After many months in the planning, the Contender training day was set for 26th August 2023, yes a Bank Holiday weekend but with the busy Contender schedule for 2023 and only two Saturday options available it was either this or the weekend of the King's Coronation and with a British Contender fleet of true royalists this was not really an option.
As the weekend drew closer a number of names were added to the list of participants looking to fine tune their skills - just two weeks before the Contender National Championships to be held at Exe SC from the 7th to the 10th September. The forecast for the day was for around 7-10 knots with a light shower later in the day.
With 10 of the 11 boats now rigged, inspected and ready for action, it was time for a quick briefing with the Instructor for the day Adam Bowers, who had agreed to provide his expert knowledge for the eager-to-learn fleet.
A number of starts were arranged with varying degrees of port bias showing who was and who wasn't paying attention, with a couple of boats making a clear port start and crossing the fleet. The other focus for the day was rounding the leeward mark and getting away cleanly, this highlighted the need for a good entry line into the mark and a clear and precise exit.
The fleet returned to the clubhouse for the first debrief of the day and a spot of lunch. The debrief was based around a number of videos and photos as Adam explained in great detail both the good and not so good decisions and manoeuvres made during the session and the use of some rear shots and close-up photos to show the rig set-ups in detail.
With the debrief over, the sailors were keen to get back out on the water to put into practice what they had learned from the morning's session.
With the second session of on the water training complete is was back into the clubhouse for the final debriefing of the day working on a similar format to the earlier debrief using videos taken during this second session.
This Contender training day was provided by the British Contender Association and was free to all BCA members but would not have been possible without the following helpers:
Chris Howe who did most of the organising for the event liaising with OSC, BCA and Adam Bowers. And spent the whole day on either the training or the safety boat.
Tony Brooks on-shore help on the day (nursing a bad back).
Ed Presley boat tuning supremo who also spent the morning helping on the training boat.
Chris Burrows and Nicolas Perzo OSC Safety boat drivers.
Carl Tagoe for providing a reminder that he is one to avoid on the start line.
And last but not least Adam Bowers the instructor for the day who all that attended agreed was helpful, informative and provided great instruction in a fun and friendly manner, even those that were unable to get onto the water for the training found his debriefing session extremely helpful.
Big thanks go to Adam Bowers, BCA committee and Oxford SC.
Next event on the Contender calendar is Castle Cove SC on the 23rd & 24th September.
No comments:
Post a Comment