By Tyler Colvin
Sailing is a sport often associated with the privileged, so the rags-to-riches story line seems out of place. While this may not be a nothing-to-everything story, it is, one of perseverance and dedication to a craft. This dedication created a unique way of life for Tucker Thompson, who recently signed on as the Official TV and Public Host for the 35th America’s Cup.
In the summer of 1991, a young Thompson needed a new Sunfish sail. He got a job at McDonalds, bought a new sail and hitched a ride to Tawas, Michigan. That summer he won the Junior North American Sunfish Championships.
“Sailing has defined me and has literally given me a life in a way that nothing else ever could,” said Thompson, “…sailing has taken me to St. George’s School in Newport, RI (a sailor’s dream), college at St. Mary’s where I really learned to compete, the professional match racing circuit where I traveled all over the world, a home in Annapolis, MD, a year in New Zealand with the America’s Cup, and now a career covering the Cup on TV.”
At a young age Thompson knew he wanted to host sailing on TV, but the path wasn’t clearly defined. “I have known since I was 14 years old that I wanted to host sailing on TV. What I didn’t know is that we’d have to invent the road to do so because no one was really hiring for that! But sailing has always been my primary focus and my ultimate passion. I knew I wanted to do it professionally, I knew I wanted to travel the world, I knew I wanted to sail on an America’s Cup team, and I knew I couldn’t shift into the media side of the sport until I had the credibility of doing all of that first. I made the shift a few years after sailing in the America’s Cup trials in New Zealand, and it took a few years while I was doing both. By 2003 I had stopped sailing professionally and committed full time to sailing coverage.”
In the year 2000, Thompson founded T2P.TV with Bruce Nairn and began his road to what ended up essentially creating a niche within the sailing media industry. From Tucker, on the inspiration from T2P, “The idea for T2P really came about because no one else was covering the sport outside of its main global events. We started the company as a marketing vehicle for sailing sponsors and quickly evolved into producing video coverage for those companies. The AC, Olympics, and Volvo were being covered. We focused on everything else. They were broadcast on TV. We were the first to put sailing shows on the Internet.”
Not only was the outlet unique, but the timeline and cost point were as well. “They took weeks or months to produce a show. We invented a style of production that enabled us to produce a finished show the same day and play them at the tent party as well as worldwide online. They cost hundreds of thousands (of dollars). We cost a fraction of that.”
This idea of live sailing coverage was a new concept at the time and the learning curve was steep. “We had to teach ourselves literally everything from producing, shooting, editing, and commentating – and we did it LIVE with no mistakes!” Said Thompson. “Also, we had invented a new concept so we basically had to sell an idea to events and organizers who had never seen it.” The biggest sponsor in sailing, Rolex, was signed on one five-minute cold call. “I remember when we signed Rolex, the biggest sponsor in sailing, in one five minute cold call to someone we had never met. I told him we would deliver five complete daily shows to play each day in the tent and online and a post event DVD. He said, “If you can deliver all of that for this price you’re hired!” He paid us in full before we even showed up to the event, and we’ve worked for Rolex ever since.” This was a truly revolutionary concept as evidenced by Rolex’s keen interest.
Since then, Thompson has gone on to cover numerous events including the 2007 America’s Cup as a voice commentator and producer for shows on the Swedish Match Tour, Congressional Cup, J-Class and the Land Rover Amazing Race II to name a few.
Recently officially signed with the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda as the TV and Public Host, Thompson loves the speed and the lengths to which the team is going to make sailing accessible. “The most exciting thing about the new America’s Cup Class is that now anyone can be blown away by their amazing speed and what they are doing on the racecourse. When my 5 yr. old son a few years ago was mesmerized by what he saw on TV I realized they had succeeded in reaching and audience well beyond sailing!”
