent the next hour practicing, the key task being ‘tacking’ (creating a zigzag course to achieve a net upwind direction).
With no prior experience (also I think, because I was the smallest and lightest person on the boat), I only had to deal with stowing away the spinnaker (a large downward sail or in layman’s terms, the triangular sail at the front of the boat). I also got some of the ‘overflow’ tasks such as tidying away various ropes or helping to put weight on a particular side of the boat when we needed more ballast (not that my weight helped much!) Being quite cramped on the boat, I felt it was quite an achievement if I managed to avoid tripping over a rope and didn’t get in the way of what other people were doing! In truth, I would like to have been given more to do.
And so to the races!
There were 12 boats in total. Skipper Tom told us that we should have a reasonable chance of doing well, although there was one boat that had just had its hull cleaned, so it had an advantage over all the other boats whose hulls were covered in barnacles and other detritus. We all just wanted to make sure we didn’t come last – middle of the pack would be acceptable to us.
All the boats lined up at the start as best they could and then we were off!
Throughout the race, Tom gave clear commands to the team on exactly what needed doing. He would praise us when a good ‘tack’ had been completed but did not raise his voice when we mucked it up. I can’t remember all the terminology but we were kept very busy for the full duration of the race and the time just swept by. Tom and Paul would constantly be looking at the sea, the sky and the sails to see what adjustments were needed. The spinnaker sail was put up and brought down at every available opportunity, someone was kept on ‘trimming’ duty (small adjustments made to the sails to maximise efficiency) and someone stood up against the boom to keep it extended as far as it would go. There was lots of ‘we need ballast on the port (or starboard) side’ so we would help each other to the relevant side of the boat with our legs dangling over the edge close to the water.
It was absolutely exhilarating, especially so when we passed other boats who weren’t faring as well – we noted that there wasn’t an awful lot of activity on some of the boats and we heard a lot of yelling and shouting on a few of them – none on ours!
As we closed in on the final marker, we were thrilled to be in first place but you guessed it, we ended up being beaten by the ‘clean hull’ boat.
After a quick packed lunch on the boat, we prepared ourselves for the next two races. These were equally as thrilling – during the last race, the wind finally picked up and with the spinnaker sail billowing, we headed into the final straight. There was one scary moment when we were trying to get the spinnaker down and avoid it going into the water and the boat felt close to keeling over (I was assured it wouldn’t have!) Finally the team managed to get the sail in (some of it getting wet) but not before a rope hook flicked up and hit a team member on the head. A tea-towel was used to mop away the blood and thankfully it was found to be just a superficial wound.
In both of the afternoon races we again came second, with ‘clean hull’ finishing first.
After tidying everything away and departing from the boat, it was time for the awards back at the hotel, a very well deserved pint!
Learnings
- Leadership: without doubt, we would not have achieved second place in each of those races had we not had a brilliant skipper. He had allocated tasks that matched people’s abilities and during the races, he gave very clear, concise instructions in terms of what needed to be done. Each team member had the deepest respect for his knowledge, skills and leadership. Everyone did their best for him. (Tom was particularly chuffed that we had beaten a skipper with whom he had a friendly rivalry – the latter usually ended up beating Tom!)
- Teamwork: As the day went on, we all continued improving our skills and would instinctively help each other out with a task as needed – even if it was just a helping hand to quickly get across the other side of the boat.Each person had a role to play and if one person wasn’t doing their bit, this would impact on what one or more other people were doing. The success of each race was dependent on everyone carrying out their tasks with as much skill and focus as they could muster, and in unison with other team members as needed (e.g. tacking and trimming) – much like a well oiled clock mechanism.
- Camaraderie: At the outset, most of us simply wanted to enjoy the overall sailing experience. One or two people were simply ‘dragged along’ and a couple were nervous about getting hurt.However, during the day, we got to know each other well and the true enjoyment came from feeling very much part of a team who, (once the racing began) shared a common goal. We were all striving for the same outcome – to do the best we possibly could. We all wanted to do our bit and didn’t want to do anything that would let the rest of the team down.We became friends and it felt good.
Despite some misgivings by some at the beginning of the day, all of us agreed that it had been a truly wonderful day and we all expressed similar reasons for it being so.
When Ashley asked if any of us would be up for the same thing again next year, there was a resounding shout of “Yes, you bet”.
P.S. If this all sounds tempting, you can read more about next year’s Southampton boat show and sailing regatta here.
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