Sailboat Racing Adventures

Crew Positions

Toccata races with 5-7 people onboard. These are the crew positions starting at the bow and working our way aft:

• Bow
• Cockpit
• Trimmer
• Main
• Helm

 Crew Responsibilities

• Bow/Foredeck – from the mast all the way forward to the pulpit, responsible for:
  • the spinnaker pole
  • skirting the jib
  • hoisting and lowering spinnaker halyard
  • helping jib around mast on tacks
• Cockpit/Pit – from the mast to the secondary winches. Busy job, responsible for:
  • topping lift and down haul on spinnaker pole – makes a big difference for person on bow during a gybe
  • port and starboard jib halyards
  • main halyard
  • tweakers
  • vang
  • outhaul
  • cunningham
• Trimmer/Grinder (2x) – the primary winches, responsibilities fall into two categories:
  • upwind and on beam reach the trimmers are responsible for jib sheets
    • jib sheet for each side of the boat
    • when boat tacks
      • leeward trimmer releases jib sheet
      • new leeward trimmer pulls in jib sheet by hand until in place or hand limit reached
      • leeward trimmer hands sheet to new windward trimmer who tails (preferably from the high side) while leeward trimmer cranks in jib
      • leeward trimmer takes sheet from windward trimmer and cleats
  • downwind the trimmers are responsible for the spinnaker sheet and guy
    • spin sheet controls shape of spin, constant focus required
    • spin guy controls position of spin pole, adjusted constantly based on apparent wind
    • guy and sheet must work in concert, when one pulls the other eases and vice versa
      • cockpit also participates as pit must ease the pole downhaul when the pole goes aft and take up slack when the pole goes forward
    • roles are reversed after a gybe, sheet becomes guy and guy becomes sheet
• Main – mainsheet, traveller, backstay, and tactics
• Helm – tiller, checkbook, and credit cards