Thompson quickly found that the exciting rate at which these enormous boats are moving also makes them difficult to cover. “The biggest challenge covering these boats from my perspective as an announcer is in trying to get across how difficult they are to sail because on TV they are so stable on the foils and it’s tough to understand what the guys are really going through on board.” He enjoys covering match racing and the America’s Cup brings him back to the roots from which Thompson and Nairn came from before founding the company.
It wasn’t always foiling AC boats in Bermuda for Thompson though, as is the case most of the time, the climb to the top was a long arduous one. Because the industry is so small, finding a niche can be tough. “…it is very hard to carve out a living in such a small industry. But for those who are willing to put in the effort there are great rewards.” Said Thompson, “To get involved, as in anything else, you should talk to anyone and everyone who has done it, put your hand up for any ride, job, or event that will help you, and be willing to work selflessly and hard at it. Look at sailing as a job, and your job is to make the boat go as fast as possible, achieve the goals of the owner or team, and work as hard as you possibly can whatever the task. If you do all of that you will get noticed, and when the opportunities come – jump on them.”
From McDonalds to a media suite in Bermuda, Tucker Thompson has certainly made the most of his opportunities.
Blog
3 Essential Tips for Improving Skipper / Crew Communication
By Jeff Doubek
As a young sailor, literally wet behind the ears, my first lesson came the hard way: Learn your boat’s language.
This happened one fateful day when my skipper said “Here we go!” and turned over the helm, leaving me pinned behind the jib. My naïve mind thought skippers always asked “Ready about?” first.
That one missed cue meant the difference between taking the win and taking a swim.
Does your team need better communication? Consider the following tips:
1) Improve your body language
A better communication plan begins with the words that aren’t said. This is what I call your team’s body language. Meaning, everyone knows what to do without having to talk about it.
The best sailing crews know the exact moves they take through the boat during maneuvers, and rarely vary. Who moves first during a tack. Who sits where during a set. Where your feet are positioned at all times.
I even sailed on a team where particular tasks were assigned during pre-race rigging. We took all movements seriously and it reduced the amount of errors made.
When everyone knows their job and position in the boat during all maneuvers there’s no need to have conversation. I once heard it called “economy of movement,” meaning there is no wasted motion or chatter in the boat.
I once had a crew who could recite each and every exact move he made during every maneuver, down to his arm positions. It was impressive, if not wonderfully boring.
2) Have disaster recover plans
The best teams have an arsenal of disaster recovery plans. Before they happen.
I’ll never forget the time I joined a J-24 team for a regatta and came out of a tack with everybody yelling “A**hole!” Once I got over the hurt feelings, I learned it wasn’t an insult aimed at me but rather a term referring to a knot or snag in the windward jib sheet. When shouted, it was an instruction for everyone to check the sheet in his or her immediate area.
It’s important to have a set series of steps and phrases that alert your team to solve your common emergencies such as sheet snags, figure-8s during spinnaker sets, and knockdowns.
I frequently race on bilge-boarded scows, and when a board doesn’t fully drop during a tack it’s standard practice to yell “Gimme 1-2-3,” which means on the count of 3 the skipper jerks the helm so that the leeward board can be fully extended.
That is the type of jargon every team must employ to improve their disaster recovery.
How do you develop this? Hold a regular post-race debrief session. It’s a great way to improve your emergency recovery plans because it offers a calmer setting for your team to discuss what happened on the racecourse.
3) Cut out the noise
The final rule of communication on your boat is to cut down the chatter. You don’t need people speculating, complaining, or spectating during your race. The fewer words on a boat the better the team focus.
You can achieve this by creating a set of consistent commands for your team. For example, saying “Breeze soft in 5” doesn’t just mean you’re heading into a lull, it is also a signal for the crew to: 1) ease off controls, 2) lighten sail trim, and 3) move weight to leeward.
Commands like this should be discussed and routinely practiced.
