00:01With more boats on the racetrack and the courses getting tighter and tighter,
00:05the strategist position has never been more important.
00:08So for this 201, I thought I'd talk to one of the best to see how she gets it right.
00:20Well, I'm here with Tash Bryant from the Bonds Flying Roos.
00:23Tash, the strategist role has evolved so much.
00:26We've seen just how critical it is.
00:28For you, I guess, in your years as a strategist,
00:31how has your position and your involvement in the team evolved?
00:35Yeah, I think it's definitely changed since I first joined
00:37when we had a lot less boats on the racetrack.
00:40At the start, it was definitely more like reading the racetrack,
00:43looking at the breeze, like remembering which marks were favoured last time
00:47or who gained where on the racetrack and kind of feeding that information
00:50and doing a little bit of tactics and talking about the boats a bit,
00:54but it wasn't as much of a problem as it is now.
00:56So yeah, over the last like two seasons, it's changed quite drastically with the increase of boats.
01:02And now most of my job is making sure that we stay out of trouble around the racetrack
01:07and painting a really good picture of what's happening with regards to the rest of the fleet to Tom.
01:11So he doesn't actually have to have his head on a swivel as much
01:14and he can kind of focus on the boat performance and what he wants to do around the track.
01:18And I just feed information as we go around and yeah, talk about what problems could be arising soon
01:23and trying to mitigate them as much as they can.
01:27Tash Bryant. Yeah, I think she's one of the most underrated strategists in the league.
01:33Now you talk about problems arising, which means that you're trying to predict intersections
01:37that are going to come up and paint that picture before it even happens.
01:40So what sort of things are you looking at for? What are your telltales?
01:43What information are you kind of processing before you feed them out?
01:47Yeah, so it depends on where we are on the racetrack in the start box.
01:50It's quite hard to predict where people are going.
01:52You obviously know where the start line is, but the way you get there depends on how much time you
01:57have to kill,
01:58like where you are in the box. So that is quite an unpredictable area.
02:01And you're just trying to do your best at just feeding information in real time.
02:05But then once you get through the start line, you kind of know exactly where everyone's going.
02:09The marks are laid out. You have the boundary on your screen.
02:11You can see where they are in the boundaries.
02:14And so, yeah, it's a lot easier once you actually around that first mark
02:17to guess where everyone else is going to be in 10, 15, 20 seconds time.
02:22And yeah, so I just keep an eye on that.
02:24When we're approaching marks, I watch out to see if people are splitting the other direction.
02:28And I kind of know at all times who are the close boats around us
02:31so that I know who I'm looking for when the time comes.
02:35So you're trying to identify, like, there may be a potential problem.
02:38There is a problem we are going to have to avoid.
02:41Like, are you feeding that information? Are you making any decisions?
02:44Or are you just kind of letting Tom know and then letting him make the decision?
02:47Yeah, so when we are the right of way boat, I quite often feed information
02:50about where people are on the racetrack.
02:52If someone's going to be close to us and ducking us, they will become a problem when we tack.
02:58And so, yeah, I'll just feed information and try to give Tom an idea of where everyone else is.
03:03USA still on port tack. They haven't tacked yet.
03:05And even further up, the Brits only have Swiss coming down.
03:08But when we are the giveaway boat, that's when it starts to come a little bit more high risk.
03:13And I'll be talking about, oh, we'll need a giveaway and we'll need to get out of the way of
03:17X, Y, Z, whatever boat it is.
03:19And I'll give a timeframe quite often. I'll say, like, 15 seconds.
03:2220 to boundary. Really good breeze line inside in five.
03:26Most of the time, if it's like a bow on bow, like an intersection, he actually can't see the boat
03:32then.
03:33So in the most critical point in time, he can't see it. So that's when I have to say, like,
03:37we need to high cross or we need to duck.
03:39But yeah, most of the time he can see it and I'll just be guiding him towards problems and, yeah,
03:44trying to keep him clear if I can.
03:46And the reason he can't see what's happening is because there's usually a big wing where we're sitting, which is
03:50a massive blind spot.
03:51So, I mean, very occasionally we now see you sort of run across and like poke your head out.
03:55But then you also have an indication of where the boats are on like your software.
03:59Yeah. So on the wing screen, we have our software and that gives us a prediction for where we're going
04:05to be and then also where other boats are going to be.
04:07So you can see if they're a little bit slower based on what their predicted line, like trajectory line is
04:12out the front of their boat on the screen.
04:13And that is actually really quite helpful because, yeah, you can get a much more accurate time guess off that.
04:20Like if you're pointing halfway, you're closer to 15 to 17 seconds away.
