Coaching tips wanted

[Strangler]

I am organising some club training in April. It is aimed at improving the back end of the fleet. Apart from the usual training type day does anyone have any good ideas they have come across.

One idea I have is to have a buddy system on the water - the top end of the fleet is paired off with the bottom end. The Ferrari sticks with their Ford partner during a race – discussing strategy, encouraging them up to the line, commenting on shifts, playing the gusts downwind etc. Ferrari misses out marks if needed to stay in touch.
Has anyone tried this. Maybe it’s a recipe for disaster!

Awaiting your brilliant ideas….

 

[bjmoose]

Might work, I kinda like it.

But I'd have concerns in a big fleet about the ability of the boats to stay in contact. A lot of times where there's room for one boat to go, there is not room for two.

But I could see it working if you had, say, 10 boats on the water. Or if you had a bigger fleet, you could break them into subfleets.

One challenge is getting the "hare" boats to come out. The tortoises will come out to get the opportunity to be coached. The hares may see it just as work, without the opportunity to improve, and find something "better" to do that Saturday.

 

[Krycek]

I think it would be more productive to have mid fleet paired with back of the fleet.

Here's my reasoning.... when learning to sail fast and competitive you need to work your way up. If you have someone who is just trying to keep the boat upright sailing with someone who is more concerned with ther line sight andthe 1/2 knt of current at the weather mark, you're going to have some missed areas... like tacking and gybing tricks. People Mid fleet are more likely to have been in the back of the fleet more recently so might be able to relate more to the fustrations of an FNG.

Tacking and gybing on the whistle are some of my favorite drill to administer (not exactly my favorite to do, even though the results are impressive).

My personal favorite drill is what I call the windward start... everyone starts going downwind. By the time the fleet hits the leeward gate, the fleet has already seperated into top end, mid, and new guys. Then, on the upwind legs, people within the same skill level can guage themselves against others they're sailing with. i teach a lot of intermediate and advanced sailing and this is ALWAYS a phenominal learning expereince.

I do like the buddy system idea thou.... I'm going to try it myself this spring and see how it works!!!


Jon