Too many words on a boat can be a huge distraction to an entire team. Cut the noise by minimizing words and having set routines. Here’s an example of a post-start routine:
Skipper: “Okay, give me information…”
Crew: “Half the fleet tacked, half on your board – fresh breeze middle-right.”
Skipper: “Who’s to leeward?”
Crew: “26. Nose out, bow down.”
Skipper: “Above me?”
Crew: “8 on your hip. Match angle, match speed.”
Skipper: “Tell me when we have a lane to starboard.”
The skipper and crew each know exactly what the other is asking and telling. Efficient, consistent communication is vital. There is no one universal language – I’ve found it varies from boat-to-boat – the key is to have your team speaking the same language, with minimal chatter.
Better team rapport can play a vital part in your boat’s improvement in the fleet standings. If you haven’t considered it before, make a point of using the three steps above to improve your skipper and crew communication.
These are some of my tried-and-true hints… please share yours in the comments.
Coach’s Locker Room: One Great Way to Handle Over-Zealous Sailing Parents
By Jeff Doubek (optimist/Submarine photo courtesy of our friends at Sailing Anarchy)
Three quick stories, one solid lesson:
Story 1: Dad who rigged his son’s Opti every morning.
I’m the first to admit, setting up an International Optimist Dinghy properly is a major pain. It’s an even bigger challenge for an 8 year old. But, it’s an important lesson that one sailing father felt his son didn’t need to learn.
Well, by now you’ve probably already guessed what happens next: during a major regatta the kid had an on-the-water breakdown he didn’t know how to fix. It was during sequence so coaches couldn’t help him. His dad couldn’t help him. No one could do more than watch as the boy helplessly flailed off the starting area like a wounded duck. He was helpless.
Of course, I felt mixed feelings here: sorrow for the child and “YES! I told you so!” toward his father.
Story 2: Dad who drove his powerboat through my instructor’s drills, coaching his son.
An exasperated coach radioed ashore to inform me an obnoxious father was running his even more obnoxious powerboat through the middle of the lesson zone, shouting instructions at his son. The advice I gave my coach was to keep the kids safe and I’ll handle the Dad in private.
On shore, the father acted all innocent like “what? I’m coaching my son” but as I explained to him the program rules and expectations, and offered the amusing scenario if every parent ran powerboats through the drill zone it’d be nautical Mad Max. He knew I was right, but was just pushing the situation.
Story 3: Mom who screamed at my friend Art while her son was in peril.
My friend Art once ran a fairly successful racing program. One day, after he canceled racing due to too much wind, he was met by an angry sailing mom who didn’t agree with his decision. (Apparently, the race cancelation affected her son’s place in the season standings.)
Art recalls, quite humorously, that in the middle of her berating him he looked over this mom’s finger shaking shoulder and saw the woman’s two sons rapidly floating by in a capsized and swamped dinghy – desperately needing rescue.
Shouldn’t her time have been better spent as a safety boat? Help. Don’t hinder.
The Big Lesson I promised you:
The way to handle parents is by setting EXPECTATIONS.
After all, they have a bunch of things they expect from you, and which you’ve already likely outlined for them in detail. You’ll offer a safe place to learn, the best coaching and skills training, and some fun along the way.
But what you need is a set of expectations, written out, set in stone, of what you expect from them as parents. They must obey the safety rules of your program. They must respect the authority of the coaches they hire. They must not attempt to question your training methods because sometimes the idea isn’t always clear from the outside view.
How about…
- No outside coaching is permitted during lesson/racing. Please maintain a 100-foot safety perimeter of the racecourse or lesson zone.
- Please allow your child to rig his/her own boat. It is a primary step in advancing their skill.
- Racing will be canceled when factors of wind speed/water temperature/air temperature are deemed unsafe, and if other conditions dictate. Race official has final say.
“These rules are meant to promote a safe, educational, and enjoyable learning environment for your child’s experience in my program.
Have a nice day!”
