Coaches Log #5 Day three of racing saw lighter winds overall. We sailed two races on an outside course quite a long way from the harbor due to some National Titles for other classes being held. Whilst generally lighter the wind hovered from 8-12 knots and built occasionally to 15 as little black clouds scudded over. I thought of these little mini-fronts as “little black buses”, if you got one you would jump forward a few stops. They were quite race defining, particularly in the first race and still had an influence in the second but slightly less significant as the clouds lifted a bit higher as the day wore on. All in all the Australians had a good day. We are halfway through the regatta and whilst as sailors we are very focused on our attitude of just do well in the moments as they arise, which lends itself to a good race and bodes for a good regatta. It is hard not to take a quick peek at the scoreboard, Tom and Sophie have extended their lead out to seven points over the Germans and these two boats are beginning to put a nice buffer between them and rest of fleet. Louis and Peter are still well entrenched inside the top ten, despite not having their best day. We have a couple more perched in the low teens and the final three in the low twenties ready to move up the scoreboard. These Log entries are beginning to be a bit of a Tom and Sophie show! But after getting a good 3rd in the first race of the day, their 2nd race was sublime. They won pretty convincingly in testing conditions. But it must be said that for a successful individual a strong team/ community is important and we certainly have that. Looking ahead the Lay-day has been postponed due to the forecast of impending un-sailable conditions, so we will be racing today. The weather is looking lighter than previous and I expect 2 races on the inner harbor. The focus this morning will be for the kids to sail “Brave”. By that I don’t mean to be brave on a screaming wet reach with spinnaker up, but to be brave with their set-up and sail control. To the uninitiated (I am amazed how many read this page) there are a lot of lines and rigging on a boat like a Cadet that affect the sail shape and the power of the boat, we use these to enhance power in the lighter winds and to shed the power down to a manageable level in heavy conditions. To be successful you have to change all the way around the course as the conditions change, so our cadet sailors upon sensing or feeling a lighter period of sailing have to power up by softening up on their controls. It is so easy just to think “it will be Ok to just get through this bit”. On top of all this we have tactics (racing boat on boat) and strategy (sailing the course and the altering wind direction). It is very draining mentally and physically, and easy to overlook, you have to be brave to back your judgement and do it. To this extent snacking and re-hydrating are very important. So we make a great feature of this. This self-reliance is what makes this a great sport for kids. My role is limited to a bit of advice or hints before or after the races plus some verbal reassurance. I am not allowed within a hundred metres of the kids while they are racing. There are no sidelines in Yacht Racing.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 06:17:10 +0000
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