Ahoy, Matey: Sailing Races Provide an Extreme Group Incentive July 07, 2008 Match racing in Annapolis can provide an extreme incentive
By Sarah Reiss
Revered for its mast-testing winds and minimal tides, the Chesapeake sailing capital of Annapolis stands as a go-to destination for all things nautical. In this marine playground, the nauti- preneurs behind Annapolis' Schooner Woodwind Cruises offer corporate incentive programs based on the adrenaline-charged thrill of authentic match racing.
Using two identical 74-foot schooners, Woodwind and Woodwind II, (which enjoyed a cameo as Christopher's Walken's prize sloop in 2005's Wedding Crashers), Captain Jennifer Brest unfurls corporate can-do programs intended to test the mettle and unseat the expectations of 15- to 96- person groups.
"We let each company tell us what they want to achieve, and we help them achieve that goal," says Brest, whose programs range from easygoing Team Fun excursions, which combine pleasure cruising with hands-on sailing instruction, to the teeth-clenching Ultimate Team Challenge—a take-no-prisoners day of sailing boot camp culminating in a two-schooner America's Cup-style match race.
"We just finished a match race with an international company that had hired facilitators to work with [two 15-person] groups over six months to understand teamwork and leadership skills," says Brest. "Our match racing program was the second module of their training."
Similarly, the high seas provide evaluation opportunities that won't make employees want to walk the plank. "We worked with a 30-person publishing house that decided to flip the company and make the delivery driver the captain," says Brest. "The CEO had to be the lookout. His only job was to let the crew know if they were going to run over a crab pot. It ended up working phenomenally. The CEO came away glowing because he realized he really did have good people."
She adds: "One of my favorites was a corporate match race where the spouses challenged the employees. The employee team had established patterns of working together and couldn't get beyond everyone's egos; it didn't go so well for them. But the spouses had nothing to prove individually but everything to gain by working as a team."
No matter which way the wind blows, Woodwind's programs are about taking people out of their normal element and watching them shine. Not surprisingly, companies from Ameriprise Financial to law firms throughout the DC area call on Woodwind when it's time to unwind, schmooze or reward. Many a summer law intern has been enticed into staying on with the firm after a couple hours at the helm of the Woodwind II, and many a manager has returned to work revitalized after charting his own course as captain for a day.
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