Optimist Training Camp Schull 14th to 18th Feb 2005

Optimist Training Camp Schull 14^th to 18^th Feb 2005

  Objectives.

 Boat Speed

1. Thinking for themselves
2. Head out of the boat

1. Boat Speed.

 Following on from the training camp in Malahide, I must say our Boat speed is only as good as our top sailor, and if our top sailor is not pushed then there is no need for them to go any faster.

I did say at the camp in Malahide that in the 90s Argentinean sailors were the fastest in the world, any of there top 20 could have been world champion.

So if we are to build on our speed we need to build our base stronger so in time they will push the top sailors.

If we can as a full group improve our starts by, thinking more pre-start, be more aggressive, less tacks after the start, be able to change gear quicker i.e. stop to full speed and be able to hold speed in all circumstances we are well on the way back to where we should be.

 Boat speed comes from a group of things,

1.  Boat preparation

2.  Boat tuning

3.  Training on and off the water

4.  Concentration

5. “The Feel” from hours of training

 The FEEL is when everything is going right, you feel fast, your starts are just perfect, nobody seams to tack on you, you don’t know why but you are always on the right side of the beat and run, you just cant do anything wrong.

 Boat preparation and Boat tuning again we will deal with at this Camp, using video with lectures and then putting into practice on the water.

We need to know instinctively where boat speed can be obtained at all times and in all conditions.

 Mast rake and the need to change

1. Luff tension
2. Luff ties
3. Sprit tension and the need to change
4. Kicker tension and the need to change
5. Out haul tension
6. Foils and hull
7. Gear overhaul continuous service

 With all of this we need the sailors to set up the boats not the parents, so the sailors will learn from there mistakes, and will learn how and when to make changes to help with speed, (thinking for themselves) it is all very well rigging the boat to perfection? before going afloat, but conditions change requiring changes afloat.

 Head out of the boat will come from on the water training.

 I have put a list of what we need to address at the Camp

 Hull maintenance

1. Foil maintenance
2. Proper sailties
3. Sprit wire and rope without chafe
4. Kicker rope without chafe and works in cleat
5. Mainsheet 6 to 7mm with 8mm for the smaller sailors in strong wind
6. Mainsheet strop
7. Mainsheet length
8. Mainsheet tension
9. Adjustable toestraps
10. Buoyancy bags
11. Painter that floats and correct length
12. Daggerboard support line
13. Mast step marked for rake
14. Mast rake 2760 to 2850mm

 Remember fitness will be assessed at the camp so keep up the good work.

Fitness is not just for the body it is also for the mind.

Fitness is so important, remember the windy day and think about sailing all day in those conditions at the fitness levels you are at.

So remember the phrase when training,

“No pain no Gain”