Oh, and by the way, I’m sure you’re asking what to do with that parent who won’t follow your expectations because they are some bigshot. You make it clear you can give them their money back if they don’t like your program rules.
There will always be what we call the “2 Percenters,” the 2% of parents who will give you problems. They attack the foundation of your program like angry termites… you don’t need them.
Expectations. Write them down. Hand them out. Hang ‘em on the wall.
These are some of my tried-and-true tips, please share yours in the comments.
Free State Team Race Around the Corner
The Free State Team Race is right around the corner! Check it out!!!
http://www.annapolisyc.com/default.aspx?p=.NETEventView&ID=3765676&qfilter=&type=0&ssid=307802&chgs=
Read More about the Sail1Design TR Grand Prix
Sail1Design is once again very excited to promote a few great team race events as part of our annual grand prix series. This is a big year as it’s the first without any V15 events but features the return of one of, if not the best, team races in the world. The Free State Team Race is a grassroots event put on by the dedicated sailors at Severn Sailing Association. Like the CRO, it’s based on the motto of great competitive team racing and great fun off the water. During its first year in 2014 the event filled to capacity and promises to do the same this year. Details for the FSTR are still in the works. Last year it was sailed in provided club 420s but I’m told this year Zim Sailing is working to bring down their fleet of Zim 15s, the official boat of the US Team Racing Championships(The Hinman). This event will be a great tune-up for the Hinman, hosted in the same location in Zim 15s later this fall.
Outside Asymmetric Jibes Revisited
By Andrew Kerr
While racing in the Round Block Island Race with a J122 team recently, we saw the value of an outside Jibe when it was blowing 25 to 33 knots plus with big waves. The wind built steadily and a required a jibe at the corner of the Island in a building following sea. We set up for an outside jibe ,the spinnaker sheets were long enough to go outside the sail and the lazy spinnaker sheet sat on the “Jibulator” soft baton that was sown into the sail just above the tack .
To change to the outside Jibe simply meant putting the tack line underneath the sheet when rigging the spinnaker, enabling the lazy sheet to be outside the sail.
With most of the crew in the back of the boat, the trimmers in position and the middle person ready on the vang to possibly release it once the jibe was completed in case the boat heeled excessively to leeward for one reason or another, we were ready.
We looked to jibe on the top of a wave to take the pressure off the sails, the mainsail was brought in 3/ 4 of the way to reduce the amount of distance the boat had to be steered (with the traveler centered and cleated on both sides). With the crew in position with everyone as aft as possible, we started the jibe as the stern lifted with buoyancy of the wave, as the boat was nearing a run the spinnaker sheet was released and the spinnaker flagged in front of the boat, the mainsail was jibed and then smoked out and having taken the slack out of the weather spinnaker sheet prior to the Jibe , the trimmer then sheeted in the sail with all the crew in position, the spinnaker filled and off we went with the boat close to 19 knots of boat speed.
So what is the value of the outside Jibe in heavy air?
- It takes the sense of urgency out of the jibe, the main is jibed, the spinnaker flagged and then once the boat is well balanced the spinnaker is sheeted in.
- It avoids a broach – the inside jibe requires the spinnaker to be temporarily over sheeted which puts an immediate urgency on flattening the boat, bearing away, smoking the sheet out and very often dumping the vang – the outside jibe for the most part does not require those elements.
- It enables the crew to all stay aft and in racing position to maximize the draft of the rudder to maximize steerage and helps prevent the bow from submarining as crew are not needed to be forward pulling the spinnaker around like on an inside Jibe.
- It also helps lower the team’s collective blood pressure as in challenging conditions the adrenaline and exhilaration levels are high!
So what are the tradeoffs of outside Jibes?
- 1) You need longer spinnaker sheets which adds to the spaghetti Junction in the cockpit.
- 2) There is a performance trade off as the spinnaker flags in front of the boat and can take longer to fill and get going.
