Euro Trash Girl Goes Cruising

At anchor in Weems Creek - day one was all about systems, boat handling and provisioning.
At anchor in Weems Creek – day one was all about systems, boat handling and provisioning.

J World Annapolis’ J/120 – EuroTrashGirl – is the perfect performance cruising machine.  With great sailing characteristics and a sea-kindly manner she is the ideal platform for learning the skills to cruise in comfort and style.  This week ETG is on patrol with skipper/coach Brad Cole cruising the middle Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis to St. Michaels and many gunk holes in between.  Look for her in Shaw Bay, at the Chesapeake Maritime Museum in St. Michaels and the creeks of Annapolis between now and Sunday.   Check out the flickr album here! Read more

Open Letter to Thursday Night Racers

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Thursday Night Racers –

Thank you for joining us for another season of the best weeknight one design racing in the world. Seriously – we are proud of our more than 60 registrants and look forward to continuing to grow Thursday Night Racing in Annapolis.

For J World Annapolis, Thursday Night Racing is more than just a tradition. It represents who we want to be in the community. We host Thursday’s to provide a fun learning environment for our alumni who race on our boats and for the rest of the community. Thursday’s offer a low cost opportunity for experiential learning. Low stress and loads of fun. Not too serious – but high quality and always education minded.

As you probably know, we offer Thursday Night Racing to our students for free. If you have taken a class with us, you can call us Thursday morning and get on a boat for the evening. A free way to gain valuable experience and hopefully a good way to meet other racers in other classes and plug into the community. If you are looking for new crew – let us know and we’ll happily send you some new and willing crew.

The sailing instructions and their amendments provide all of the information needed to go racing, but this year we thought a little explanation of why we do what we do might be welcomed by the racers. So the following is a little explanation of each of the sections of the Thursday Night Racing sailing Instructions. Read more

Do less – The Art of “Trying Not To Try,” and the Chinese concept of “Wu-wei”

Hello from Atlanta.  ATLANTA?  Do they sail in Atlanta?  In fact they do.  Yesterday I ripped around Lake Lanier in 20-30 knot winds and during that daunting session the concept of knowing how energy to apply at the any given moment came up.  As the intensity of the wind increases, often so does the “input” sailors give the boat.  Interestingly, that’s not always the right move.  The art of doing less is not a new concept – and NPR’s Tom Ashbrook recently had a show about this exact concept – here is what he had to say:

The art and power of spontaneity, in ancient philosophy, in jazz, in everyday life. We’ll look at “Trying Not To Try,” the Chinese concept of “Wu-wei”, and the completely focused mental state of “flow.”

The old reggae song says “Try. Try and try. You’ll succeed at last.”  And we know there can be truth in that.  But we also know that grinding, stressful, pounding effort can turn self-defeating.  My guest today studies philosophy and neuroscience.  He says look to the way of spontaneity.  To the old Chinese philosophers of the Tao and more.  Get in the zone.  Act freely, spontaneously.  And you may find your most productive, creative self.  A Ttiger Mom might not get it.  But Yoda would, he says.  This hour On Point:  the Tao of spontaneity, the way of flow.  And trying not to try. 

Take a listen to the program – it might just make you a better sailor.

 

 

 

 

Team Building – What Business Can Learn from the Greatest Comeback in Sports History

What Business Can Learn from the Greatest Comeback in Sports History 

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by Nathan Bennett and Dave Forquer, Harvard Business Review
During last fall’s America’s Cup, Oracle Team USA staged the greatest comeback in modern sports history. On September 18, Skipper Jimmy Spithill’s crew was behind 8-1 in the best of 17 series. In just over a week, they rattled off eight straight victories to defeat Team New Zealand, 9-8. New Zealand didn’t get slower; Oracle got that much faster.

Hoping to find some generalizable lessons from the spectacular turnaround, we spent time learning about what happened that week from one of the crew, grinder Gilberto Nobili. What we heard suggested six pieces of advice that leaders of land-based businesses might do just as well to heed. Read more

A Guide to Steering without a Rudder: Methods and Equipment Tested

by Michael Keyworth

I have been concerned for several years with the frequency of rudder loss and/or failure and the consequences of boats being lost or crew injured or lives lost. The purpose of the tests was to determine the best method and equipment to effectively steer the vessel to a safe port in the event of catastrophic rudder failure.

The goal was to utilize the equipment normally taken on the vessel on offshore passages or races. This guide is the result of multiple tests conducted in the fall of 2013 off of Newport, RI. The test vessel was a modified MK I Swan 44, Chasseur.   Read more

J World Team Building Programs

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J World Annapolis team building programs have helped dozens of corporate teams become higher functioning.  Sailing is the perfect illuminator and illustrator of what it takes for teams of any size to maximize their performance.  But don’t take our word for it.  Check out the latest post from  speaker, author, Ken Blanchard collaborator and executive consultant  S. Chris Edmonds.

How clear is your team’s “organizational constitution”? Does every team member understand and align to your team’s desired purpose, values, strategies, and goals?

If team members don’t know or don’t align to your team’s purpose, values, strategies, and goals, your team will experience inconsistent performance, team member conflict, the inability to shift to embrace a new goal, and worse.

Years ago, I had the opportunity to learn how to sail a 30-foot Shields racing sailboat. I didn’t realize then that this sailing gig would be a powerful education on the importance of team purpose, values, strategy and goals. Read more

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