A Day of Cheating in the Lymington Merlin Rocket Fleet

Richard Whitworth discussing the benefits of mast rake to de-power during the Merlin training in Lymington © Mark Barwell

The title says it all "cheating"; it's how some racing sailors refer to training or practising. Investing in a few hours of training, or better still hiring a coach to come to your club, can give your performance a boost that just isn't achievable any other way.

With this in mind, and a lot of newcomers to the Lymington Merlin Rocket fleet wanting some urgent help, it was the ideal opportunity to invest in a day's coaching from multiple Merlin National Champion and Salcombe Week winner Richard Whitworth.

So on an extremely cold and grey Saturday, six teams met at the Lymington Town Sailing Club for an early start to get as much as possible out of a short November day. We began with a Classroom session, and a game of Articulate between helm and crews to make us think about our communication skills and how we might re-phrase what we are trying to say to each other during a race if at first the message is not getting across!. We then discussed our training topics for the day, as most of us were pretty new to the Class we decided to cram in three: tacking, gybing and changing gear to get the most out of the rig and sails whilst afloat.

This was followed by a session ashore gathered around a boat, primarily to look at sail trim and the effect of the different controls. Richard gave us a simple strategy to know when to change gears and to concentrate on altering mast rake to de-power and re-power, so that we could spend more time with our heads out of the boat and concentrate on the race. There was also a dry-run of the tacking and gybing techniques we would be working on once we got afloat.

It was then time to go to sea in a perfect light to medium breeze and run through our drills on a very short windward/leeward course. We were given plenty of time to stop and discuss performance either with the coach or onboard between helm and crew. It took Richard a matter of seconds from the RIB to spot something that could be easily improved and as soon as he gave the feedback, results were instantaneous.

Back ashore for a debrief and an analysis of the video footage, left us all with the feeling we had made gains but could still see plenty of areas for improvement - at least now when we go cheating on our own next Saturday we have some focus and know what we are looking to work on, and as for the next race, well we will all be unstoppable!

As ever, thanks to Lou Johnson for putting the day together and keeping us supplied with flapjacks – Lou has been a driving force in building the Lymington fleet so that we now have ten competitive boats and some longer term interest from other sailors. Also a huge thanks to Richard Whitworth - we all benefited from his relaxed, knowledgable and approachable coaching style and are keen to get him back for Part 2!

If you are keen to use Richard's services at your own Club he can be contacted via his website, richardwhitworthsailing.co.uk and the contact details for Merlin Rocket fleets in your area are listed here www.merlinrocket.co.uk/index.asp?selection=Custom&pg=8