04:23And yeah, I use that quite a bit to judge the time. But then ultimately, like if we're crossing or
04:28not, I'll have to use my sight and trust what I'm seeing.
04:31And do you ever tap into the coach's booth as a strategist? Do you ever call in an extra favour?
04:37Sometimes when we're just on the exit of a manoeuvre and I'm still driving and I know there's a few
04:42boats coming up, I'll say, I don't have eyes yet.
04:45And until Tom grabs the wheel, then I can get up and have a look. If it's too close, quite
04:50often the coach's booth will speak up and say like, yeah, you're going to have a problem or all clear.
04:55And just like that'll help settle me. But most of the time we do it off the boat because it's
05:00quite a lot easier to just see what's coming.
05:02You can see if they're going to be going into a big gust or a big lull and you can
05:05kind of take that input into.
05:06So, yeah, we try to keep it on the boat as much as we can, but the coach's booth definitely
05:10is our backup.
05:11That boundary might be close.
05:13Tash Bryant on the comms. She's on the right hull. She's got great visibility, but it's so close.
05:20The other thing that's really important is obviously you're planning ahead with what's happening with all the boats,
05:23but we also hear a lot with boundary racing, like we could get one and in here or two in
05:29for a right turn.
05:30So that's really on the course geometry. How much input do you have into kind of feeding those options, I
05:37guess, to Tom?
05:38Yeah, it really depends on how many people we have on board.
05:41Kinley and I spread the load of the kind of the course screen and the tactical software between us.
05:46And he focuses a lot on the course geometry, like how many attacks we're going to have in this next
05:51beat,
05:52whilst I try to keep my head more out and looking at other boats, the ley lines and what's happening
05:56around us.
05:57So as soon as he has to get off the boat, that's when I have to kind of step up
06:00a little bit more into his role.
06:02But most of the time that that's his area and he has been owning that for a few seasons.
06:06Nice. The other thing you kind of mentioned beforehand is that you're obviously steering out a manoeuvre.
06:11So I guess talk us through a manoeuvre and how important it is, especially, I guess, in marginal conditions,
06:16when you've got that wheel on an exit to make sure that you're hitting the angle, working with your wing
06:20trimmer to make sure that you stay up, foiling and flying.
06:23To take you through a manoeuvre, before we're going in, Tom will say standby.
06:27But from being behind him for so long, I can kind of see a trigger of when he wants to
06:32go for attack.
06:33Guys engage on them.
06:34Yeah, rolling down here in two.
06:36Easy step.
06:38Easy step, I'm loose.
06:39And I'm kind of predicting a little bit, so quite often I'll cross, like, just before I think we're going
06:43to go for attack,
06:44he'll say standby. Goobs will come across with me and the two of us are on the new side.
06:48When we turn through the breeze or just turn to the breeze of the jibes, I'll be looking out, seeing
06:54what we're turning into.
06:55So I'll have a bit of an idea of if we're going into a gust or lull, like, if I
06:58think we're going to be in a different phase or something on the exit.
07:02And, yeah, just trying my best to handle that.
07:04And Goobs gives me quite a bit of guidance on how much load he has on the wing sheet, when
07:09he lifts the board up,
07:10like, what's happening immediately with the boat.
07:11And, yeah, we work together on the exit to try and get the best performance out of the boat.
07:15It's so hard, obviously, to prepare for, you know, every event because everywhere we go is different.
07:21The wind is always different every day.
07:22Your competitors are always going to react differently as well.
07:25How much do you rely, I guess, on past data?
07:28Like, how do you prepare for a race weekend as a strategist?
07:30Obviously, we look a lot at what the forecast is going to be and we can have our best guess
07:34of what the racetrack is going to look like
07:36because we know the area we're in and see what the conditions are previously when we were here.
07:41And, yeah, that's, to be honest, it.
07:43We can re-watch the racing, which I do a lot, and watch how other boats do things
07:47because I find it quite interesting to see if someone's describing things differently in a better way
07:53or how other teams talk about it.
07:56There's a lot of people relying on the coach's booth a lot more now,
07:59so it's interesting to see how we spread the load.
08:01And, yeah, just a lot of watching over racing, to be honest.
08:05Awesome. Thanks so much, Tash, to giving us a bit more of an insight into what a strategist does.
08:10You're doing a good job out there, and I guess it's getting harder and harder.
08:14Yeah, as we have increased the amount of boats, my life gets a little more stressful, but it should be
08:19good.
08:22And the champions here in Auckland, once again, it's the Bonds Flying Roos two years in a row.
08:36Nice work, Tashy. Nice work, that was awesome.
08:57...
08:58...
08:58that's a pretty good look.
08:59C'est parti.
