By Airwaves writer Mike Ingham
“EASE THE OUTHAUL” my skipper barks. Now, in my opinion barking almost anything does no good, but in this case, we had just had a 3rd row start, the gas masks were fully deployed. We were stopped well below the line as we watched the entire fleet sail away. Outhaul tension was ridiculously far down the priority list. A psychologist would have had a field day.
I have a theory; that good sailors are good at focusing, multitasking and prioritizing. I have no psychology background, no scientific proof, and no studies to back me up. Perhaps others have made this leap before, but I have never heard anyone connect successful sailing and multitasking. In short my theory is baseless but for my own experience and observation. So be patient and hear me out because despite the lack of scientific backup, I think there is a lot to learn from those that know how to multitask.
I did some digging to learn more. According to Wikipedia, “multitasking” is a computer term meaning the CPU is doing more than one thing at a time. Evidentially (my further Wiki reading informs me) we humans don’t really multitask at all, instead we “context switch” (taken from another CPU term) meaning we switch from one task to the other not actually able to focus on more than one at a time. A computer processor can have multiple “cores” so they really can multitask. We have but one brain so we can’t.
To context switch, whether computer or human, first we need to store some information about what we are currently doing, switch to the next task, store info on that task before we switch back to the original task (or yet another) and so on. Every time a CPU does this loses significant efficiency, and so do we.
We are not going to worry here about semantics, so we will stick with the term “multitasking” for the purpose of relating the idea of balancing all the things we have to do in sailing. But what is important no matter what you call it, is that it is not an easy process.
For example, suppose the helmsman is sailing in open water upwind. The focus might go something like this:
- Stare at jib telltales for 5 seconds
- Glance at waves for 2 seconds
- Telltales for 5 sec
- Waves for 2 sec
- Telltales for 5 seconds
- Main leach telltale for 2 sec
- Telltales for 5 sec
- Double check jib trim from spreader for 2 sec
- Telltales for 5 sec
- And so on
The key to making it work is to truly focus most of the time on the jib telltales and only glance away for a few seconds at a time. And remember to focus back on the tales.
One trick I like to use when I do this is to glance and memorize what I see. Then when I am looking back at the highest priority while I process what I just memorized.
For example, to add some detail to the above:
- Jib telltales 5 sec
- Main leach telltale 2 sec (memorize what I see)
- Jib telltales 5 sec (decide main telltale too stalled, ease main a little)
- Main leach telltale 2 sec (memorize what I see)
- Jib telltales 5 sec (decide if I eased the right amount)
- Waves 2 sec
- And so on
Then I hear “starboard tack boat coming in 10 boatlenghts, we are close to crossing”. I change my focus:
- Look for starboard tacker for 5 sec
- Jib telltales 5 sec (while think about how we are converging, decide it really is close. It is
super important here to keep going fast or we won’t cross for sure) - Look at boat for 10 sec while decide if we can make it across
- I say to the tactician: “Don’t think we will make it, do you want a tack or duck”
- Tactician: “keep going at all costs, so duck”
- I say “ease jib and vang” as I duck
The priority changed to the duck, and a whole new set of tasks to multitask for that process. Then I head up to close hauled again and reprioritize the jib until the next event that trumps speed.
We only have so much mental energy and we need to put it to good use. It turns out that we humans are terrible at multitasking, but the best sailors are less terrible at it. For proof in my theory look to the guy that was focused on the outhaul during his 3rd row start. He could not help it –he was not a good multitasker. We don’t need to look far for millions of other examples we witness (or sadly guilty of ourselves) of misdirected focus. Misdirected focus is poor multitasking and does not lead to good results.
Further proof is in myself. When I feel sharp I feel very aware of my surroundings. I seem to be able to keep focus, but then quickly glance at something and go right back to focusing on what is important. Then instinctively when something changes, I know to change my focus to that new priority to get around a mark or whatever needs to be done. Then I am right back on making the boat go fast again. When I can’t quite make those changes, get lost in my priorities, those are not good days.
There you have it; my theory that the most successful sailors multitask really well.
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