Sailing is a game of inches.

I just saw this video online, and although it may be about Football, it definitely relates to sailing much better than any other sport out there. Just pretend he is saying 'Sailing' instead of 'football,' then watch it... twice.

Seriously though, for all of you less serious sailors out there or those who may not sail in competitive events, or those that just don't know what sailing is all about... It is a game of inches, and in a game of inches, every inch that can possibly be gained makes a world of difference. 

Since coming to college, I have finally learned one of the best ways to begin to describe the sport of sailing to closed minded land lovers. Sailing is a lot like Nascar; anyone can drive a car (or sail a boat), but it takes skill and dedication to professionally race a car (or professionally race a boat).

Inches are crucial regardless of the class you are sailing or the size of your boat. Imagine Orange Bowl with 145 Laser Radials on the starting line (2009). You can time it right and be in the first row, or you can screw it up and be in the second or third row (aka back half of the fleet). That 1 second  it takes to second guess yourself about tacking into an open hole, or that half a second extra due to you not being the first to hit the ratchet, or that half a second you lost by starting your watch on the sound signal and not by the flag signal despite being in the middle of the line; all of this poor time management results in inches being lost, and for every inch lost is 2 inches you have to make up. You need to make up the lost inch, plus gain the inch to put you back infront. Or maybe its the opposite, maybe you got going a few seconds early and caused yourself to be OCS- now your screwed, a few seconds to soon probably put you at least 45 seconds behind the fleet; and now we are talking feet instead of inches.

What you need to do when you sail is focus on being successful with your boat management. There are so many different factors that come into play when racing, and it may be true that individually these factors account for very little- but when they are all combined they make a huge difference. Let's give a very basic example (basic enough that anyone can understand), if you lose a few inches every time you fail to make a proper control adjustment in your Laser for a velocity shift and mark rounding, and there are 3-4 major velocity shifts per leg, you end up losing many boat lengths extremely quickly (It's midnight, I can't work out the exact math just now, haha). Everything will make a difference when sailing, and you must not simply let certain things go unnoticed or unchanged: weight placement, sail controls, sail trim, heel, rudder movement, etc.

However, you can be successful and pull every last bit of speed you can get out of your boat by putting every single trick you have learned into play- despite how tired, aggravated, or drained you may feel (only the strong think clearly and precisely). You can put in the 100% effort and do everything the way you know it should be done, the way you see it done in all those boat handling DVD's, the way you see your competition do it, and the way that will make you go fast... Or you can sail the boat only giving it 75% effort and finish a mere 8' behind your good friend on a reaching finish with 15 boats in-between you two. Yes, there are events where you finish on a reach, and yes there are events where 8-10' can mean 15-20 boats (Orange Bowl 2009)... And the worst part about losing 15 boats over just 8' of distance is that you know that 8' of distance could have been gained extremely easy over the course of the race, in fact you know you could have gained 16' extremely easy over the course of the race. Maybe there was a time you lost focus for a few seconds and had a rough tack? That's at least half a boat length lost (7'). Maybe you forgot to pull your board up to that 11'' mark on the run? Wow, you really lost out big there.

Let's look at match racing (just incase you don't quite understand properly), it's no different. Just being half a second too fast or too slow translates into a few inches ahead or behind, and you don't get it- not even close. A half second can mean the difference between fouling someone and just clearing their bow- it can mean those few crucial inches between the protest room and victory. A half second in a close match race can mean qualifying for the finals or going home empty handed and distraught (knowing you could have made a difference). A half second can mean being OCS and having to round the ends or having that perfect start where you shadow your competitor the entire leg.

Inches and seconds translate into mindset. Lose focus and you lose inches, lose inches and you lose confidence, lose confidence and you begin second guessing, begin second guessing and you lose more inches... and lose more focus.

So the next time you round that top mark in your Laser and it's blowing 15-20kts, don't tell yourself you will be fine keeping your outhaul strapped; because you won't. Pop the outhaul off a bit, like you know you should, and gain those inches that you know can make a world of difference in a race.
Sail smart, Sail fast, Sail competitively and give it 100%.

Sure, Football may be about inches... But in the wise words of Mr. Sands, 'With sailing, inches are everything.'

SailFast, Live Slow!