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Club News

Small Catamaran Coaching Session

Posted: Sunday, 23 September, 2012

Saturday afternoon saw members of the Small Catamaran class refresh their sailing knowledge and gain new skills in a coaching session as part of Whitstable Yacht Club's Sailing Development Programme. Skills of the attendees ranged from sailors who'd just come back from the Dart 18 Worlds in Italy, to those who had rarely been out on a boat before.

15 members with 8 boats attended the session, which started at midday on Saturday with a shore-side boat set up and performance session. The sailors compared their boats rigging, sails and settings, and gained valuable tips from each other on the small changes that can make a big difference on the water. They were also shown a demonstration of the RYA recommended method for tacking a catamaran, to help out with the issues many cat sailors experience of getting nearly, but not quite, all the way through a tack!
The beach session was followed by 2 hours on the water of single short lap practice racing, allowing the sailors to try out their starting, beating upwind, and jibbing downwind techniques, and see the difference it made on the water. At the debriefing session in the club bar after the sailing, all the sailors agreed that they’d learnt something and everyone had seen an improvement in their sailing over the afternoon.
Thanks go to Nick Dewhirst and Stuart France for their coaching and instruction, and Paul Clifford for driving the coaching boat.