Mirror North Squad at Pwllheli Sailing Club

by Dave Woodhead 26 Mar 2012 12:32 BST 24-25 March 2012

Reflections on a mirror like sea

The RYA Mirror North Squad met for their last weekend in a hot, windless Pwllheli over the weekend of 24th /25th March. After a Saturday morning briefing covering the issues involved in racing in tide the Squad took to the water, but in very little wind had no option but to stay close inshore where very little tide was running. Nevertheless some lessons were learnt about maintaining boat speed in light conditions in a slight swell. As the wind faded and the sea became, well, more like a mirror, an early lunch was called.

After lunch, the squad headed out again only to find the 420 and 29er squads, also present, returning to shore having given up as the wind faded to zero. Reluctantly the Mirror Squad had to follow suit. The remainder of the afternoon was spent tackling some onshore work, applying sun cream and praying for wind.

Unbelievably for the second year running at Pwllheli the squad, parents and coaches enjoyed a great BBQ on the beach in the early evening as temperatures hit the twenties. We had to keep reminding ourselves it was still March. Parents did a magnificent job of organising this brilliant social occasion.

Sunday morning dawned with no change in the weather. Fitness training on the beach was first on the agenda followed by video analysis of the techniques involved in sailing in big waves, filmed at the Mirror Worlds in Pwllheli in 2009. ( Could this be the same place!!) With no wind, (and a forecast predicting a drop in wind speed!) the squad squashed into 2 RIBs with their lunch, and went out to check the strength and direction of the tide at different points around the bay. Following a tip onshore from Olympic race officer Adrian Stoggall, it was discovered that whilst anchored for lunch, throwing the odd crisp into the water was a superb way of monitoring tidal flow. This is obviously the high tech way it is done at major events.

Returning ashore to see the 29ers and 420s already packing up, it was time to debrief on the whole winter training programme now completed, and lay down plans and targets for the season ahead. The session concluded with the squad prize giving in the sunshine with a superb range of prizes donated by CREWSAVER. With a crewsaver goody bag for everybody and also a prize for every sailor, including buoyancy aids, dry bags and gloves, everybody went home happy (thanks go to Andrew Richards and Crewsaver).

This was a memorable weekend, despite the lack of sailing. With more time on shore there was perhaps more opportunity to reap the social benefits that come from being involved in our sport, and occasionally there is nothing wrong with a weekend like that.