Coaching Ideas (help!)

Rick -

Tying the boat down using ropes from the hounds worked brilliantly. We ended uptying it down to two ther boats on trailers, one each side, and even with a 17 stone guy trapezing off the wing it never moved.

We did get a little wind as well so it all worked out great

Thanks!

It does most of the time ... seriously though to compensate for the lack of motion you need it bow up otherwise you keep falling forward when on the wire - also remeber to put the rig tension on.

regards,

Rick

Here is a pic of me doing a land drill on the MPS.

See how I can trapeze without having to have another person hanging of the trap the other side. This makes the demo for tacking & gybing much better.

It always surprises me how bow up the boat needs to be to balance it when it's static.

Originally posted by turnturtle p.s. is this legal? Kicker system re-rigged to run forward of the mast; using the trapeze elastics to take up the slack- advantages I have found 1) keep trap lines forward at all times, ecourages me to move my weight forward rather than drag my transom in all the time (also holds the handle forward downwind when sitting in stopping me smash my face up cos the trap lines are in the way) 2) the kicker is easier to use- by running small lines of herzog from the original trapeze elastic points, I have effectively created a pump system to pull the kicker on... okay can't adjust when I'm hanging out the back at mach 3, but then it's all a bit too busy to be fiddling with the kicker if you're planeing at that kinda speed. 3) one less bit of string/shockcoard running around the wings and transom, meaning the others run smoothly without seperate rings and  blocks...

Looks legal to me, as long as you haven't added any additional fastenings.

It looks very similar to the continuous cunningham I have, now rapidly catching on throughout the fleet. Only difference is that mine goes the the original rings on the wings, but instead of running aft, it runs forward, through the little gap between the U-bolt and the hull, and is then spliced together over the foredeck. The takeaway system is the same as yours.

Thanks for all the ideas guys, it all sounds good so hopefully the students will still find it worthwile

cheers

Land-drills wire to wire tacking are really good, just make sure the boat is well supported. Also putting the boat on its side and discussing tuning as a group helps to build knowledge. Setting up an imaginary start line on shore and moving two boats on their trailers can be pretty good for improving on start tactics and rules. We did it with 49ers, the boats are moved by one person and someone follows the rear, good for improving boat length judgements. On the water, I know it's probably stating the obvious but keeping the boats together is something you must do, especially in light winds. Practise starts over and over, pair boats up to do one on one tuning sessions, practise mark roundings and roll tacking. Most things seem pretty basic but by covering the basics repetitively improves skills and refreshes the mind. Also exploit the weekend if there is not too much wind and discuss light wind tactics as a group and the group will gain a lot from hearing each others techniques. Worked pretty well with a Scottish Skiff training event and be careful you don't cover everything in one day if the next day looks like there won't be any wind neither. (Sorry James if I repeated anything you said, was multi-tasking between the washing machine, phone and laptop )