On the Water Exercises

   Practice holding station by a bouy ... once you can stay within 1 boat length for 5 minutes you have it nailed.
Great for starting.

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Guest Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Newbie Joined: 21 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guest Report Post Quote Reply Topic: On the Water Exercises Posted: 01 Apr 10 at 5:25pm
	Practice holding station by a bouy ... once you can stay within 1 boat length for 5 minutes you have it nailed. Great for starting.

Adam@Wave Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Newbie Joined: 01 Apr 10 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote Adam@Wave Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 01 Apr 10 at 4:51pm
	As Jamesd says, rabbit runs are great for upwind speed. They also give you chance to practice your trigger pulls. You don't need other boats for this, but downwind the excercise we do the most is to start at the top of the lake- gybe set, gybe, gybe, gybe drop- and repeat til you get to the bottom. Great fun if you keep the timing quick.

Jamesd Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 01 Feb 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 377	Post Options Post Reply Quote Jamesd Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 01 Apr 10 at 3:07am
	rabbit runs!!! they are without doubt the best way of improving upwind speed, with more that 2 boats. discuss your set-up before you get out there, make sure you are all reasonably close in static set-up. go on the tide and someone sail on port tack, upwind, as fast as they can, then the other boats duck their transom like a gate start, when every boat has 'started' the gate boat tacks onto starboard. just keep going until someone is clearly ahead! evaluate and start again! then when you get to the top mark turn around and race downhill to either a mark, or aim at something at the shore. this is what i recommend the most, but there are other things to do, try cacing downwind with the rudder tied in the middle, using your body mass and sail trim to steer. for tacking practice, set off at ten second intervals and every ten seconds you must tack, with the aim of catching the guy infront. its great for tacking and also as you get closer becomes great at match race practice. its good also for working out how much room you require to tack/gybe infront of someone without infringing them, brilliant practice for those times you win the pin end, but the wind is in a left hand phase. right its 3am, i just got in from a nightclub, if this doesnt make sense, tough by top mark i mean the point when you are tired of upwind, or you run out of water.......no marks are needed. to start a downwind session get everyone reaching in the same direction then on the blow of a whistle, bear away, and hoist/nail it downhill. Edited by Jamesd

Garry Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 18 Apr 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 536	Post Options Post Reply Quote Garry Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 31 Mar 10 at 8:35pm
	Have a look at these resources http://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/coachestrainersinstru ctors/racecoaches/Pages/Resources.aspx
	Garry Lark 2252, Contender 298 www.cuckoos.eclipse.co.uk

dave.blakesley Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 25 Mar 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 314	Post Options Post Reply Quote dave.blakesley Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 31 Mar 10 at 8:32pm
	Have you tried blindfold sailing? Blinddfolding the helm and relying on the crew can significantly improve crew communication and enable the helm to better understand the feel of the boat.

ellistine Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 06 Mar 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 762	Post Options Post Reply Quote ellistine Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 31 Mar 10 at 4:25pm
	I think it's the lack of support boat that's going to make it more difficult, especially moving marks and setting start lines etc. I'm thinking about gate starts downwind of a fixed buoy. Having never tried gate starts, how disadvantaged is the starting boat compared to those crossing behind? Mind you, if it carries on blowing the way it is at the moment we may not get out at all!

radixon Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 27 Oct 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2407	Post Options Post Reply Quote radixon Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 31 Mar 10 at 4:14pm
	If you can get a rescue boat out to assist, get some start practises going on, move on to upwind marks, then downwind mark rounding then combine it all to a few short races. It all depends, what did you want to get out of the sessions? Do you know what the controls actually do to the sails? Lay your boat on its side and adjust each in turn.

jeffers Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 29 Mar 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3048	Post Options Post Reply Quote jeffers Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 31 Mar 10 at 2:42pm
	There are all sorts of things you can do. Starting in a line, each boat using different sail control settings to see what effect it has. If you can have some marks out then do a downwind slalom for gybing practice. Do a follow the leader using all 3 sails. I would recommend buying the RYA race training exercises book.I have one as part of my instructing/coaching materials. You can combine and modify the ecercises but there are some good ideas and it avoids the rather dull just sailing round a triangle trying to catch the boat in front. If you can get 3 or 4 marks set up in a line the do a gut buster, ensure kite is hoisted and dropped on the downind leg. Or perhaps try some really short course racing (talking max 10 mins per race) to polish up starting and tactics. The list is endless!
	Paul ---------------------- D-Zero GBR 74

ellistine Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 06 Mar 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 762	Post Options Post Reply Quote ellistine Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 31 Mar 10 at 1:06pm
	Inspired by jamesd's suggestion of training with the rudder not fully down to help promote flat sailing, what other on the water exercises do people recommend? This weekend the three new Laser 4000s at our club were planning on receiving some coaching before our first race on Monday but this is now looking unlikely as both the coaches RIBs were nicked last weekend Instead we will probably just end up sailing around aimlessly laughing at each others cockups. What's the best methods for boat-on-boat tuning etc?