Racing Sailor Doug Stryker on Obsessive Preparation
On his Sailfaster podcast, Pete Boland featured Annapolis racing sailor Doug Stryker, skipper of Mayhem, one of the top boats in the highly competitive J/105 fleet. Here’s an extract:
As one of the J/105 fleet’s top sailors, what have been the keys to success for you?
It’s pretty straightforward: time on the boat, time on the water, and time talking to good sailors. I’ve been fortunate to learn from some of the best; it means putting your ego aside and realizing that there are always opportunities to learn. It really opens your eyes to how others do things differently. For example, the way they communicate with each other, or the way a mainsail trimmer in one boat might only be trimming the main where in other boats they’re helping the jib trimmer. Having someone join your boat or sail on theirs really opens your eyes; you realize that there are other ways to do things that may be better than what you’ve been doing for years!
Obviously, you need a phenomenal crew. You need a crew that works together, communicates together, and are the right people in the right positions. I learned this from the very first boat I crewed on, where the owner said, “I’m going to play this game like baseball, and I’m going to put the right person in the right position in every spot, including driving.” That’s absolutely key; you need to make sure to do that. Importantly, if it’s not working, you need to be able to address it and find the right people to put in the right positions.
You are known in the J/105 fleet for obsessive preparation. Would you say this is an accurate characterization?
You need to have a platform that’s ready to win. I’ve always been anal in regards to boat prep. I will never go to a regatta with a boat that I don’t believe can win. I don’t want to get to the start line knowing the bottom isn’t smooth, I’ve got older sails, or whatever. I don’t want to have any excuses. I want to make sure that I’m bringing the right weapon to try to win. Given the time, money, and effort that we all spend in this sport, if I needed to downsize to a different boat to be able to afford to get it to the line to win, I’m going to do that.
There’s not an inch of the boat I am not aware of. I pretty much do everything myself. You learn so much by taking it apart and putting it all back together. It’s a huge opportunity to really understand the weapon that you have underneath you. It means you need to talk to other J/105 owners… It’s a huge part of the process of being competitive.
You can make all the mistakes in the world from having terrible starts to banging the corner to having a terrible douse. If I come off the water knowing we got our ass kicked and I have no idea why, that will drive me crazy. But if I can come off the water with an idea, whether that be sitting down with the team, talking to competitors, or just knowing the areas that we screwed up, that’s just an opportunity for finding a way to get better in that area doing a better job next time!
Find the full episode here. Find more racing articles here.
