Hi there, it’s Coach Dae with your daily update.
Today, the Mercury Mentors learned a lot about the wind direction and how it affects our boat. They learned how to properly trim the sail on an upwind, a downwind, and a reach. On my boat, I had our group’s two pairs of brothers on each side of the boat taking turns trimming when they were on the windward side. Everyone pointed out where the wind was coming from and what point of sail we were on. All of the sailors did phenomenal. We even had them all hiking since it was pretty windy today!
Beginner Optis spent the day doing a windward-leeward course. On this course, the sailors practiced pointing their boats upwind, tacking, and trimming their sails. In the morning, we had two children sail by themselves. By the afternoon, there were four more sailing alone! Those sailors names are: Kai, Giorgio, Kylie, Damon, Dylan, and Bella. You all did awesome today!!!!! Those who sailed alone also worked on how to trim their sails with both hands while steering the boat in a straight line. We saw a huge improvement in the sailors’ steering abilities throughout the day. Good job!
This week, the 420 group gained a few sailors from Arthur’s Opti clinic, which ended on Friday. In the morning, the 420 sailors did the pirate drill again. This is where they hop on to other boats and try to flip them safely. Even though it is fun, it helps sailors get a feel for hiking, steering, keeping the boat flat, capsize recovery, and avoiding collisions. In the afternoon, they went over the perfect rigging techniques and learned how to go wing-on-wing on the downwinds. After their hard work with Coach Isa, they spent some time on the sandbar.
Green Fleet practiced the cone drill in the morning with Coach Joey and Coach Conner. They also played a game of follow the leader, which tests their ability to maintain the same amount of distance between boats after the leader pulls tricks on them (such as stopping, tacking, slowing down, speeding up, etc.). They also did tacking and gybing on the whistle. After lunch, they sailed to the Cove, where they first practiced starts and then races.
