UK 505 Training Event at Whitwell Watersports Centre, Rutland Water
by Neil Smith 25 Mar 2014 19:31 GMT
15-16 March 2014
Many thanks to Adam and Ben for setting up a great weekend of fun and advice. It was good to see we had a great mix of skill levels there and what I liked right from the word go was the invite to crawl around everyone's boats and take pictures and measure things up. This section really helped start off our weekend on a positive as we'd just fully re-rigged Rondar 8511 with a nearly new HA CB and M2 rig inc. twin poles etc so we had a few areas of concern to sort. It was well worth the trip just to get our boat set up by Ben and others. And then to actually sail on a big lake was utopia. Pictures on the web are not the same as the real face to face thing and at £20 for the whole weekend (that was the water fees) that's great value, plus all of the advice was for free.
I would certainly recommend to others to come and attend this type of event if having issues with boat tuning set up. We spent 30% of the time talking and pulling boats apart and putting on their sides and getting the tape measure out. The remaining 70% was on the water and applying the lessons learned. It worked for us, as on the first day we went out and struggled a lot (dumped it big time on the first tack) but after the debriefs and re tuning and doing some land drills it all came together and we stayed upright all the time there after.
All the briefings where very professional and clear. What I really liked was that no one felt they were being pushed too much. Pairing up pro's with us less able on for the 2 boat tuning sessions. The offer was also there that we would swap crews etc. at some point but as the winds picked up we had to hold fire on that one but the offer was good.
8511 is now at home with a long list of further tweaks and modifications. Should be all done for the Burton open at the end of this month. That club has a very welcoming atmosphere so come along. We often pop along for the odd sail. Our boat is pink so you cannot miss us.
Thanks again and I'll take sun cream next time!