- 3) If you do not have a” Jibulator” baton on the sail, and also very often a baton on the end of the bowsprit and also do not take in the slack of the weather sheet there is a risk of trapping the lazy (soon to be loaded sheet) under the bow.
In summary with all these factors taken into account the bottom line is it makes for a safer Jibe in heavy air and particularly off shore with big waves where it is important to maintain balance and control in the waves once the Jibe is completed.
I would encourage teams who do not currently do outside Jibe’s to look at this technique and see if they can incorporate it into their boat handling repertoire for their specific design of boat, particularly if sailing offshore.
COLLEGE SAILING ANNOUNCES 2014-15 ALL-AMERICAN TEAM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2015
Contact: Jen Vandemoer Mitchell | Toile à Voile for ICSA | [email protected] | 763-234-8286 m.
COLLEGE SAILING ANNOUNCES 2014-15 ALL-AMERICAN TEAM IN AWARDS SHOW
NEWPORT, R.I. (June 23, 2015) – In an online awards show this evening, produced by Gary Jobson and Mitch Brindley with video footage from Gary Jobson and Chris Love Productions and still photography from Rob Migliaccio, the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) announced the 2014-15 All-American Team for the second time in this format. Fifty-three sailors were awarded this great honor. The names of the winners will be added to the ICSA Hall of Fame display located in the Robert Crown Center at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
A committee of representatives from the seven conferences in the ICSA selects the ICSA All-American Team. To select an All-American skipper, the committee evaluates a competitor based on their competitive record in inter-conference competition as well as conference and national championships. The committee analyzes how this record compares to fellow competitors, the quality of the competition the record was achieved in, the span of the record over the fall and spring seasons, results achieved with different crews, and how the record compares to previous All-American winners in past years.
For All-American crew selections, the committee uses criteria similar to skipper selection, but also considers: demonstrated leadership (may consider seniority), outstanding body mechanics and boat handling skills as well as proven ability to improve the results of the skipper(s) with whom he or she sails.
Here are the names of the members of the 2014-15 All-American Team.
ICSA Honorable Mention Coed All-American Skippers:
Joseph Mitchell Kiss (Holland, Mich.), Yale University ‘17
Deirdre Lambert (Cumberland, Maine), Dartmouth College ‘15
Malcolm Lamphere (Lake Forest, Ill.), Yale University ‘18
Pearson Potts (Newport, R.I.), Brown University ‘16
Charles Dodge Rees (Pensacola, Fla.), College of Charleston ‘16
Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Boston College ‘16
Antoine Screve (Kentfield, Calif.), Stanford University ‘16
Charles Sinks (San Diego, Calif.), Boston College ‘18
ICSA Coed All-American Skippers:
William Bailey (St. Thomas, USVI), Boston College ‘15
Ian Barrows (St. Thomas, USVI), Yale University ‘17
Kieran Chung (Newport Beach, Calif.), Stanford University ‘15*
Alexander Curtiss (Lake Bluff, Ill.), St. Mary’s College of Maryland ‘16
Avery Fanning (Isle of Palms, S.C.), U.S. Coast Guard Academy ‘16
Esteban Forrer (Tucson, Ariz.), Old Dominion University ‘16
Graham Landy (Norfolk, Va.), Yale University ’15*
William Tyler MacDonald (Newport Beach, Calif.), Roger Williams University ‘15
Jake Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.), College of Charleston ‘16
Raul Rios (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico), Boston College ‘16
Alejandro Ruiz-Ramon (Tampa Fla.), Tufts University ‘15
Nevin Snow (San Diego, Calif.), Georgetown University ’16*
ICSA All-American Crews:
