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TOTALLY TRANSLATED…
Recalling the experience of team race training in Japan

The world is truly a small place. A couple of years ago the International Snipe Class held a championship regatta in Enoshima, Japan. During the week of racing, the snipe class secretary, Jerlyn Biehl, was asked about the prospect of introducing team racing to Japanese sailors as a tool to grow interest in the sport of sailing. She gave my name and email address.

For the next few months, I was in contact with Fujiya Matsumoto, a fellow snipe sailor and Japanese Olympian in the 1964 Tokyo Games. At first, I shared my own ideas and writings on the tactics and strategy of team racing. Later, we discussed training drills, team race regatta management and umpiring. After several months of emails back and forth, Fujiya San, asked me lead a seminar in Japan on team racing tactics, strategy, practice drills, race management, and umpiring.

Not Your Average Seminar…

Having led many similar seminars before to racers all over the country, I figured I was well prepared. My wife Holly, a US Sailing IT, reminded me of some of the challenges in training.

First, define your audience and pinpoint each knowledge level. In our case, the student group was comprised of young Optimist sailors, college racers, various sailing classes, and national sailing representatives and international umpires.

Second, design your seminar format. Here's a very basic outlook for our three days.

Day One - Tactics and strategy
  • Team racing vs. fleet racing
  • The game plan
  • Accomplishing the game plan
  • Summary - questions and answers

Day Two - Practice drills
  • Preparation - LD
  • On-the-water management - OTW
  • Debrief after Sailing - LD

Day Three - Racing and race management.
  • Shore discussion - LD
  • Pick teams and run races - OTW
  • Debrief - LD

Third, arrive with a variety of learning tools to capture the different types of learners. Textbooks in both English and Japanese, white boards, magnetic boats and computer animations were all used to illustrate the team racing concepts.

Finally, allow ample time for breaks, questions, and feedback for all of the students. Together we learned that careful planning, a little patience, and a variety of training tools help to make the learning experience more enjoyable for both students and trainers.

Day One

Having a diverse audience, which encompassed all the participants and managers of a team race regatta - our first day was designed to review the strategy and tactics of team racing. This was possibly the most challenging aspect, as the entire lecture was translated into Japanese. After a few minutes of discussion strategy with demonstrations we would break so our interpreter, Asano San, could translate.

Lessons Learned

  1. When being translated into a foreign language, get to know you interpreter before you start. How well the interpreter understands the concepts greatly impacts how well your lecture is understood by the students.
  2. Review technical terms and how you will interact during the lecture. Good transition and lack of delays is greatly appreciated by your students.
  3. The common adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" is definitely applicable to teaching team racing tactics and strategy in a foreign language. Introducing concepts with computer animations was extremely effective in demonstrating what needs to happen. A strength of the animations is the fact that you may continuously play the tactic and then stop, back up, or fast forward to enhance your discussion with further detail. Check it out at www.obyc.com.

Day Two

Our day began by discussing the drills to be executed on the water. We used the magnetic sailboats and the dry erase board. Next, we set up buoys to run on-the-water drills. We separated the optimists from the faster dinghies on different courses. We ran the drills as segments of the race course in a repetitive manner to enhance learning.

Lessons Learned

If being translated in a classroom was challenging, coaching on the water to Japanese sailors and Japanese coaches was difficult to say the least.
  1. When being translated on the water in a coaching role, the student gets the advice in a delayed manner. We had to quickly convey the comment to our translators. Raise attention to the obvious correct moves and incorrect moves.
  2. Briefing the skill on shore, practicing the drill on the water, and then debriefing back on shore, was very effective. Learning a new drill on the water can be made much easier by reviewing the game plan prior to leaving the dock. This type of preparation will help to make learning as easy as possible.
  3. One note about the Japanese is that they do not ask a lot of questions. So when it was time to share what they had learned on the water, the students did not initially have a lot to say. Holly and I overcame this situation by asking specific questions where an answer was required. As the discussion developed, the students contributed more and more.

Day Three

The final day was dedicated solely to running races. This was the payoff for both student and instructor. With the diversity of students in our group, the racers raced, the race managers managed, and the umpires got a chance to observe and make calls during actual team races. This was the easiest day for we instructors. After helping the Japanese set up the race course distances and run the first couple of starts we sat back and observed. Everyone excelled at their jobs and had a positive experience with team racing.

In Good Hands

To ensure the training would continue, we left them with some excellent tools. They translated my Contemporary Team Racing 2000 manual into Japanese. We shared some of US Sailing's Race Management Handbook on team race regatta management. The team racing animation computer files were downloaded to the Enoshima Yacht Club as well as points of contact and team racing web sites for further information.

The whole experience was very rewarding and educational for Holly and I as well as the all the students. We learned a great deal about the Japanese culture, sailing history, and sail training in a foreign country with a foreign language. We also made some great friends who we hope to see on the race course in the future. We encourage all trainers to take on similar challenges and grow the sport of team racing.

Safe Sailing,
Gavin and Holly O'Hare

For more information about this site contact Holly Wolford O'Hare
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