Friday 30 November 2012

RCYC Burnham Training


The weekend of the 17th & 18th November saw the final World Team training hosted by The Otters in Burnham. Saturday say 6 of the team joined by Otter teams Joe Barr & Olivia Lloyd and Jack Shorter & Adam Lloyd for an intense training session of Adam Bowers' starting & boat handling drills overseen by Team Coach Matt White. A short break ashore for lunch was followed in the afternoon by more of the same.

Sunday dawned a beautiful day but with little wind. The team were joined by Jess D'Arcy who had been otherwise engaged on Saturday. The light winds provided for some very testing sailing and it was good to see the level of concentration used by all the team in trying to eak out every ounce of speed against a strong tide. The morning session was concluded with a team race which gave the guys a flavour of what to expect in the team race that is planned at the Championships.

During Lunch the wind continued to drop of and the decision was taken to finish the weekend early. Whilst we didn't get the wind that everyone was hoping for it was widely agreed that the weekend had been a very valuable one from which everyone there benefited.

The weekend was concluded with the distribution of the team kit which everyone agreed looked great.  Thanks must go to John Wilson & Empowered Systems for providing the team shirts and all other sponsors who have contributed to the welcome team kit.

Thanks also to our hosts the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club and Matt Barr the squadron leader for their kind hospitality and support for the World Team
Tuesday 6 November 2012

Dovercourt Bay Training


The World Team asked for big seas and windy training so Matt White (team bosun) arranged just that at Dovercourt Bay!

Saturday morning saw winds gusting 30 knots.  With wind against tide the team was able to experience some challenging sailing conditions.  While everyone is now sailing in much appreciated borrowed boats some team members were hampered by gear failure early on.  World Team Coach Adam Bowers impressed upon the team the importance of checking boat and equipment when we get down under where sailing conditions are likely to put our boats under pressure

Conditions similar to those expected in Hobart enabled Adam to coach the team on working with big waves to maintain speed and performance, learning about 'Torque' along with a session on boat balance

Sunday brought even more wind and even bigger waves so the team had a days classroom training which while important was a bit frustrating for all!

Our thanks go to coach Adam Bowers, Giles White for his time and 'Plastic Chicken' (sic) rib support and for the welcome catering from the team at Shipwreck at Shotley Marina.