Coaching by Gary Adshead

Saturday 25^th may, 2013.

Gary Adshead.

Present:                                                                       Missing:

·                Row - Helm	·                Kate
·                Jane - Main	·                Barb
·                Leander – Trim 1
·                Alina – Trim 2
·                Hayley - Pit
·                Mandy - Sewer
·                Andrea - Mast
·                Elyse - Bow

Started off leaving the dock at 1.15 after waiting for a few missing sailors.

Wind light to medium, ranging from 7 to 13 from the SSE.

Main and light jib.

Talked through the objective of the day to have a chilled sail with plenty of tacks, gybes and kite work, reinforced that the loudest voice on the boat is mine and I will float, help out if required and talk through all manoeuvres and try not to get in the way.

Main went up easily though the webbing at the top batten on the bolt rope is worn and catches on the feeder. This needs to be fixed before it causes further problems.

Row

No problems steering and focused on what she was doing not yelling or hassling for manoeuvers to happen quicker etc. nice and relaxed.

Got to a stage where she was steering to the kite in gybes and all other manoeuvers. No problems at all and confident in what she was doing.

Row needs to try steering sitting down more and work with the main trimmer on keeping speed / height.

Jane

Great and no problems trimming the main; used the sheet and traveller to get the best out of it and changed gears when the breeze fluctuated. Good calls on the gybes to duck, mainly directed at me.

Main needs to call the boat speed more and make sure the heady trim is working with her.

Also downwind the main trimmer needs to be looking back and calling the wind.

Leander

First time on the boat and hadn’t floated kites during gybes for some time, she didn’t use that as an  excuse and did well, maybe over trimmed at times as she’s used to big boats and having to trim in twice as far. She took some getting used to two handing the sheets on the float gybes otherwise comfortable. We kept the angle small (didn’t go from shy to shy) to make her job and the bow / mast combination work easier, that was the smart thing to do and confidence (fun) increased.

Upwind trim was good and again getting used to the different sail shape but had the skills and will improve with more sails on the boat.

Alina

Great second trim. Good tailing on tacks and brace work under kite was great. All good.

I didn’t get into it but upwind she should be calling the wind and counting the puffs in “puff on in 5, 4….).

Also on the gybes in heavier wind call for the tactician to come in and either grind or tail the brace to get it back quickly, this will stabilise the spinnaker and stop the helms white knuckles.

Hayley

No problems, knows what is required of her and keeps her eyes on what is happening up front.

She needs to be more aggressive on the topper coming out of the gybes but again all good. I suggested that she stands out of the stairs, next to the cabin top, for the gybes to be able to get more purchase / leverage on the topper and halyard for the hoist and gybes.

Also as soon as the trip is called for the pole she needs to drop the topper to the marked height, don’t wait for the pole to be tripped, it’s easier to come out of the beak when the topper is off.

Mandy

On time and eager to pitch in which is invaluable and does it with a smile. Great at sewer and kicker, if anything make sure she gets down those stairs earlier rather than later and that might help if Hayley’s out of the stairs. I’m not sure if she ran the tapes after each drop but good on the boat and has fun.

Andrea

Really good on the mast, strong and uses her body weight when bouncing halyards, just needs to make sure she watches the hoist, looking forward, while doing it.

We changed the gybe from bow tripping and running forward to connect the new brace, to mast tripping the pole with the bow in a pre-set position to receive the pole. It certainly worked better as the gybes became a lot cleaner with fewer issues. We should see if we can keep the pole butt at a constant height so it doesn’t need to be adjusted for each gybe, this will make the tripping easier and more efficient.

Good talking on what needs to happen at each mark rounding, this position is the eyes and ears for the bow with comments going both ways.

Elyse

Elyse, just because I’ve written a lot here doesn’t mean anything bad.

Elyse got better and better as the day went on and finished on a good note. The first few runs we had some issues and we discussed this and identified that she was confused with the Flanno running forward gybe technique which resulted in a few twists on the pole, so we reverted to the method she was more confident with. We discussed changing it around and doing it other ways once she has her gybes down pat.

Elyse and the gybes worked better as the afternoon went on and she became more confident and happier on the bow. It didn’t help when I suggested a float gybe drop (Mexican) on the last manoeuvre for the day, but it worked and it came down clean and dry and we had boat speed out of the manoeuvre, perfect.

It’s one of the most important positions on the boat (and the most visible) and the more you practice the better you will become.  Do it your way and once you have that perfected play around with other ways and work out the best for you and the boat. Don’t forget that you are in control of some of the manoeuvers downwind so don’t hesitate to “suggest” how you want them done.

Work on keeping the brace and sheets clean so you don’t have issues out at the end of the pole.

Practice as much as you can with the direction the brace is coming from so it doesn’t go into the beak the wrong way or twisted. Keep the jib out of the feeder and foil so the pole doesn’t hit anything on the way through the gybe.

Also on the hoist and gybes you control where the pole goes. Meaning, clip the sheet and brace in for the hoist then hold the pole up over your head for the topper to take up. This always ensures the pole doesn’t catch on the forestay / foil. Same with the gybes, throw the pole out towards the spinnaker tack after you’ve yelled made, this will keep it from ripping the kite if the topper comes up too quick (by keeping out of the middle of the kite) and makes it easier for the second trim to pull the brace in.

Overall

I think everyone had fun and the team work got better and better as the day progressed. We slowed the manoeuvres down after a few little errors to start and that helped greatly. Then we started to do them a little faster and more frequently and really didn’t have too many issues.

Upwind is fine, the tacks and weight movement are great, no problems there. Changing gears for the up / down of the breeze needs more communication from the side (calling the wind) and main trim to talk it through with the heady trimmer and helm on what’s required to keep or build boat speed.

Downwind, gybes need more practice. Big thing is to keep the headsail down and out of the way for the gybes, less clutter the easier the manoeuvre is. Slow turns and getting it right is always better than fast turns and more stress. Increase the angle of the gybes once confidence and competence is reached. 

Keep the fun in it and have a few laughs along the way.

It won’t take long for the manoeuvers to improve and then it will be easier to take it up a level and with a solid base of experience to rely on everything starts to become second nature.