Hi everyone! My name is Calli and I’m one of your three Mercury Mentor coaches. Today was a great day with Merc Mentors. Just like yesterday, we split in three groups and had two boats sailing while the other group was on land doing fun water games. All of the sailors steered the boat all on their own today! They learned the difference between port and starboard sides of the boat which is the left and right side. Do you know an easy way to know port from starboard? Port has the same number of letters as left! It was great to see them all get the feel of the boat and steer it in the basin in front of LYC!
Beginner Opti’s had a great lesson in the morning about points of sail. We took a picture of the diagram that coach Kenna made for the kids to understand the points of sail. They also learned the steps of a tack and how to properly pull in the sail. In the afternoon the kids were split into pairs and sailed the opti’s on their own!
Coach Sophia and Green FLeet reviewed points of sail and proper sail trim for their lesson off the water in the morning. On the water, they put that in action. They also worked on some upwind angles and downwind gybing. In the afternoon, Green Fleet learned about the whistles during the 3 minute sequence used during racing. Coach Sophia told me there was great improvement today and can’t wait for the rest of the week!
The 420’s also went over sail trim and when to notice is the right time to trim in the sail or let it out in a lot of breeze. Coach John then set up some courses for the kids to go around to practice sail trim on upwind and downwind. This also gave them the opportunity to try wing on wing with the jib and mainsail. Wing on Wing is a term that describes how to sail with the wind directly behind the boat. One wing (the mainsail) and the other wing (the jib) are on opposite sides of the boat projecting maximum sail area to the wind.
Arthur’s Ocean Green Fleeter’s spent a lot of time in the Atlantic today and did tacking on the whistle drills to improve their technique. Before they went out sailing, they did some conditioning by playing a game of soccer. They also watched videos coach Arthur had of Stephan Baker to help them understand knee placement out of the roll tack. Stephan Baker sailed Optis on the LYC Team until last year when he was 2nd in the World!
We can’t wait for another great day on the water tomorrow. Don’t forget sunscreen and water bottles!
