Dmitry Shteyn — Making the Debrief Work: Turning Race Errors into Boat Speed

Why Most Debriefs Fail

We have all been there. You finish a long day of racing on Lake Michigan, the boat is tucked away in its slip at the Milwaukee Yacht Club, and the crew is sitting around with a cold drink. Someone says, "Man, that second windward mark was a disaster," and someone else grumbles about a blown tack. Before you know it, the conversation dissolves into general complaints or, worse, silence.

In my years coaching sailors across Wisconsin, I’ve realized that the most common mistake is focusing on the who instead of the what. A debrief that actually makes you faster isn't a vent session; it's a technical analysis. If you want to move up the leaderboard next weekend, you need a system that turns today's mistakes into tomorrow's muscle memory.

The Three-Column Approach

When I lead a debrief, I ask the crew to categorize the day into three specific buckets: Boat Speed, Tactics, and Maneuvers. This prevents the conversation from becoming a chaotic mess of opinions.

1. Boat Speed: Were we fast relative to the fleet? If not, was it the trim, the helm, or the weight distribution? On Lake Michigan, where the chop can kill your momentum, we often look at whether we were too pinched or if we lacked power in the troughs.
2. Tactics/Strategy: Did we go the right way? Did we call the shifts correctly? This is where we discuss the wind and the big-picture decisions.
3. Maneuvers: How were the tacks, jibes, and sets? This is strictly about the mechanics of the crew work.

The Rule of "One Thing"

I often see crews try to fix twenty things at once. It never works. Instead, I challenge my students to identify the single biggest time-loss of the day.

Let’s look at an example from a recent E-Scow regatta on Lake Mendota. The wind was shifty, coming off the University heights. During our debrief, the crew realized we lost three boats during a specific leeward gate rounding. We didn't just say "it was bad." We dug into the why. It turned out the jib wasn't trimmed in fast enough, causing the boat to skid sideways instead of carving the turn.

Because we identified that one mechanical failure, the next race, the jib trimmer was focused solely on that timing. We didn't lose another boat at a gate for the rest of the series. That is how you use a debrief to get faster.

Using the Racing Rules as a Learning Tool

Debriefs are also the perfect time to review the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS). If there was a close call at a mark, don't just argue about it—open the book. I recall a situation at the windward mark where a port-tack boat claimed they had room. Back at the dock, we reviewed Rule 18 (Mark Room) and Rule 10 (On Opposite Tacks).

By discussing the rule in the calm of the cockpit rather than the heat of the race, the crew actually learned the geometry of the zone. This builds confidence. A crew that knows the rules is a crew that can be aggressive and decisive, which inherently makes the boat faster.

The Role of the Skipper

As the skipper or coach, the tone starts with you. If you start by blaming the bowman for a slow kite hoist, the bowman will shut down. Start by admitting your own mistakes. Maybe you didn't give a clear "stand by" signal, or you turned the boat too sharply.

When the leader takes responsibility for their errors, it creates a safe environment for everyone else to be honest. Honest feedback is the only way to identify the true bottlenecks in your performance.

Concrete Action Items

End every debrief with a specific goal for the next time the boat leaves the dock. Don't say "let's sail better." Say "our goal for next Wednesday is to have the pole up thirty seconds before the weather mark." Or "our goal is to check the rig tension if the wind exceeds 12 knots."

In the grand scheme of Great Lakes racing, the teams that improve the fastest aren't necessarily the ones with the newest sails; they are the ones who spend 20 minutes after every race objectively looking at their performance and choosing one thing to do better next time.