By Andrew Weeden

20-21 February 2010 - 28 junior sailors arrived at Draycote from clubs as far apart as Bartley, Rutland, Rudyard Lake and Shropshire to hone their sailing skills under the guidance of Jon Lewis, assisted by Phil Walker. The theme of the weekend was “leaking boat lengths”, a term used to demonstrate how a number of small mistakes added up to cost races.

Saturday morning started with a brief and then out onto the courses where coaches watched individual sailing skills before offering advice on specific areas of improvement. Lunch was followed by a video de-brief before more specific areas of coaching were set up.

Sunday morning started with snow, which made getting to the club the first challenge of the day. The brief for Fevas looked at the roles of helm and crew within the boat for each phase of the course and the importance of team communication towards a successful race. This was taken out onto the water for a short session which included the skill of gybe drops. The Teras had the costs of “crashing and bashing” in lost places demonstrated by on course incidents and were encouraged to seek clear water and clean air to maximise boat speed.

After lunch three back to back 20 minute races were run to consolidate the coaching during which a improvement by all across the fleets were clear to see. The day concluded with a final de-brief and a chance to ask the coaches any final advice.

A big thank you, once again, to the RYA Volvo Championship Club scheme for financing some of the coaching, also to Jon Lewis and Phil Walker for some inspirational coaching and advice through-out the week-end, Simon Loveridge for organising and co-ordinating the week-end and of course to the parents for their support.

If you would like to be involved in future weekends for Teras, Fevas or 29ers please contact office@draycotewater.co.uk for details.

By Jenni Quillin

Manx Youth Sailing Squad training - photo © Dave Kneale

The conditions varied from strong wind and rain to light breezes and sunshine for the Manx Youth Sailing Squad’s second training session with RS Tera GBR Squad coach Jonathan Lewis. Six Manx sailors were invited to join the GBR RS Tera Squad following their performance at the UK RS Tera National Championship last September. They will all be representing Great Britain at the RS Tera World Championships in Carnac, Brittany this summer.

Jonathan spent three days on the Isle of Man, continuing the coaching programme he had begun on his last visit to the Island in November. He was impressed that the team had continued to train through the winter and that they had been practising the techniques which he introduced on his last visit. Boatspeed was the focus of this coaching session and the sailors worked hard to improve their upwind and downwind performance and boat handling.

Manx Youth Sailing Squad training - photo © Dave Kneale

Squad members Hannah Howitt, Izzy Sharpe and James Kelly have recently progressed to the RS Tera Pro class. All three have enjoyed some excellent sailing and the extra power provided by the Pro rig.

Younger squad members Amie Shute, Ffinlo Wright and Greg Kelly will compete this season in the RS Tera Sport. Amie has been with the Squad for two years and is a consistent sailor who puts a lot of thought into her racing. The youngest member Ffinlo was new to the Squad in 2009, his sailing has improved dramatically during the training sessions with Jonathan. Greg Kelly has an excellent track record finishing 3rd in the 2008 RS Tera Inland Championship, 3rd the under 12s at the RS Tera European Championship and 10th at the RS Tera National Championship in 2009, he is the quickest Tera Sport sailor in the MYSS and there are high hopes for a good result at the World Championships.

All six members of the Manx Youth Sailing Squad will attend a GBR Squad training weekend at Draycote Water next month to prepare for the World Championships. The Manx Youth Sailing Squad were the grateful recipients of a grant from Manx Telecom’s ‘It’s Our Community Awards’ to help meet their costs of attending this vital training weekend.

Manx Youth Sailing Squad training - photo © Dave Kneale

The second National Squad Race training weekend takes place at Ardleigh SC this weekend, 27/28^th February.

Registration from 9.30 am.

Please be rigged and ready for 10 am briefing. 

Any queries please contact Zoe Handley,  email zoehandley@talktalk.net

Just a quick reminder of the forthcoming combined Feva / Tera training event on 20th / 21st February. There are currently 10 Fevas and 10 Teras registered for the day. Due to the high level of interest, we have organised additional coaches so that the two fleets can gain from excellent coaching over the two days. Jonathan Lewis, Tera National Squad coach and former Feva National Squad coach will be running this 2 day event. Jonathan will be supported by Phil Walker and Andrew Weeden. Jonathan and Phil will be splitting their time between the Fevas and Teras during the course of the two days, with Andrew supporting those with less experience.

The event is open to a broad range of capabilities and is aimed at giving everyone something to build on in their sailing. Numbers are just about ideal, but there is still room for a couple more boats in each fleet. To cover rib hire, coaching and other costs, there is a £4 charge per person per day for Draycote members. Visitors will be charged £8 per person per day. Start time is 9.30am Saturday (rigged but not changed) and a similar time on the Sunday. We will aim to finish by 3.30 / 4.00pm on the Sunday.

Please contact Simon Loveridge (simonloveridge@sky.com) if you would like to register a place.

Written by Nick Neve,

Photo © Nick Neve

12 year old Will Robinson and his classmate Joe Hills, aged 13, have each been lent a Tera sailing dinghy for a year, with encouragement to train and race before entering the World Championships in France this summer.

Oakham School has a talent for spotting future champions on the water. Pupils from the school have been in the national squad for the RS Feva class for each of the past three years. Two Oakham pupils, Alice Kent & Lucy Childs, are the current RS Feva European Ladies Champions and they have just been named East Midlands Young Sailors of the Year.

“In awarding these new Junior Sailing Scholarships we are hoping to continue to develop future talent” says Oakham School’s sailing coach Nick Neve "The School has paid for two new dinghies so we can help local youngsters who don't have their own boat. I hope our junior scholars will benefit from this opportunity and perhaps turn into future medal winners."