{"id":609,"date":"2026-01-26T14:46:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yachtersworld.com\/?p=609"},"modified":"2026-01-26T14:46:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:46:55","slug":"5-expert-tips-how-to-make-the-best-of-crew-dynamics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yachtersworld.com\/?p=609","title":{"rendered":"5 expert tips: How to make the best of crew dynamics"},"content":{"rendered":"

From big boats to Extreme 40s, David \u2018Freddie\u2019 Carr has been a lynchpin of close-knit and super-successful crews. He shares tips on team dynamics with Andy Rice<\/strong><\/p>\n

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During the build-up to the 2024 America\u2019s Cup<\/a>, inside the INEOS Britannia<\/a> team we came up with a set of team values that we ran our daily lives by,\u201d says Freddie Carr<\/a>. \u201cWhether you\u2019re competing in the America\u2019s Cup or the Hamble Winter Series, I think there\u2019s a set of core values that can really help bring crews together.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been sailing together for a while those values can develop organically. But if you\u2019re still only getting to know each other, it\u2019s helpful to define those values early on in the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the team and tell each other that everything you discuss, however difficult or painful, is ultimately about making the boat go faster,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Freddie believes the British team\u2019s rate of improvement throughout AC37 was in part due to the team\u2019s buy-in to a set of values that they\u2019d defined about six months before the competition began in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had our sailing team mantras pinned inside our lockers, reminding us every day how we were going to work as a team. I thoroughly recommend it, whatever level you\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are Freddie\u2019s five best tips for creating a bomb-proof team dynamic born out of strong shared values.<\/p>\n

Feedback and honesty<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s good to have your team values written down and commonly shared and understood, particularly when you\u2019re about to go into a tricky debrief or conversation where somebody might need to be critical of somebody else. One of our values is that feedback is for the greater goal, which is to make the boat go faster. That gets everyone into a place where constructive feedback and honesty is much easier to share.<\/p>\n

We were also encouraged to speak up and to \u2018swim against the tide\u2019. When you\u2019re in a meeting with a lot of strong individuals, it\u2019s easy for someone to lead the conversation, after which it can get harder and harder for someone to take the opposite point of view. So we actively encouraged people to throw in an alternative viewpoint, and we called that \u2018swimming against the tide\u2019. It\u2019s really useful for avoiding a team lapsing into \u2018group think\u2019.<\/p>\n

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All in it together: Carr gives the thumbs up before an AC37 Match race against Emirates Team New Zealand. Photo: Lluis Gene\/AFP\/Getty<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Learn faster<\/h2>\n

In Barcelona our main goal was to learn faster than the opposition and we felt we did that all summer. Which is why we went from being maybe fourth or fifth out of the challengers in the Preliminary Regatta to ultimately winning the Louis Vuitton Cup and fighting through to the Match itself.<\/p>\n

We achieved that because we did such a good job of learning faster, and the reason for that is because of our openness to feedback. Everybody, from Ben [Ainslie] down to the cyclors who were learning to sail, could sit in a room and debrief with complete honesty. Nobody took offence or tried to defend a position.<\/p>\n

Achieving that level of honesty is never easy, and it\u2019s probably harder at non-professional levels in the sport. But if you can instil a culture of learning faster than everyone else, and being committed to always asking \u2018What can we do to make the boat go faster?\u2019 the results are bound to follow.<\/p>\n

Debriefing without rank<\/h2>\n

We were very fortunate to have a special relationship with a group from the British military during my time with the British America\u2019s Cup challenge. One of the best lessons I took away from them is the way they debrief their missions.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re dealing with real life-and-death situations, and one of their mantras is that they always debrief a mission without rank. So we did the same, which meant that everyone \u2013 from Ben down to the rookie doing their first Cup \u2013 was heard in equal measure. All opinions were considered equally. In fact, we even went further in that we wouldn\u2019t let the big characters speak first but would encourage other people on the team to kick off the conversation.<\/p>\n

Rob Wilson and the coaching team did a great job of creating an environment where they\u2019d throw open the floor to the whole group. It really makes you think about what you\u2019re going to say, because you\u2019re asking yourself \u2018What if they come to me first?\u2019. So it gets everyone to engage with the process.<\/p>\n

Switch on \u2018record\u2019<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve been used to operating in an environment where pretty much everything we do is being recorded on video from multiple angles, and our voices are being recorded too.<\/p>\n

But what I\u2019ve noticed since coming back into the wider sport over the past year is how much the use of video and audio recording has filtered down to other levels like the TP52s.<\/p>\n

Now the helmsmen, the tacticians, the navigators are all mic\u2019ed up, and everything is recorded because you live and die by your communication.<\/p>\n

Article continues below\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

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5 Expert Tips: How to recover from a bad race<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
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You learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. But when you\u2019ve had a bad result, how do you\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n