One of my former crewmates wanted to join us for a race, which coincided well with a week when we needed a substitute. Injecting some fresh blood in our team, especially with her competitive and fun attitude, spiced things up a lot! She came out with us again, last week, when the wind was honking and we needed some rail meat.
Adding a team member initiating caused some confusion, and I assured the rest of the team that nothing would change with their roles. Despite her extensive racing background, the additional crew was on board for ballast. Once this was understood, the confusion was settled.
We continued to shake things up during this race. The wind was so strong, that I decided we needed to reef the mainsail before we left harbour. The crew had never reefed on this boat, and some had no experience reefing at all. There's nothing like a challenge to shake things up! Learning together and putting it into practice was a great teambuilding experience. We even got a chance to shake out the reef when the wind died down during the race.
At the end of the race, I felt more comraderie in the team than I have all season. We will continue building on this next weekend, when one of my crew is hosting a backyard BBQ for us. Gotta make time for fun and socializing off the water too!Cheers!
