Combining behavioral models with VPPs to derive a winning yacht-sailor combination

Considerable progress has been made in the development of Velocity Prediction Programs (VPPs) suitable for analysis of racing yacht performance. Similarly, there has been rapid advances in sensor capabilities (smaller mass, lower power consumption, and greater accuracy) and with a resultant increase in use in helping assess and improve racing yacht performance. While these tools and techniques will no doubt be further refined and computations speeded up, there is also a need to assess the performance of the yacht’s helm and crew.The scope of the present study is the prediction of the performances of a yacht-crew system as a whole, by deriving numerical models for human behaviour alongside with those referred to the physics of yacht motion. The former aspect, a transposition of athletes’ psychology within the racing scene, is investigated by means of questionnaires submitted to skilled athletes and structured interviews to sailing coaches. The latter issue, the mechanical side of the problem, is analysed by solving yacht equations of motions in the time domain; crew inputs in terms of yacht steering and sail trim are considered. The yacht-crew system can sail a racecourse in an arbitrary wind pattern, according to strategic rules derived by common practice and following the decision making schemata obtained above.