As Winter Training ends in your club let us know how it went.

Photo: Sailors from Galway Bay Sailing Club at the "Coach the Coach" Weekend held in their club.

Oppie Sailors around the country were busy training all winter long.

Where clubs didn't have sufficient numbers to untake a full training program they often pooled resources with other clubs.

Skerries sailing club had an amazing winter training program including sailors from Dunmore East and Cork and the sailors were coached by Danish coach Denis Passeke.

The Optimist performance Group was a joint initative between the Royal St. George, The National and Howth Yacht Clubs and the coaching was led by Ollie Green and Josh Metclafe.

The ISA squad were of course coached by ISA National Coach Thomas Chaix and also attended two international events Palma & Vigo.

Out west Galway Bay had a great winter training programme read a report from them below.

Please let us know how winter training in your area email editor@iodai.com

A report on GBSC experience availing of Thomas Chaix’ services in February to “coach the coach”.

The weekend “with Thomas” started for many of us oppi parents on Friday evening last when Thomas met with an enthusiastic group of 12 or 13 mums and dads to talk to us on the subject of introducing our children to sailing, how to keep it interesting and fun for those who are already engaged and pathway boats for those who are ready or near ready to move class.  It was a very interesting evening with plenty of discussion.    

We had an excellent take up by the juniors in the club to avail of the opportunity to work with Thomas and the other coaches over the weekend.  Nineteen sailors in all with skills ranging from our “top end” sailors (gold fleet) through to strong regatta level and everything in between took to the water.  We had three junior coaches lined up to work with Thomas.  They had all worked with the sailors previously and knew the skill levels of each junior.   

The sailors were divided into three groups based on skill level and Thomas assigned a coach to lead out each group.  These were rotated from one group to the next over the course of the weekend allowing each coach to work the different levels under Thomas’ direction.   

Saturday was not kind from a weather perspective with unusually dense fog and no wind.  Hope remained high that the fog might clear and allow for a launch but it persisted into the afternoon and while there was some signs of a clearance in the afternoon it did not materialize and all boats remained on shore for the day.  Regardless of the weather the day was filled with shore based exercises and all the sailors were strongly engaged throughout the time.  Rigging and hiking classes, white board/theory work and dry land maneuvering of the boats around the dinghy park helped in the learning process.  Saturday concluded with a great social evening for all the sailors, coaches and parents hosted by one of the families.  

Sunday came good with a steady breeze from early morning and a prompt launch followed the briefing.  All sailors had a pretty intensive morning session and while dry suits were mostly in use many reported afterwards that they were “overheating”.  As the morning progressed the wind continued to build resulting in a number of capsizes.  Despite this only three sailors retired before lunch.  Following lunch the fleet (less 3) launched into a second equally intensive session in the afternoon.  With 15 to 17 knots and gusts on 20 it kept all on their toes and offered plenty of learning opportunity.

All the sailors were very happy with their weekend.  The feedback from each of the junior coaches was very positive and each felt that the time with Thomas was very beneficial.  Thomas too was complimentary about the skills base that is in place within the club from a coaching perspective and felt we are currently in a pretty good position to build on this.  As a club we were delighted to get the opportunity to have Thomas spend this time with us and we would look to repeat this process again possibly on a biannual basis.