The memories of the fly-by the day after the Kiel summit on Friday are still vivid in the minds of the sailors. The morning after the German Ocean Race summit, "Guyot" skipper Robert Stanjek tells us how impressed he and his team were by the home match: "What was going on yesterday? It really was sheer madness. Even on land, when there was time to look out, you saw so many people. It was really amazing, very, very impressive and touching."
It was a dream to go in there and flex your boat muscles" (Robert Stanjek)
Stanjek also compared the experience with other stage stops in the Ocean Race and said: "I don't think any other host city has lived it with such enthusiasm. It was really amazing and probably impressed everyone. Nobody expected it to be like this. That's the icing on the cake of a regatta like this when you're chasing around the world: to then sail through your home country like this. And the wind direction was right too. Plus the wind strength. Then foiling in there and flexing the boat's muscles. It was a dream. The weather too. We were all very, very blown away."
The German sailors, who were still celebrating wildly yesterday, are less happy in the current sixth leg. "Unfortunately, we didn't have such a good night. But we're still hanging in there and fighting. Our expected arrival time in The Hague is Sunday evening," reported Stanjek. The "Guyot" co-skipper currently shares the less pleasant feeling of lagging behind with Team Biotherm and Team Malizia. The chasing trio has fallen behind the leaders from Team 11th Hour Racing by around 50 to 70 nautical miles.
Mental coaching as a winning factor
In the early hours of Saturday afternoon, the crews on "Biotherm", "Malizia - Seaexplorer" and "Guyot" struggled to catch up in third, fourth and fifth place north of the Jammer Bay, while 11th Hour Racing set the pace at the front with just over 300 nautical miles to go to The Hague. In addition to the obviously strong reinstalled original foils, the increased self-confidence after two successes in a row and newcomer Franck Cammas, the US team also cites successful sports psychology coaching as a reason for the recent successes in the Ocean Race.
Charlie Enright and his team have hired Dutch sports psychologist Anje Marijcke van Boxtel to help them succeed in the Ocean Race. "A large part of my work involves coaching board teams and managers in large companies," she explains. Then she took the plunge into the world of professional sailing.
You are responsible for the sailing, I am responsible for the mental processes" (Anje Marijcke van Boxtel)
Ocean Race record holder Bouwe Bekking contacted his compatriot back in 2014 before the start of the Volvo Ocean Race. "Bouwe is of course a very experienced skipper, but at the time he had concerns about how to select and communicate with the crew members under the age of 30 who had to be part of the team according to the rules. He asked me for advice on how he should organise the process," says Anje Marijcke van Boxtel.
"When I started, I said to Bouwe and the crew: 'You're responsible for the sailing, I'm only responsible for the mental processes'. But I took the time to observe how the sailors work on the boat. You have to do that to see how they communicate, where they get stuck, where they work together, where their fears lie and where the opportunities are. It's the same in the boardroom, the process starts with observation."
Don't question, ask questions
Since then, Anje Marijcke van Boxtel's work has attracted the attention of several other teams. Her work led her to Team 11th Hour Racing in the 14th Ocean Race. Here, with increasing Ocean Race experience, she works as a mental coach and in other functions.
An example from her work experience: "We had a situation in Brazil where we had a new sailor in our crew. A very nice and respectful guy. I asked him to use SiFi (Editor: Navigator Simon Fisher) to ask a lot of questions. I don't care how stupid they are, I said, but SiFi loves to be challenged with questions because then his brain is challenged and works at a higher level. SiFi has a growth mindset, he wants to learn and develop, he loves it. But the guy I asked blew up and said I wasn't in a position to challenge SiFi."
Poor results create urgency and room for change" (Anje Marijcke van Boxtel)
Van Boxtel clarified what it was really about: "I'm not saying that you should question him. But ask him questions, tickle his brain, help him to work at a higher level." After a "turnaround" with Bouwe Bekking's team in the last race, van Boxtel achieved something similar in cooperation with 11th Hour Racing: "When we arrived in Brazil, the view of the standings was not as good as we had expected. And in moments like that, as a mental coach you metaphorically and literally have a lot more room to work with the team."
Anje Marijcke van Boxtel explains why this is the case and how a team can get out of its slump: "Poor results create urgency, and that's what makes us willing to step out of our comfort zone. Sometimes it's as simple as reminding ourselves that we need to think big or outside the box because we have nothing left to lose. If you start early with a team and people trust you, you can expand your comfort zone. That's what we did. But to really take a big, bold step out of your comfort zone, you always need urgency."
Now is the time to push, push and push again" (Charlie Enright)
The latter was a given for the pre-start favourites in view of a number of setbacks and what they saw as an unsatisfactory third place in the standings. On this basis and with other factors, the joint switch to attack mode was successful.
Skipper Charlie Enright agrees: "The question is, how much risk are we prepared to take? Everyone knows how many problems we had on stage three, how many technical difficulties. Which meant we weren't able to race the way we wanted to. Stage four showed that we are able to perform and that we are on the right track in terms of reliability. Now it's time to push, push and push again."
The final spurt on course for The Hague has already begun
Team 11th Hour Racing is currently implementing this resolution with determination. It goes without saying that this also includes a very fast boat and a crew that makes few mistakes in the most important team race in the world. Charlie Enright's motto: "We have always said that we want to be the team that finishes this race the strongest. We didn't have the most impressive start, but when you see where we are now, it feels good." One day before the stage finale in The Hague, this state of mind continues on board 11th Hour Racing's "Malamā".
The current overview of the action on stage 6:
To enjoy: the NDR report from the fly-by in Kiel on 9 June:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
