Hi parents, this is Coach Chase. We had a great day at camp with no weather interruptions and light breeze all day. The wind was very light in the morning, so most groups went to the sandbar until the breeze filled later in the day.
Mercury Mentors learned the steps of a tack and practiced tacking on the water. After sailing more upwinds together and getting their tacking steps down, the group went to the sandbar at the end of the day.
Beginner Opti learned how to switch the rudder behind their back while tacking and perfect their exit angles. They played a few rounds of follow the leader behind coach boats to find their ideal upwind angle for warm up. After, they sailed long upwinds and downwinds together in a loose race format. Everyone saw great improvements today especially going upwind!
Green Fleet fine tuned their light air starting technique, working on accelerations off the start line. Using body weight and roll, the sailors can give their boats a boost in these slow conditions. In the afternoon, each sailor picked a single part of their roll tack to improve and repeated the move many times to even out kinks. Finally, the group finished with back-winding races, another important starting skill; congrats to Tim for winning this unique set of races!
The 420s sailed a windward-leeward course today to practice upwind sailing and mark rounding. The course was smaller because the breeze was light, so it also helped with tactical skills. The skippers had to maneuver some very tight situations on the water today!
Red/White/Blue Clinic #2 began with a new rigging technique. They derig and rerig their opti sails each morning in the style of regatta sailing. The sail is a very complex tool that helps sailors learn their sailing method more personally. They warmed up with a 20-minute core workout before sailing out a few miles into the ocean. They worked on their upwind technique all day on the water in light, stable conditions.
Thanks for another great day of camp, we can’t wait to do it again tomorrow! One last reminder that we have Thursday off this week in observance of Independence Day; see you tomorrow!
-Coach Chase
