• Sailing... from a woman's point of view.

• Zoe's Great Adventure

• "Springline"

• "Floating Gourmet"

• "Regatta Prep (Hit The Road) "

Sailing... from a woman's point of view.

Interview with Hannah Swett

by Bill Fastiggi

he following is the first of a series on training and coaching for competitive sailing. I had the opportunity to interview Hannah Swett who most recently finished second in the US Europe Dinghy Olympic Trials to (bronze medalist) Courtney Becker-Dey.

Biographical Background:
Hannah Swett, age 27, 5’5" tall, 130 lbs.
June 1995-April 1996 Campaigned full time for Olympic trials.
January 1994 - May 1995 Port Trimmer with the America's Cup Class "America ³".

Other sailing accomplishments:
First place in Lightning Women's North American Champion, two time J-24 Rolex Women's Champion, Three International Women's match racing regattas, Fastnet Race and the America's Cup.

First, Congratulations on your accomplishments of the past few years. You've had some great opportunities. What was it like sailing with the "A^3" program?
HS - It was very intense. It was the first time I had ever been involved with a program like this. We were totally immersed in it. Everything we did all day and evening had something to do with the program including; physical conditioning, sail testing, practicing boat handling & maneuvers, match racing on the big boats and on smaller boats.

Your background is primarily dinghy sailing. Did you find it tough making the transition to the Americas cup boats?
HS - Not really. Growing up in Newport I had the opportunity to crew on bigger boats, and after graduating from college I had the opportunity to skipper a J-44 for most of one summer. We even won our division in the Fastnet Race. The size of the boats, the weight of the sails, and the loads were a little overwhelming at first, but you get used to it very quickly, and after a while the boats don't seem that big.

You were the port trimmer on "America ³", which means you were the primary genoa trimmer at the starting line, as well as trimming spinnakers. What other responsibilities did you have?
HS - On shore I was in charge of knowing where every sail was, what condition it was in, and when we might need it on the boat. I also had to decide what sails went up and what sails went on the boat each day. This also meant I got to order all the huge rowers to carry the sails back and forth.

You are not very big, did you feel at a disadvantage because of your size?
HS - Because we were sailing on boats that were physically challenging for even the strongest men, we had a very intense work out program. We worked very hard and got really strong. But to answer your question, I didn't at all. Trimming (tailing) is a lot of technique, definitely a skill position. The real strength position is grinding, members of our (US women's) Olympic rowing team were extremely big and strong and were as good as the men. I would have a hard time making it as a grinder.

Contrast this to your Europe Dinghy Campaign, isn't the ideal weight more like 150-160 lbs.?
HS - Here again, I worked very hard at being strong. I actually got up to 140 lbs just before the trials, but I was in much better shape than a lot of the other women. Strength and endurance are really key in a single handed boat. But since I am a little smaller than ideal for the boat, I just had to work harder.

Was this the Europe Dinghy a big challenge for you?
HS - The two biggest challenges for me was the drastic change from being part of the consummate well managed team to a single handed sailor and lack of experience in the boat. The Europe Dinghy is a great boat to sail and I learned a lot in a pretty short period (10 months). Most of the women had been sailing the boats for at least 3-4 years, but some had trained for the 1992 trials as well.

You talked about being very strong for sailing on the America Cup class boats. What was your daily workout schedule like?
HS - A³ completely changed my outlook on being in shape. We needed to be in top physical condition to get through a full day of sailing. It's really important to be able to give it your best every day all the way through the end of the regatta. Most of us are only used to sailing weekend regattas, where you sail for two or three days and then have a week to recover. For both the Americas Cup qualifying rounds and the Olympic trials we sailed nearly every day.
With "A³" we worked out in the morning from 6:30 to 8:30, six days a week. I felt at times that we could have used a little more rest, so for my Europe campaign I toned it down slightly to 2 hours a day, five days a week.

What is the best way to get into good shape for competitive sailing?
HS - There are so many good ways to get in shape, and everyone will tell you some thing different. The best thing is to find what works for you and stick with it. The most important thing for me was not to get bored with my routine. When I had it memorized, I knew it was time to switch to something else.
I prefer a combination of aerobics, free weights and Nautilus. During my Olympic campaign I would do some interval aerobics every day, which is a combination of fast walking, jogging, and sprinting. Then I would divide my strength training up by working on my chest and triceps on Monday; biceps and back on Tuesday, shoulders on Wednesday, and legs on Thursday. Friday I would only do aerobic workouts. The other big thing is stretching. I stretch 20 minutes each morning and 20 minutes each night. In addition to helping prevent injuries, it promotes agility and quickness.
I think it is really important to get someone to work out with to push you and help prevent injuries. Overall I would say the best exercise for sailing is biking. For dinghies leg, back, and biceps are really important. For big boats rowing is good too. Most of our grinders were rowers.

