RS Tera Northern Squad Winter Coaching at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club
by Jennie Clark 27 Jan 2014 13:57 GMT
25-26 January 2014
Launching during the RS Tera Northern Squad Winter Coaching at Derwent Reservoir © Stuart Donald
The Northern RS Tera squad were at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club on Saturday 25 January for the first 2014 session of their winter coaching. With strong winds and snow forecast for the weekend it was quite a surprise to find that as the sailors arrived on the Saturday morning the wind was blowing around 12 knots and the sun was out.
Volunteers from Derwent SC and parents helped to get the ribs on the water as quickly as possible so that the fleet could make the most of the conditions before the strong wind and poor weather arrived. The sailors hit the water after a quick briefing with the focus being on downwind boat handling skills.
It didn't take long for the forecast strong winds to arrive and what started out as perfect sailing conditions soon became a challenge. On the way back to the shore there were plenty of capsizes and some fantastic planing reaches with some big waves too. Everyone returned to the shore safely with a few boats being recovered by the safety team due to gear loss and failure.
The rest of Saturday was spent working in the training room as the winds increased with Coaches Brett and Bernard helping the sailors look at a decision making process for when to tack or gybe.
Arriving at the club on Sunday the wind was blowing 30knots plus, followed by the sleet and snow. The team headed for the training room to watch footage from the previous day, discuss tactics, rules and make plans for the events that all the sailors will be attending in 2014.
It was a snowy drive home at the end of it all!