ITCA (GBR) 5.3 & 4.2 Training Weekend at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy

My dad and I went down to Portland late on Friday night. After a great campervan Saturday breakfast consisting of bacon sandwiches we went to the boat park to meet our friends from Warsash SC to get our boats ready before the 9.30am briefing.

At the briefing we all introduced ourselves and met our coaches for the weekend. We split into groups and went outside to look at the basics of boat handling: tacking, gybing and acceleration. Then we got changed and launched for about an hour of sailing before lunch where we worked on the same boat handling skills.

After lunch we went afloat again for a longer session and tried our new techniques under more pressure including race situations. On Saturday evening I went for dinner with my friends and had a great time.

On Sunday morning we again worked on our boat handling but this time we had a dolphin happily playing around alongside our Toppers. This was the highlight of the weekend! After lunch ashore we did a team racing game in the afternoon with nine boats in each team.

At the debrief the coaches reminded us to make sure we bring a notebook and water bottle to every session. I really enjoyed the weekend and am looking forward to the next one at Burghfield SC next month.

Thanks to the coaches: Alistair Dickson, Sally Dugdale.

Thanks to the venue hosts WPNSA.

Thank you to our sponsors: GJW Direct, Rooster, Topper Sailboats, Harken UK, Optimum Time.