Briefing and debriefing: when racing communication is for professionals

Briefing, or rather the small report that professional crews give before and after the race (in this second case de-briefing) is a method that everyone can apply by exploiting it as a useful tool to improve technically as well.

This sort of small “briefing” is usually held by the skipper and tactician, and is usually aimed at explaining the program for the day at sea, giving the latest instructions on roles, informing the crew of the weather conditions under which they will be sailing, and giving information pertaining to safety on board. At the end of the day, on the other hand, the de-briefing will be used to go over the various phases of the regatta and understand where any mistakes were made and analyze them.

The briefing, how to make the most of it

Speaking during the briefing should be skipper and tactician, who have in a sense the responsibility of the whole team. They are the ones who have to explain to the crew the course, the weather conditions, the details about the roles, and the likely sails we are going to use during the race day.

The first part of the pre-race briefing is therefore mainly illustrative of the day, in the second part usually any doubts the crew may have about duties are clarified or they return to possible sails to be chosen or particular maneuvers to be performed. The briefing is not a debate; in fact, whoever holds it must have the charisma necessary to provide the crew with a line to follow; the figure of the skipper and tactician must therefore be credible for the briefing tool to make sense. The usefulness of this moment is also to mentally connect the whole crew with the race mode and make sure that everyone is “tuned in” to the activity we are going to do at sea.

Debriefing, best cold and with videos

The same kind of briefing can be done at the end of the day, many crews do it hot which has some positives but also possible negatives. In the heat you have all the phases of the regatta well in mind, but often there is not enough lucidity to analyze them objectively.

The most effective method of debriefing, if we have the opportunity, is to perform it a few hours after the end of the races, with relaxed nerves, and perhaps taking advantage of any video documentation. All it takes is a simple action cam worth a few hundred euros, installed aft, with a good windproof microphone, to be able to analyze all the phases of a regatta and reason about what can be improved, while also listening to on-board communications, which are equally important. Again, the skipper will be the tactician in charge of the analysis, but the debriefing by its nature provides for more direct confrontation than the morning meeting.

Fundamental to the success of these briefing moments is the way in which skipper, tactician and crew communicate: having a proactive and cooperation-inspiring communication, from everyone, is the best way to set up a briefing, although it will sometimes happen that tones can be more heated. The worst way, especially in debriefings, is instead to go after the “trial by culprit”-any individual responsibilities should always be read lucidly, that is, in the dynamics of a crew, and highlighting them should only serve the intention to improve and not to point out the shortcomings of an individual. This process would only create distrust in those who made a mistake, triggering a non-positive dynamic that can eventually relapse into new mistakes and affect the boat’s performance.

Mauro Giuffrè