A Gold Medal Performance

By Doug

Bruce in Australia was reading some old posts and sent us comments and questions. These along with my comments (in italics) are reprinted with his permission:  

I've been reading a few of your older posts and was wondering if you could do an analysis of Lijia Xu's extraordinary medal race in the last Olympics? One thing that worked for her, that didn't work in the men's race, was the right side on the beats. In one of the aerial shots there are Lasers way in the background. We can assume that these were the men waiting to start their race. It is interesting that the right side did not work for the men.

She ducked the fleet soon after the start and went right. Was this because she was bailing out and struggling to hold her lane? Usually if you are quick, you stick close to the leaders and match them. For a medal race, she was really taking a risk I thought, but was she? I watched the video again and recall reading that her coach had told her to go right. If that was correct, the risk was not following her coach's instructions.

Her downwind penalty. This rule can be very subjective sometimes. What is your take on her penalty? Was she really breaking Rule 42 at the time? Did she change her style after the penalty? She was still fast! I could not see anything bad, but at 19:00 you could see the judge boat closing in. The announcers said that this was the first yellow flag they had seen so the fleet must have been clean. The call was really picky in my opinion. Thankfully, it did not affect the final results.

After her penalty, she makes ground incredibly quickly to regain the lead. How did she do that in such a competitive fleet? She was lighter than the other leaders, but she also seemed to have picked up some pressure by sailing between NED and GBR. Some call this the 'venturi effect.'

At 20:11, CHI is in the middle perhaps gaining from the 'venturi effect?'

She wanted to go around the right gate but did not have the inside, so she luffed hard and bore away to gain the lead and the mark position. That's not quite how I saw it. She was between NED and GBR about to round the left (or right) gate in second place. At 20:23 GBR tried to cut inside and took CHI's wind, and CHI would have slowed down. So CHI defended by luffing sharply and regained the lead. Great move.

What I find interesting is that the leaders chose the right gate to go left which did not work on the first beat.

When GBR tried to go inside CHI, GBR gave up getting room at the left gate. So why did CHI not simply head for that gate to round and then go right as planned? Luffing two boats, rounding the right gate, and then tacking seemed a lot riskier. And why did GBR give up the left gate?

Would that happen at the front of the fleet in a Masters Worlds? It's very competitive at the front of the fleet. I would not be surprised to see exactly the same moves.

She then gets ballsy and goes right again up the beat. Why didn't she cover? Great question. At 21:27 she tacks away.

Rather than stay with the leaders, CHI does a risky cross to go right on her own.

The factors at that moment:

     ● Cover her competition by continuing left, or

     ● Protect against the boats that were going to the favored right, or

     ● Follow her coach's instructions.

My guess this that she chose the latter, even though it was dangerous because she could easily have fouled NED by tacking. Even on the third beat while in the lead, CHI again chose to go right.

Anything else that for you is significant about her race and what she and her competitors may have been doing differently? Watching the race again, I was impressed by how smooth CHI looked going upwind. The others, especially NED, seemed to be wrestling with their boats.

This was an impressive race because there was a virtual 4-way tie for the gold medal in this medal race. Here's what we can all learn from this gold medal performance:

     ● Have a plan and if you're confident with your speed, stick to it.

     ● Be in shape. CHI did not seem to be breathing at all hard.

     ● Courses now have downwind finishes, so downwind speed rules.

Final comments from Bruce: One thing I had never considered when CHI gained so much so quickly after her penalty was the possibility of the venturi effect. Wow, if that was what it was, it was very powerful. Sure she was the lightweight of the fleet at 60kg but I couldn't imagine her weight making that much of a difference so quickly.

As you say, XU looked so smooth upwind and I also put that down to supreme fitness. She seems quite tallish too, so had great leverage from consistent and seemingly effortless straight leg hiking.

The race was super instructive in so many respects.

Olympic Musings - What Can You Do?

by Pam

During the Olympics Doug was like a man without a country. One minute he was American, the next he was a Canuck and then suddenly he was an Aussie. Given the sailing success of Oz, Doug is now walking around saying things like “g’di mite’ and “g’don ya mite” Thank goodness he never lived in Ireland or he might be talking about getting twatted by a fookin sail.

Many people are pondering the US Olympic sailing medal shut out.  I’ve read lots of theories and ideas. Interestingly, many of the solutions are about what others should do to improve things. There are certainly some organizational and structural changes that need to take place but what can we, as individual sailors, actually do to change things?

