Six-Person Crew
Five stations, six bodies. Cockpit aft seats the Helm and Tactician; the forward cockpit seats the Trimmer pair (one per side); Mast works the rig base and the pit; Bow owns everything forward of it.
The canvas at a glance
A static picture of the vault’s Obsidian canvas — every task card links to its page, every role box to its station card. The live canvas lives at 04 Boats/Olson 30/Crew/Crew Canvas/261027 Crew Canvas 6 Person.canvas.
The stations
| Station | People | Core duty |
|---|---|---|
| Helm | 1 | Steer; mainsheet, traveler, backstay — owns the main upwind and downwind |
| Tactician | 1 | Strategy before the gun and after it; works the main through maneuvers; the free brain |
| Trimmer | 2 | Headsail & kite sheets — Trimmer and Breaker, swapping sides every tack |
| Mast | 1 | Pole at the gooseneck, mast controls, halyards — and runs the pit |
| Bow | 1 | Everything forward of the mast; the kite’s guardian at the forward hatch |
The pair-share, in one line: on every tack one trimmer breaks the offloaded sheet (releases the winch, ensures it runs out freely) while the other trims the new active sheet in — and downwind the same pair splits into kite-sheet and guy, as a team.
Task library, by race phase
Start
- Call the starting line → Bow
- Plan the start → Tactician
- Run the start clock → Tactician
- Steer the start → Helm
Upwind
- Call puffs and waves → Bow
- Execute the tack → Helm
- Skirt the genoa → Bow
- Trim the genoa → Trimmer
- Trim the main → Helm
The Set
- Drop the jib at the set → Mast
- Jump the spinnaker halyard → Mast — running the pit
- Pack the spinnaker → Mast — / squirrel (whoever is free)
- Rig the pole → Bow
- Set the pole height → Mast
Downwind
- Break down the pole → Trimmer
- Call tactics downwind → Tactician
- Call the wind from aft → Mast
- Drive downwind VMG → Helm
- Play the pole height → Bow
- Shift the jib downwind → Bow
- Trim the guy → Trimmer — the upwind Trimmer not sailing the kite sheet, i.e. the Breaker from the last tack
- Trim the spinnaker sheet → Trimmer
The Gybe
The Douse
- Blow the sheet to windward → Trimmer
- Gather the kite foot → Bow
- Hoist the jib at the douse → Mast
- Lower the halyard in bursts → Mast — running the pit
- Stuff the kite below → Bow — at the hatch / squirrel support
Heavy Air
Start ⇒ Upwind ⇒ The Set ⇒ Downwind ⇒ The Gybe (repeated) ⇒ The Douse ⇒ back to Upwind — with a Heavy Air column for the survival mode the Olson demands at the top of its range.
See also: Crew Roles · 261027 Crew Job Descriptions