Schull Week - Further reports

 For many years the International Optimist Association of Ireland have organised a Winter Training Week at the Fastnet Marine and Outdoor Education Centre in Schull, Cork. It's timed to hit the mid-term break in February and it usually throws harsh conditions at these young sailors and sets them up for a year of good sailing and hard competition.

This year 75 participants took to the water split into a gold & silver fleet, a bronze fleet and a regatta fleet. The instruction for the more senior sailors was delivered by national and international optimist coaches. The regatta fleet were guided through their training by the ISA instructors from the Fastnet Centre. Lots of good racing topped off the day's lessons.

This year four young sailors from GBSC attended. These youngsters have been on the water many times over the winter since the GBSC Optimist regatta in October 2007 and were delighted to participate in the class training week.

Fortunately the weather conditions were wonderful for sailing and were almost summer-like. There was plenty of good wind coming across Schull Harbour and late in the week they had a day of winds mostly approaching 20knots and gusting higher.

The IODAI is run by many very enthusiastic individuals. They are clearly committed to ensuring that youngsters involved in sailing get positive experiences on the water and do so safely under the care and attention of their parents. This was an exceptionally well organised event in that regard.

Seeing the entire fleet of 85 youngsters launched from a slip on a lee shore in winds up to 20knots in less than 40 minutes was unforgettable. Parents in waders or drysuits stood chest-deep in water to get the boats safely off the slipway with dry children aboard. Launching trolleys are whisked away by teams of parents to keep the launch flow running smoothly.

Later in the week the ISA National Junior Squad joined the training week, having completed their own squad training in Kinsale. These were an able and impressive team of sailors. It was remarkable to watch them impart their detailed knowledge of sail trim and rig set-up to parents and children alike. It was great to overhear a 14yrs, female member of the squad explain "Over 25knots I do this to the sprit. But when we were in Greece and got 40knots the boat was a bit hard to handle no matter what I did to the rig." I've been on a sail boat in 40knots, but it was a big one, with lots of people around. And I had my Rosary Beads. But in an oppy!

It was a fantastic week of training and our GBSC sailors learned much and are eager for more. As many Sundays as we can they'll be out on the water further developing their sailing ability. Noel Harvey, our Training Officer, is hoping to have a couple of days coaching for all oppy sailors over the Easter holidays.

Also there will be a series of optimist training sessions for the experienced sailors and those who've not been in a boat for a while. It will start Sunday 13th April and will run for four weeks. Hopefully many of the sailors will then be able to join in the Regatta fleet of the Optimist Championships which are scheduled for 24 & 25th May at GBSC.

By way of explanation, the regatta fleet is a training section for the less experienced sailors. After some training with an IOADI coach, the sailors will race under instruction. This is separate from the main fleet of racing boats.

The main fleet of Oppy sailors at the championship is expected to number about 100. There'll be about 40 more boats between mark boats, committee boats, rescue boats and parent's support boats. It will be fantastic to have some many boats out on Galway Bay at once for a sailing event.