5 EXPERT TIPS HOW TO CREATE A COHESIVE CREW

Round the world sailor DEE CAFFARI shares her advice on getting a team to gel with ANDY RICE

- DEE CAFFARI

To win the Volvo Ocean Race you need proven, battle-hardened experience on board. However, the youth-focussed, multinational Turn The Tide On Plastic entry had very different goals. While every sailor on Dee Caffari’s crew wanted to win, realistically that wasn’t going to happen. Although she had been part of the all-female Team SCA crew in the previous edition, the last Volvo Ocean Race was Dee’s first time skippering a Volvo crew, 80% of whom were under 30 with little offshore experience compared with most of their rivals.

With a team of five men and five women, all of different nationalities, Turn the Tide was a United Nations of sailors with a strong environmental focus. Although winning the race was never on the cards, the team successfully delivered their message about ocean plastics – and the fact that Dee and her crew mates stay in regular contact with each other speaks volumes for the success of the campaign. Here, Dee shares her best tips for creating a cohesive team spirit that will endure even if you don’t finish first.

1 FIND A COMMON GOAL

In a professional environment you make the time to sit down and talk to everyone about the shared aims of the project. In the case of Turn The Tide On Plastic everyone bought into the environmental goals very quickly and with great commitment, so that was fairly straightforward.