RS Feva Squiddies at Burnham Sailing Club

The RS Feva 'Squiddies' launched their 2016 campaign on the 24th and 25th October at Burnham Sailing Club. Following on from previous years successes, expectations are high and this year's intake have already showed their potential.

First Weekend Report

This was the first 'Squiddie' event of the winter season, inviting seasoned Squiddies from the previous years and welcoming new Squiddies from Bewl Valley, Draycote Water and other local clubs. The Squiddies is not just getting larger in numbers, but is also drawing entrants from further afield, who travel quite a distance to take advantage of the quality training on offer.

And the diversity is getting bigger as we now encompass people who sail on the sea, on a river or on a reservoir. We get new people every year and they improve throughout the Squiddies and throughout the RS Feva class. All of the top sailors in the Squiddies began as newcomers to the boat, but utilizing the expert coaching from Jonathan Lewis and Flynn Davies they are well on their way to become top notch sailors in the RS Feva class.

The first day saw about 10-15 knots and everyone was looking forward to renewing old, and making new, friendships in addition to the sailing! The day started off with lovely Burnham Bacon Butties, mainly for the parents, whilst all of the sailors rigged their boats. The briefing was just to introduce all of us to each other and explain what we where doing that day.

We soon launched and the days training got underway with short races (windward/leeward) so that the coaches could understand all of our strengths and weaknesses. In the afternoon, the wind dropped off but we still managed more windward leeward to improve on our weaknesses identified earlier. We also did follow the leader behind a rib to improve suddenly slowing down and speeding up, a critical skill on the start line.

The second day began with about 10 knots of wind but forecast to drop throughout the day. Launching early to take advantage of the breeze, we were split into two groups, one with Flynn and one with Jonathan. In these groups we did longer windward leeward courses to practice our hoists, drops, gybes and tacks in light winds.

But towards lunch the wind had dropped off completely, which meant for the afternoon we had onshore training. This included looking at the different rig settings needed for different wind strengths and wave heights. With no sign of any wind in the afternoon it was time to have some fun (a key factor with the Squiddies) and preferably getting wet. To that end we all went paddle-boarding and had a race, which ended the weekend nicely.

I am sure that the next training weekend will be as fun as this one!

Find out more:

Based at Burnham Sailing Club, but including road trips to other venues, the Squiddies aim to offer high quality coaching to all levels. Fun and parent involvement are key to creating an environment where everyone feels included.

Please visit our website - www.burnhamsquiddies.moonfruit.com - as we do still have limited capacity if you would like to come along.