How important is physical fitness to the overall sailing of the Europe Dinghy?
HS - The Europe is really a fun boat. But you can't just be big, you need to be strong. More like the Laser sailors, than the Finn sailors.
Fitness is only part of the total picture. To be competitive in any class at that level, you need to be really fast, and really smart. The fitness is just part of being fast. In trying to eliminate variables, your boatspeed is something you can totally control, unlike the windshifts over which you have no control. In the Olympic trials there were a lot of races that were windy, and I always felt that I was just as fast on the third beat of the second race of the day as I was right off the line in the first race. In fact, relative to a lot of the boats I was probably faster.

Sailing with the "America ³" team you had a lot of coaches, was this your first experience being coached?
HS - My first real experience with a training coach was with Brad Dellenbaugh at Brown University. He was our college sailing team coach, and he ran our practices which included a combination of drills, practice races, and team racing. I had other coaches/organizers at St. George's (Prep school in Newport) but they were never too specific.

What type of drills did you work on in practice?
HS - Well, college sailing is different because the courses are really short, and there are no spinnakers, so the emphasis is on starting and boat handling, especially tacking. Most of our non-racing drills focused on tacking, and a lot of practice starts. I would say that the college sailing experience was the basis for my later success.

How did your "A³" experience differ from this? HS - We had a lot of coaching. We had specific coaches for each part of the boat. Each coach was very specialized; bow, trimming, grinding, etc. This coaching was very important to us because most of us had very little experience sailing on this size boat, and we needed to get up to speed very quickly. I give our coaches a lot of credit for that.
As the port trimmer, I worked with different trimming coaches, as well as the sail designers, on trimming techniques for the different sails. Most often the hardest aspect of trimming the sails, was arriving at the flying shape that the designers were looking for. The biggest variable in sail shape was definitely the trimmers, and it was hard for the sail designers to change every one's preconceived trimming styles.

Did you have a coach for your Olympic campaign? HS - Yes. In a single handed boat it is especially important to have a coach because it is so hard to organize everything yourself. My coach helped organize fundraising, travel logistics, boat and sail repair, and other logistical details, as well as watch me sail. Having the second set of objective eyes and ears out there to watch and learn helps tremendously. This is particularly useful to see what other people are doing well, and why, and to help learn from what your competitors are doing.

What is the most important thing you have learned about training with coaches?
HS - It's really important to learn what a coach can and can't do for you. They can help you win regattas, but they can't win them for you. Don't be afraid to use more than one coach either. If you get a coach who is very knowledgeable about the boat you are trying to learn, use the coach for that purpose. They may not be good at tactics or other areas, but put them to work in areas that they know. It is really important to have a good working relationship with your coach, and to know what their strengths and weaknesses are. Don't let them be an advisor on areas they are not highly skilled in.
This leads into what I learned at America ³. Every coach will have a different answer to a question that you ask. It's important to be able to decipher all the information you are getting, and filter out the unimportant parts. You can not retain all the information a coach will tell you, and it is your job to choose the most relevant data. A coach becomes unproductive when you expect things from them that they can not do. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of your coaches, so you can maximize their help.

Regatta Prep

(Hit The Road)

by Bill Fastiggi

A few pointers for traveling to regattas (most of these I have learned firsthand, the hard way).

1. Boat preparation: Make sure all maintenance and rigging alterations are completed before leaving. Don’t plan on any repairs or modifications “on site”. Make sure you have all your sails, rudder, required safety gear, lines blocks, etc. It’s amazing how these things tend to have a mind of their own on Friday evening when you are leaving. Fix everything on Monday night when it is fresh in your mind.

2. Trailing preparation: Make sure trailer lights and safety chains work, check tire pressures, grease wheel bearings frequently, carry a spare tire for the trailer. Invest in full boat trailing covers, or bottom and keel covers for bigger boats. With the amount of money spent on hull preparation, covers are worth every penny. For long trips get your car serviced before you leave.
Make sure booms, spin poles, anchors, etc. are well secured if riding in boat so they don’t wear or scratch anything, or worse, jump out of the boat. Cover mast ends and spreaders, the lower end bag will catch any turnbuckle studs or pins that work their way loose from road vibration, and covers on front end will keep all the dead bugs off the mast head and spreaders.

3. Logistics: Make sure you have directions, a place to stay, we bring non-perishable lunch stuff with us: fruit, crackers, power bars, bottled water or Gatorade. The further away the regatta is, the more difficult planning is.

4. Spare parts and tools: Bring a good set of tools and spare parts. It’s amazing how many things break or go wrong away from home. I always carry an assortment of small lines blocks and cleats, sail repair tape, extra battens, webbing sail slugs, waxed thread, needles, screwdrivers, wire cutters, nicopress tool and accessories, extra spinnaker pole, cordless drill, hacksaw, and an assortment of screws, nuts and bolts.

5. Keeping awake: Books on tape for driving long distances, keep you awake much better than music.

Bill Fastiggi manages Shore Sails, Burlington and spends most of his free time campaigning his Lightning and sailing with customers.