An Open Letter to Capt. Blighs, From Your Crews
Or: The Care and Feeding of a Volunteer Crew

The note that came with this letter said it was written by a committee not to be identified. Each has crewed on many Members' boats. All have been racing here for years. No two are on the same boat. That was all they care to tell us about themselves. However they do want to talk about crew relations.

Considering that boats are reasonably accurately handicapped, often the difference between winning and losing comes down to the right crew. By that we mean experienced and regular. Once a crew becomes familiar with the operation of your boat and gels, your chances of winning can noticeably improve.

So, how do you, Skipper, go about getting and keeping the right crew? You invite newcomers along a sail as an enjoyable learning experience, secretly hoping you’ll find new crew in the process. You start off making a good first impression. You are knowledgeable, capable and even-tempered. You might even provide food and drinks as additional enticements. Your prospect accepts the invitation.

On race day, all goes well until that dreaded moment when things suddenly get out of control: the boat, the crew, and unfortunately, you! You undergo a total personality change from Mr. Christian to Capt. Bligh, or from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. You start yelling orders at your crew in staccato fashion in terms that are harsh or unintelligible. Your neophyte crew doesn’t know how to react or what to do and can probably give you nothing more than a deer-in-the-headlights look. Assuming that you all survive this episode, you resume your normal calm demeanor and continue the race as if nothing happened.

Don’t kid yourself, though. Serious, sometimes irreparable, damage to the budding skipper-crew relationship may have occurred and you should be thinking damage control but you’re not. Are these recognizable tell-tale signs all too familiar? Your crew member suddenly remembers that conflicting engagement occurring on the date of the next race; or they don’t return your calls, or you’re told they just moved and didn’t leave a number; or, worst of all, they simply don’t show up at the appointed hour and you have to leave the dock short-handed or maybe you can’t go at all.

What can you do to avoid these kinds of occurrences and in the process, attract and keep good crew? How to provide the right, pleasant, environment for your crew. It all depends on you, skipper. Here are some tips from experienced crewpersons who want to see you succeed:

1. Give newcomers a fairly thorough introduction to your boat, including all controls, being sure to refer to them by the proper terminology. Don’t assume that just because people know how to sail that they know how your boat is laid out.
2. Let new crew know what to expect in case of a man overboard situation. Remember that the man overboard may be crew or it could be you. Everyone on the boat should know what to do.
3. Suggest that new crew members team up with an experienced crew member, sort of as an apprentice/trainee. People who give up a day to crew for you want to feel useful and not just be there as rail weight.
4. On that topic, crew members old and new have something to contribute. Let them! Don’t be a control freak! There’s plenty for people to do, if you’ll just let them. Chances are that if you’re trying to do everything yourself you’re not doing any one of them as well as you could be.
5. Before any particular maneuver, start, tack, jibe, sail change, finish, etc, always give all members of your crew clear, specific information about what will be happening and what each person’s tasks will be. This is especially important for new crew. They don’t want to screw up, but if they don’t know what they’re supposed to do it’ll be hard not to. Allow time for questions or clarification; have them paraphrase it back to you for certainty. Go through this procedure well in advance of each particular occasion. But beware of that fine line between communication and micro-managing. As much as being a control freak, micro-managing every little detail will make your crew feel useless or inadequate.
6. During these maneuvers, keep your cool, don’t let Mr. Hyde get loose. No yelling or cussing, those tactics will only make a bad situation even worse. If, no, when things go wrong or mistakes are made, we all make mistakes even skippers, don’t criticize or chastise. The crew feels bad enough already without you grinding it in. Conduct de-briefings to avoid repeating the errors, where appropriate. Laugh and get over it when that’s appropriate. It’s not the end of the world.
7. Set the standard on your boat for good sportsmanship. Friendly heckling between boats is one thing; nasty, vindictive comments are something else. Poor sportsmanship is unbecoming to you and to South Sound Sailing Society in general. Don’t be belligerent towards other boats and don’t tolerate it from your crew.
8. Assuming everyone survives the race and the boat is largely intact, be sure to appreciate/praise your crew. Accentuate the positive aspects, and never ever take your crew, old or new, for granted.

We use the term Capt. Bligh jokingly, but remember what happened to him. Your crew may not mutiny and take your boat away from you, we may simply desert you, and then we could end up sailing happily with one of your competitors while you wander the dock looking for new prospects. Don’t forget we are all volunteers, even you Betty, so we can’t be ordered around like indentured servants. No, we can walk away as soon as you tie up.

We are all out there to have a good time, and most of us enjoy competing, but the experience has to be a positive one to keep us coming back. It starts with you.

Crew of the H.M.S. Bounty