McKee’s Six Golden Rules

Lessons from a recent world championship remind us of a few hard-and-fast rules for success at our next major regatta. Report by Jonathan McKee for Sailing World:

It never changes—that ­sinking feeling when you cross the line first but don’t get the horn. Dang, I guess we were over early. I knew it was close….

This is my reality after the second race of the 2024 Tasar Australian Nationals. All the pre-regatta anxieties came to the fore. Did I prepare enough? Am I good enough? Am I fit enough? Am I too old? Or was it just an error of execution that could be easily corrected? Going into a major event, it is normal to wonder how it is going to go.

There’s always more preparation we could have done, and the fear that maybe we are not that good after all is never far away. I have found that one of the keys to calming these doubting voices is to build a playbook that suggests specific ways to prepare and sail for the venue. Some of these rules are derived from the venue itself, some from the nature of the competition, and some from our state of mind. – Full report