Team Quantum dominated the highly competitive 2008 season in the TP52 class, winning both the six-event Audi MedCup and the World Championships in Lanzarote. There is no doubting skipper Terry Hutchinson’s pedigree as a tactician, having spent the previous four years calling the shots for Dean Barker in the Emirates Team New Zealand America’s Cup campaign. But perhaps some had forgotten that Hutchinson has also made his mark as a good helmsman.
However one thing that even Hutchinson had forgotten was learning to let go of his tactical role and focusing solely on driving the boat as fast as possible. For the 2008 campaign Hutchinson appointed fellow American Morgan Larson as his tactical wing man. It was a new relationship. “I put together a team where I had sailed with everybody on the boat in some capacity other than with Morgan Larson. At any place on the boat there were not two identical personalities.
Terry doing what he says he should do - shut up and drive
“In the afterguard for example, Morgan and I very different people, and then strategist Mark Mendelblatt is a very good sailor but quite different. On the bow team, Jeremy Lomas has a very strong opinion about many things but also respects other sailors around him. So in each area we had personality strengths, and we worked hard to make sure all the different personalities complemented each other.”
Because of the lack of sailing time together, Hutchinson was concerned to see how his working relationship with Larson would progress. “Morgan came through the Morning Glory programme, via recommendations from Sean Clarkson and Skip Baxter [also with Team Quantum], and there were people saying ‘are you sure he’s the right one?’ But you have a pretty good hunch about people. It was one of those relationships that had to work, Morgan had to have 100% of my support regardless of what happened in a race. He’s pretty easy going and he completely bought into that idea, and one of our biggest challenges was that we had to develop as a team. We had very difficult conversations at times about what that meant.”
Hutchinson admits that he had to have a few home truths relayed to him by some of the other team members. “During the coastal race of the Marseille event we blew out two kites. We had a chat the next day that we collectively we needed to raise our game, and individually we asked that question to each other as to what we needed to change. Some said, ‘Terry, I need you to trust Morgan and trust his opinion. You need to do your job better and focus more on driving.’ That was a wake-up call!”
Hutchinson says he found it difficult to hand over tactical control, but realised that the only way they would improve was if he allowed that to happen. “I would only have to over-rule him once or twice, before I realised what I was doing and told myself, ‘Shut up and drive!’”
And generally, the more Hutchinson focused on his own job, the faster he steered the boat, and the more straightforward he made Larson’s job. “Inevitably the tactical bit gets easier the faster the boat is going, and the more tactical choices you give yourself,” concludes Hutchinson, now a firm convert to the mantra of ‘Shut up and drive!’
Decide who is going to take what roles on the boat, depending on where the greatest skill and experience lies, and stick to it. Most of the top teams in dinghy or keelboat sailing have a clear delineation of roles between helm and tactician. That may not necessarily be right for the skills in your boat, but whatever you decide, keep to your roles. There’s nothing worse than everyone pitching in with their own opinion on the tactics for the day. Discuss things, but leave the final decision to the tactician.
