Winter Woollies #1






The first of three designated weekends for winter training for the International Cadet Class was held at Royal Geelong Yacht club.

Day 1
We had a great turnout of 16 boats, it was great to see such a concerted effort to attend. Some boats were unavailable for both days but chose to do one which was fantastic commitment.
The weather was very fickle with little zephyrs appearing and then disappearing, it was felt it was best to keep the sailors ashore for the morning. The sailors were split up into two groups based on experience and aspirations. Alanna field took the less experienced group and gave a talk on sail controls with particular emphasis on being able to de-power your boat to a manageable level in fresher conditions.
Your scribe took the other group to talk about the value of training and looking after the little things like tacking and gybing etc. Shave 1 second off each manoeuvre and it is worth a lot more than a new jib or shiny fashionable sailing jacket. Working on your boat handling gives a good base for developing speed techniques and in turn makes tactical and strategic decisions easier to implement.
The  afternoon session was not a lot better and the group retired to the RGYC conference room for discussion on the finer points of boat balance and angle, this was supplemented by videos of the training for the last worlds campaign showing the techniques put into practise.
Finally a bit of breeze sprung up on the far side of the bay and we got out for a sail in late afternoon. After towing them across to the wind, we managed to get some boat speed line ups and some spinnaker drills happening.
Day 2
Wind! In fact the forecast was a bit ominous with a severe weather warning, but as it transpired it was a delightful sailing day. Nikola Dixon and James Hannah took Alanna's group for some drills on boat handling. My group did about 30 mins of the famous Bully "V Swings" as a warm up followed by 10 practice starts and a couple of short races. Then some figure 8's around two marks with peeling off to go either to a mark to windward or one to leeward on the whistle call. This session lasted two hours and I saw great improvement from every boat. The breeze built to 20 knots towards the end as we made our way in for lunch.
The afternoon session saw the breeze lighten and we concentrated on line ups, working our way well offshore so we could have a long spinnaker run home with lots of gybing. Finished up by 2pm for people to pack up and get home.

Things to follow up on.
-    keep the boats super flat up wind
-    Practise light air gybing without disrupting the spinnaker
-    Work hard on all manoeuvres, so sailing your boat is instinctive, enables you to concentrate on sailing your race.
Thanks to all that attended, your attention and behaviour was greatly appreciated. Special thanks to the mums that fed us (particularly the pumpkin soup) and to 6th fleet for making it happen.
 

Plus we had fun.

Bully

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