Since, I know of at least two sailors in my area with Olympic ambitions who sail in fleets that I sail in, the question for me becomes, how do I help those individuals? I’m sort of a crappy sailor but I have my moments of brilliance and luck as well as obstruction and nuisance. It is always a surprise to me of which I’ll be, but thankfully, neither is usually sustained for any length of time. I figure that an Olympic hopeful has made arrangements for their training and coaching but an important variable that they can’t control is the number of sailors that show up at the local events where they sail. That’s where I come in. Regardless of my skill level, whether sailing with me or around me, a talented sailor will still benefit from me being on the course. I’m a number that he or she needs to consistently show up and race in order to add more numbers which will hopefully add talent, competitiveness and fun.

Now Doug can do more than I can. He has enough skill, flexible time, international experience and adaptability to be an occasional training partner of the local Olympic hopefuls. I have to wonder if they know that a phone call is all it would take to get him to come out and do a little practicing. Perhaps the local sailors that are on the more advanced end should make themselves more available to our local young sailors with Olympic aspirations. We have quite a bit of deep talent in our dinghy district circuits but participation has been down in many fleets the last few years and that is completely within our control.

So if we aren’t happy with the US being shut out of the Olympics in sailing, then it’s up to each of us to step up and take personal responsibility and be part of the solution.

Aussie Success - Another Perspective

By Doug

Korean Master Worlds - Aussie debrief beverages

Having lived in both Australia and the US, I have a pretty good feeling for what makes Aussie sailors so competitive. Where do I begin? How can a country with less people than southern California produce so many great sailors?

A major factor is the passion that the Aussies have for all sports. They play Aussie rules football and in Melbourne alone there are ten teams that play each other. Imagine an NFL city playing five games at the same time!  Here are some examples of the Aussie sailing passion that come to mind.

Aussie sailors have many classes to choose from. If you're a speed junkie, you can sail a skiff with more than 1,000 square feet of sail. If you like to tinker, you can design and make your own hull and sails and compete with other NS-14 sailors. If you're a competition junkie, there is nothing as pure as the Aussie Lasers.

In the mid-70's I was fortunate to be a part of the Balmoral Beach Laser fleet in Sydney. It was amazing and had some of the best sailing of my life. There were no facilities and no dues - it was just a beach where everyone met. Heck, you were lucky if you could even find a nearby parking place. But the sailing was world-class, and the sailors in that fleet went on to win more than a dozen world champions in multiple classes. The format was simple - show up, sail, and then talk about it over a few beers. 

The Aussies know how to work hard (at sailing) and play hard (after sailing). They take their sailing very seriously, but they know when to kick back and enjoy. Consider yourself lucky if they invite you to join them after a hard day on the water. At one Master Worlds, the hosts had trouble hooking up the beer keg. After waiting patiently for 30 minutes, the Aussies left and the party was over.

They encourage and welcome competition. Before the Master Worlds in Terrigal I wanted to practice on Sydney Harbor with friends and was supplied with a really good Laser. After several days of hard practice, I was charged the "mate rate" charter fee - a bottle of wine. I made sure that it was a good one.

While Aussie mateship is strong, they expect everyone to know the rules and they do not cut any slack when on the water. I remember one Master Worlds race where we were sailing the outer trapezoid course. At the bottom of the run, an Aussie was in first, jibed, and went screaming off on the lower reach... instead of heading back upwind again. No one called him back. They expect everyone to know the rules.

For the recent Master Worlds in Brisbane, I arrived early to get used to the conditions that were sure to be different than the little biddy waves we get in Dallas. I was there for nearly three weeks and every single day a lone 470 went out to practice. It was Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page. Some days it was windy and lots of fun, and other days it was very light and boring. But out they went on their own every day to practice. And they won Olympic gold.

So, it's really simple: have a passion, work hard, know the rules, love competition, and practice, practice, practice. The best example of this I have seen here in the US is Paul Foerster preparing for the Athens Olympics. And yes, he too won Olympic gold.

Brett Beyer (AUS) on Performance Based Coaching

by Brett Beyer

Speculation about US Sailing woes and its subsequent ‘recovery plan’ often suggests possible solutions such as: to increase funding, restructure Management, re-evaluate College sailing/racing, change junior classes of boats etc etc.

But here is a thought: Provide each class with top level coaches and give them full autonomy of that program within a budget. If they can’t produce progressive results or improvements in ISAF rankings within a defined probationary period of time, then they are out. A confident Coach would accept this and see it as a small risk. A reward may be to provide performance bonuses for Coaches that achieve the targets set. The Coaches role is to improve the sailors performance and this should be the sailors and the Federations expectations as well. For some reason, this is not always the case.

An example of what is possible: Spend US$50k for 5 months prior to Olympics. This includes all coaching, travelling, entry, car hire, coach boat charter etc. ISAF ranking improves from 62 to 19 within this period and achieve a result of = 15th at Olympics. This is possible with any sailor from any country with the appropriate commitment.

