Musto Skiff Training Day at Castle Cove Sailing Club
by David Annan 14 May 18:49 BST
Musto Skiffs at Castle Cove SC © Tim Olin /
www.olinphoto.co.uk
As has become tradition for the Friday ahead of the Castle Cove Open Meeting, a very lucky group of thirteen Musto Skiff sailors arrived at Castle Cove Sailing Club for a day of training, generously supported by Noble Marine Insurance.
There was a wide range of experience within the group, ranging from newcomers to the fleet this season, through the mid-fleeters looking for that next level of performance, and up to the current World Champion, Andy "Turbo" Tarboton. The coaching was led by Adam Bowers, an outstanding coach who has worked with the fleet for several years and brings the perfect blend of knowledge, experience, and humour to every session.
Castle Cove had arranged a glamour day. The sun was out, and there was just the right amount of breeze to mean the sailors had to pay attention to their boat handling but were also able to focus on the training exercises, rather than just keeping the skiffs upright. Adam's briefing ran through the key points of focus for the day:
- Starting - because it sets up your race
- Circles of awareness, your two-minute time machine and its influence on your race timeline
- Leeward mark rounding - because it sets up your next beat, and it's where many seconds can be gained or lost.
The fleet hit the water and were quickly into the exercises. Using a rolling three-minute countdown, the fleet did two starts where they jostled for position and aimed to be accelerated (not accelerating) and crossing the line on the 'B' for bang. They then sailed for forty seconds to see how the start was panning out before returning to go again. On the third start, they were off for a two-lap race around a short course. The weekend was shared with the K1 class, and a handful of them joined in with the training. The K1 is a very different type of boat which sails at very different speeds and angles compared to the Musto Skiff, which provided an added dimension to test the two-minute time machines.
After each race there was barely enough time to have a sip of water before the fleet was into the next cycle of starts and races. The intensity level was kept high to keep testing the sailors as they got tired because we all need to be able to think and race just as hard on the final lap of the final race of the day as we did on the first lap of the first race.
After a solid three hours on the water, the fleet returned to Castle Cove SC for a debrief over a very refreshing pint of beer. Adam talked the sailors through the video footage of the antics on the water, highlighting the good examples and constructively discussing the less good examples with plenty of banter and laughter amongst the sailors. The final video was Turbo showing off his World Champion skills by collecting Haribo from the committee boat whilst sailing downwind with the spinnaker up.
The debrief was followed by a delicious fish and chip supper and plenty more beers and banter as more of the fleet arrived for the open meeting starting the next day, which would put all the freshly practised skills to the test.
It was a great day of sailing, and everybody will have taken something from it. Thanks must go to Sam Barker for organising everything, Adam Bowers for the top-level coaching, Simon Hawkes for dealing in Haribo, Castle Cove SC for being fantastic hosts, all the sailors for contributing to the day, and to Noble Marine Insurance for their generous support of class training.
The class is very keen to support training at all levels of the fleet to help people with their Musto Skiff journey. If you would like to organise something at your club, please get in contact with the Musto Skiff GBR Class committee, who will be delighted to help.