Minimisation
of Molehills into Mountains (The 3 Ms) by Rick Perkins
"Some of the most successful
coaches in sport become famous for a quote or catchphrase,
from Bill Shankly's remark about football being more
important than life and death, to Brad Gilbert's "winning
ugly" approach to tennis.
Dave Brailsford (British Cycling) also has a phrase
which sums up his philosophy, and by which he is coming
to be known: "The aggregation of marginal gains."
Okay, so it might not be as pithy as certain others.
But the extent to which it resonated in the aftermath
of Brailsford's cycling team's outstanding performance
at the Beijing Olympics was revealed when the British
Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, subsequently quoted him
in a newspaper interview." **
Now ... having spent my first weekend
on the beach watching a few of the sailors limp home
with the odd breakage here & there I have coined
another which I doubt will achieve the same repetition
but here goes ... “Minimisation of Molehills into Mountains
(The 3 Ms)”
WTF does that mean I hear you ask but the point is most
of the people who lost races & fun time on the water
at the recent open had problems that were foreseeable
...
Now many have often pulled my leg about the level of
minor pimping that has been done on my boats but each
time I ever experience a problem I wonder if it can
be erased by a small equipment change (within the rules)
and often it can.
Here is a list of things that perhaps you can think
about:
1) Main halyards, think about the tension and wear in
the bit where the shackle sits and how much Cunningham
you use ... so, check the area for sharp bits and then
EVERY time you drop the mast cut 50mm off the top of
the halyard. This means buy a halyard that is over length
so you can snip it down.
 2)
Split rings, use split rings that don’t have that extra
curve on the ring to make it easier to put them it,
this also makes it easier for ropes to snag them and
pull them out; also when putting them in loop them through
the side of the shackle (Paul Manning showed me this)
and this keeps them tidy (see right) then finally use
self-amalgamating tape to wrap it all up
3) Main jammer, I once caught the kite sheets on the
nuts on the underside of the jammer so did this http://www.mustoskiff.com/pimp-my-skiff/jammer-anti-snag.htm
4) Many many others ....
Anyway ... you get the idea ... with a Musto Skiff small
issues can become big issues when you are busy trying
to sail the boat and there is no crew to fix these problems
...
This mindset also applies to rigging the boat. I once
rigged the kite sheet the wrong side of the forestay
at a Rutland Open; it was a cold and windy March day
... as I flew down to the start with the kite up everything
was looking good ... until I gybed ... the kite was
the wrong side of the forestay ... nightmare. This resulted
in a knackering & cold swim to fix the problem that
pretty much spoilt my day. So the message is double
check your boat before you launch. Fixing that problem
on the beach was a molehill; sorting it out in the middle
of the lake was a mountain.
So, once you have pimped your boat to the max, checked
it sailing it should be easy. But again molehills can
quickly turn to mountains. When sailing 420s & 470s
I was very keen not to drag kite sheets along in the
water and they were always quickly tidied up. Now this
obsession has never really left me ... so often after
a drop and leeward mark rounding a little bit of dragging
kite sheet has often eaten away at me and has resulted
in me coming in off the wire to tidy up. Which then
means you drop off the layline or capsize or fall into
some dirty air and end up having to tack off & go
the wrong way up the beat ... sometimes it’s best to
recognise a molehill for what it is a minor irritation;
if you pick the wrong time to try & deal with it
it can soon become a mountain.
Hopefully this has been of some use and will enable
people to think about how to minimise issues and maximise
the fun you get from sailing your boats. regards, Rick
Perkins
**
Opening paragraphs quoted from the Team Sky Website
take a read >>>
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http://www.mustoskiff.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1705
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