In other words, a coach driven system that designs a performance based program that is not compromised in any way. Attracting the right Coach that could manage such a program would be the first step to improvement.

Do this for each class and have full Federation support, both financially and strategically. This is deceptively simple and will yield excellent results with the right people involved.

Brett Beyer (AUS) on Olympic Success

We asked Brett Beyer about the Aussie Olympic sailing success.  Brett is an Australian international sailing coach and multi-world champion sailor.  Frank Bethwaite's new book to be released in February has a section on Laser sailing that is written by Brett.  If Frank defers to Brett for his expertise, we should all listen.

by Brett Beyer

To analyse why one sailor or one country does particularly well at Olympic level can be complicated. In the case of Australia, a system I am very familiar with, it should be noted that they are already top level International or World Championship quality competitors and therefore we shouldn’t be surprised with Olympic success. Nonetheless, it is still worth pondering why these successes are more prevalent in one country and can these be duplicated and transferred in some way to some other countries program.

The 3 most influential factors for success are:

1. The Sailor

2. The Coach

3. The Federation

To place a percentage on these would be difficult and depend very much on the quality of them. For example, a sailor with not the most talent would have to rely more heavily on the skills of the Coach and the funding and structure of the Federation. I have coached Nathan Wilmot (2008 470 helm Gold), Nathan Outteridge (2012 49’er Gold) and Tom Slingsby (2012 Laser Gold) when they were very young in the junior classes in Australia and all 3 of these sailors had exceptional boat handling skills as younger sailors. This doesn’t mean they were always winning races, but I believe it is one of the indicators for future success. In their case, they were not reliant on the Coach or Federation to improve their sailing. These were the guys first to the club in the morning, first on the water and often last back onshore. You can see an intrinsic love of the sport. Sailing for enjoyment of sailing and nothing much more complicated than that. Of course, there comes a time where more lofty goals require more structure and guidance and the role of the Coach and the Federation become increasingly important.

The Australian system is now modelled off RYA when it comes to Instructor/Coach qualifications, Youth Development and funding structure. But this is only more recent so we cannot say this is the reason for Australian success nowadays. Winning an Olympic medal takes times. The average age of the Laser sailor medallists over the last few Olympics is just over 30 years old. So, having those talented youth sailors still may not be enough. You have to have Sailor retention. Keep them in the sport and this is not always easy. Of course this takes money, parent/spouse support, program opportunities and even society acceptance.

I have worked with several different Sailing Federations over the last few Olympic cycles and can appreciate the vast impact they can have on sailors performance, both positively and negatively. Their role is of course to support the sport of Sailing at all levels and to provide funding and opportunity at an elite level. Ironically, some Federations, can restrict or compromise a sailors program to the point where achieving success becomes harder, not easier. For the sailor that receives their funding via the Federation and the Coach who is often employed by the Federation, these restrictions are often difficult to address and even harder to overcome.

So finding the right balance of talented sailors, keeping them in the sport, providing them with a top Coach, having a supportive Federation and well funded program is the basis for Olympic success.  If just one of these areas are below par, then International or Olympic success is near impossible.

Aussie Olympic Sailing

By Doug

Another reason to use the Aussies as sailing role models. In the women's match racing semifinals the conditions were light, so only one race was used to determine the winner who advances to the final. Australia was up against the current world champion Finland who led for the entire race. We pick them up on the final run close to the finish:

FIN ahead:

 On the line, FIN (with the blue bow) still ahead, but its spinnaker collapses:

AUS's spinnaker beats FIN's bow:

I'm reminded of the Thomas Jefferson quotation, "The harder I work, the luckier I get."

Olympic Shutout - Where To Start?

By Doug

Olympic sailing was closely judged.

Something happened a few years ago that really disturbed me. I was at a Laser event in Colorado sailing in a light-wind race. We were on a run and I was leading about 100' in front of a college sailor. He did one of those really violent jibes that gained him about 30 feet. And then he did it again. I thought, not cool. When he did it a third time I said "One more time and I'll take you to the room." The only thing in sailing I hate more than having to protest someone is cheating.

This young and very talented sailor immediately jibed again and shot past me. I told him, "OK pal, we're going to the room." On the finish line, I informed the race committee and filed the protest thinking this is not how I want to spend my vacation time, but this has to be done. To my horror, my protest was thrown out on a technicality. You see, I did not say the words "I protest you." Two things disturbed me: that this guy was unafraid of openly cheating, and that he was coached so well that he knew the rules better than me.

There was another incident before this when I was copied on messages between two friends - a top Master sailor and a well-known college coach. Here's part of the dialogue:

Master sailor: watched the top 3 guys roll gybe their way downwind. Completely illegally. I protested one kid, he responds with "F-You" and many other expletives... The kids are smart, but they are completely unmannered and to me have crossed the line of what I consider sportsman like... We should have some sort of National Level Laser Kinetics panel, come up with guidelines and stick to them. Force judges to enforce rules and remove them from judging if they can't... What are the college coaches teaching the college level sailors? Win at all cost, even cheat?

