Happy Friday to all! I’m Coach Sophia and I coach the Green Fleet. Despite the unpredictable weather, most of our sailors managed to get out on the water and learn a lot of new skills today!
The Mercury Mentors learned about the many different types of knots used in sailing. The 8 knot, the square knot, and the bowline were a few the kids practiced. With this new skill they were then given the opportunity to try to tie Coach Isa to a chair! If the knot was correct it could stay, but if it was incorrect they had to remove it and try a different knot. The Mercury Mentors were also quizzed on the parts of the boat.
The Beginner Optis reviewed the points of sail by going over the upwind, downwind, and reach angles. In addition to points of sail, they reviewed sail trim and learned the proper trimming technique. This was also the first day that many sailors were able to sail by themselves! Sailing alone can be scary at first, but towards the end of the day there was a lot of improvement and the kids were cruising around the basin like pros.
The Green Fleet was put the test today. They started learning some pretty advanced skills such as the roll tack. This requires an extremely quick handswitch during the tack as well as fast footwork. By practicing throughout the day, the sailors were able to nail the mechanics of the roll tack. We will continue to work on this skill over the course of camp. The second half of the day the Green Fleet learned about rabbit starts and continued to practice their boathandling by doing long upwinds and downwinds.
With the light air we had this morning, the 420s worked on kinetics and roll tacking. Sailors can make their boats accelerate even when there is no wind with the mastery of these two skills. In the afternoon the 420s continued to practice what they learned in the morning and also did some race course work.
Arthur’s Green Fleet Clinic made it out to the ocean today were they worked on “kiting”. Kiting is when you heel the boat to windward on the downwind to keep the sail fully loaded up with power when the wind gets light. This skill is crucial to keeping the boat at full speed during races and minimizing drag. The Green Fleet also worked on backwinding and did some racing!