Breanne Baldino (Carlsbad, Calif.), Roger Williams University ‘16
Elizabeth Barnard (Newport Beach, Calif.), Boston College ‘15
Charlotte Belling (Newport Beach, Calif.), Yale University ‘16
Alicia Blumenthal (Bellport, N.Y.), College of Charleston ‘15
Katia DaSilva (East Greenwich, R.I.), Georgetown University ‘15
Natalya Doris (Miami, Fla.), Yale University ‘17
Tierney Driscoll (Bayport, N.Y.), College of Charleston ‘15
Emma Ferris (Fairfax, Va.), U.S. Naval Academy ‘15
Katherine Gaumond (Mill Valley, Calif.), Yale University ’15
Sydney Karnovsky (Brookline, Mass.), Harvard University ‘16
Haley Kirk (Long Beach, Calif.), Stanford University ‘15
Mariah Leffingwell (Easton, Md.), St. Mary’s College of Maryland ‘16
Sam Madden (Milton, Mass.), Tufts University ‘15
Bridget Murphy (Dartmouth, Mass.), University of Vermont ‘15
Abby Preston (Newport, R.I.), Roger Williams University ‘15
Isabelle Ruiz De Luzuriaga (Charleston, S.C.), Georgetown University ‘16
Gabriel Smith (Annapolis, Md.), Old Dominion University ‘17
Robert Turley (Sturbridge Mass.), U.S. Coast Guard Academy ‘16
Lydia Whiteford (Severna Park, Md.), Brown University ‘15
Katherine Wysocki (Annapolis, Md.), Boston College ‘15
ICSA Honorable Mention Women’s All-American Skippers:
Allyson Donahue (Brigantine, N.J.), Boston College ‘17
Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick (Darien, Conn.), Brown University ‘17
Nancy Hagood (Charleston, S.C.), Georgetown University ‘15
Melany Johnson (Berwyn, Pa.), Eckerd College ‘15
Lily Katz (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Stanford University ‘17
Deirdre Lambert (Cumberland, Maine), Dartmouth College ’15
Dana Rohde (Richmond Hill, Ga.), U.S. Coast Guard Academy ‘18
ICSA Women’s All-American Skippers:
Nikole Barnes (St. Thomas, VI), U.S. Coast Guard Academy ‘17
Rachel Bryery (Jamestown, R.I.), University of Rhode Island ‘17
Clerc Cooper (New Orleans, La.), College of Charleston ‘15
Mary Hall (Seminole, Fla.), U.S. Naval Academy ’15*
Morgan Kiss (Holland, Mich.), Yale University ’15*
Erika Reineke (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Boston College ’16*
Robert Hobbs Trophy for Sportsman of the Year:
Finalist and runner-up, Mary Hall ’15, United States Naval Academy
Winner, Kieran Chung ’15, Stanford University
Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year:
Finalist and runner-up, Ericka Reineke ’16, Boston College
Winner, Morgan Kiss ’15, Yale University
Marlow Ropes Sailor of the Year:
Finalist and runner-up, Graham Landy ’15, Yale University
Winner, Nevin Snow ’16, Georgetown University
The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) is the governing authority for sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. Visit www.collegesailing.org to learn more.
The ICSA sponsors and partners through the 2014-2015 are: LaserPerformance (www.laserperformance.com), title sponsor of “LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded National Championship”, title sponsor of “LaserPerformance College Sailing Team Race National Championship” and Official Boat Supplier of the ICSA Spring National Championships. Sperry (www.sperry.com), title sponsor of the “Sperry College Sailing Women’s National Championship”. Gill North American (gillna.com), title sponsor of “The Gill College Sailing National Championship”. Quantum Sail Design Group (www.quantumsails.com), official sponsor of the “Quantum Women’s College Sailor of the Year”. Marlow Ropes (www.marlowropes.com), presenting Sponsor of the “Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year Award” and “Official Rope of College Sailing”. Beneteau (www.beneteau.com), “Sponsor of the College Sailing Scoreboard”. North Sails (www.northsails.com), “Supporting Sponsor of the ICSA National Championships”. US Sailing (www.ussailing.org), “Supporting Sponsor of the ICSA National Championship Semi-finals”.