College coach: I was shocked that the judges and coaches watched and allowed it. Severe kinetics are taught, and these skills are encouraged if the “others” are doing it. This is not good, and like you, I don’t appreciate it; I dislike it. I teach my people how to roll tack and jibe, but tell them there must be a strategic purpose for the tack or jibe; they cannot be repeated for the sole purpose of accelerating. I have heard that many European events penalize sailors for their tacks and jibes if they come out faster than they went in.

Rewind the tape another few years when I was competing at the O’Day's, a US Sailing event that was held in very light conditions. One of the judges publicly stated that there was no such thing as an illegal roll tack “because it requires skill.” You can imagine what that event was like!

Rewind the tape a few more years, and I posted this on the Laser forum: "There is another reason to stop cheating. If North Americans are going to do well at the Open Worlds or Olympics, they will need to sail by the same rules here as they will have to sail by elsewhere. None of our Open hopefuls are going to have a chance at judged events if they have to sail here with people who cheat." An ISAF International Judge added, "It seems as if USA is well behind the rest of Europe at least, if not other parts of the world... Time to catch up guys?"

Rewind the tape one more time to 1997 right after the after the Master Worlds in Chile. An Aussie multiple world champion sent me a letter about the "totally fair and professional fashion in which you contested the series, resulting in your win being universally popular within the fleet." Translation: You're from North America and you did not cheat. While this letter means a lot to me, it was sad to be considered an anomaly.

Fast forward to 2012. Traditionally, the Aussies have been fast in breezy conditions and North American sailors have been fast in lighter conditions. But we have lost this advantage because the Aussies have recently become extremely competitive in lighter conditions. After the latest Laser Worlds Tom Slingsby said, "This is my fifth Laser world title but it's my first in light conditions which is really satisfying.” I also noted the Aussies and Kiwis improved light air speed at the Brisbane Master Worlds, so getting competitive just got a lot harder.

It's especially important to fix this cheating in the Laser class because of the many talented sailors who go on to sail other Olympic classes. US Sailing is now promising "an extensive review of why the Americans were so uncompetitive in an Olympics." I'd say that copying the Aussies ethical way of sailing would be a great place to start. I lived in Australia for 8 years and know that they would never put up with the crap that we have in North America. 

Their three gold and one silver to our zero should be a great incentive.

Olympic Sailing - Day 9 - Video Observations

By Doug

For those who were unable to watch this video, there were 2 very tactical Laser races. The women were in a virtual 4-way tie for the gold and XU Lijia (CHN) made a great move that helped her win. With the men, Tom Slingsby (AUS) was well ahead of Pavlos Kontides (CYP) going into the final race and made sure Pavlos was never in close to the front of the fleet.

Laser Radial Gold Medal Race: Pin favored, clean start:

Like Ben Ainslie yesterday, CHN did not have the best start and ducked a few boats to go right close to shore, and then came back in first place:

 CHN led on the run:

 But was flagged and dropped back to third:

 Near the bottom of the run, CHN catches up and then luffs suddenly:

And takes the lead - great move!

CHN leading tacks and again chooses to go right. Gutsy move:

Things looked pretty even on the second beat:

But again the right paid:

And with the lead XU Lijia goes on to win the gold medal:

So from what I saw in the video, CHN picked the correct side on both beats, got aggressive at just the right moment, and had good speed. Well done!

Laser Gold Medal Race: CYP had to beat AUS by 7 boats in the 10-boat fleet to win gold, so Tom Slingsby's job was to hold CYP back. AUS stayed close to CYP before the start well back from the line:

AUS went below:

The start was clean:

CYP took sterns to go right, AUS followed:

When they converged, they were even. AUS lee-bowed CYP:

Going right again, AUS got a slight inside lift. This was to me a key moment in the race:

AUS now clear ahead and the fun begins:

Lots more tacking:

Approaching the first mark, CYP foots to get clear air, so AUS also foots to cover:

AUS and CYP were well back at the first mark:

Not sure what CYP was doing, the commentator said this was to get separation from AUS:

CYP and AUS way off to the side on the run:

At the bottom of the run, AUS still leads:

CYP tacks to goes right, AUS keeps the tight cover:

AUS has managed to keep CYP in last place:

CYP footing to get clear air, AUS following:

View of AUS from above:

AUS still covering:

CYP well back on the final run:

The bronze medal may have been determined here - CRO was flagged and does its 360:

Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus wins silver, its first Olympic medal. Well done!

Tom Slingsby wins gold. Well done!!