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Shustoke Laser 2000 Training Day
Saturday 27th March 2010
Shustoke Sailing Club – Laser 2000 Training Day……. The coaches’ view
I think the biggest challenge in running a one day race training event is what can we cram in and what can we afford to leave out? To be honest a week might be long enough to give race training a decent shot!
Our theme for this day was trying to improve on the areas most likely to win or lose places which we defined as:-
- Percentage racing (Risks of hitting the corners)
The 14 teams who entered the day were given a short briefing about this theme and the exercises we would do in the morning session which were all about starting.
Hitting the water at 11:00 in a shifty force 2 to 3 (but with plenty of sunshine) the sailors started with simple 3,2,1, Go, starting practice with changes to the line angle, ensuring they were all checking the bias up to the start signal.
We then moved on to ‘mystery starts’ where the final start whistle could be up to 15 seconds late or early. This got students thinking about speed control and acceleration techniques. Chris Jordon’s recent Millennium Mutterings article had obviously been read by a number of students who were trying the ‘back the jib’ idea for the first time. One of the key points to come out of this exercise was to think about kicker tension when trying to slow down the boat. You may have freed off both jib sheet and main sheet but if the kicker is taught the back of the mainsail leech is still tight and causing forward drive in the rig.
Final exercise of the morning was ‘box starts’ where 2 buoys are laid behind the start line to create a square(ish) box within which the sailors must remain from the preparatory signal to the actual start. This simulates a crowded start area so sailors have to think hard about how to get to, and preserve, their preferred position on the start line. As the limits of the box are defined as obstructions in the pre-start sequence boat on boat rule observance and understanding is also tested. (There were only a few minor coming togethers – well done guys!)
Lunchtime – with thanks to the galley ‘slaves’ for an excellent spread.
The afternoon started with short debrief from the morning session covering:-
- Start line specific rules
- Importance of finding your starting lane and holding onto it
- Advantages of port approaches in looking for a gap
- Fast acceleration (Trigger pulls)
A dry land tacking and gybing drill was demonstrated by Wil along with a quick chat about rig controls ( kicker / mainsheet tension / outhaul and downhaul)
The afternoon on-the-water session was explained.
To the water……..
As a post lunch warm-up we commenced with ‘Rabbit starts’ where the rabbit ( I know – Wil and Wendy didn’t much look like Flopsy and Topsy but ……..) sails from the RIB on port and others start when they wish behind the rabbits transom. This is a great exercise to practice ‘time and distance skills‘. I note Wil had a sharp intake of breath as one or two students just skimmed his transom when crossing behind on starboard.
The afternoon’s closing session was a simple windward leeward course with sailors requested to carry out a minimum number of tacks and gybes on each leg. For added interest crews were asked to ‘pat’ the leeward mark on the windward side after the port rounding ensuring that they achieved the golden rule of ‘in wide out tight’
The minimum number of tacks and gybes ensured the coach had the opportunity to observe and comment on crews’ technique whilst emphasising to the sailors the importance of working the centreline and shifts (upwind and downwind) between leeward and windward marks.
Back ashore, and despite some technical problems, we were able to view video of the day’s exercises and run a question and answer session for the final hour of the day.
From a coaching viewpoint it was good to have Wil and Wendy doing things right amongst the students, Kate filming and Shustoke members driving my RIB and also filming. I just sat in the sun shouting out instructions.
The coaches and assistants enjoyed the day and I hope the students did as well, and learnt a bit.
Final thanks to John Wilkin who put a lot of effort into organising this event and then re-organising it at the last minute when circumstances changed. I am not in the least bit miffed that in UK mid-winter he was emailing me from holiday in Buenos Aires about the day – what dedication.
Dave Eccles
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