Sail-World.com : Young 88s sharpen skills with North Sails Coaching Clinic
Young 88s sharpen skills with North Sails Coaching Clinic
'Y88 Pre Coaching Briefing from Andrew Wills of North Sails - Young 88 North Sails Coaching Clinic'
Rick Hackett
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On Sunday November 6th four Young 88s assembled at the RNZYS for a briefing prior to a day of intense on the water coaching. The aim was for the Y88 association to work with North Sails (one of our sponsors) and a limited number of North’s Y88 customers to test a coaching concept.
The forecast was for another typically breezy November day and we were not to be disappointed.
We started with a briefing in the Squadron from the head coach Andrew (Willzy) Wills who explained to us that he was going to treat the Y88’s and crews just like he does when training kids in Optimists!
Each boat was appointed a radio controlled coach from North Sail’s pool of sailing talent and we were introduced to the chase boat cameraman complete with still, moving and remote digital cameras. The Flintstone crews were starting to feel part of the Facebook scene.
We began the day with 'Rabbit' starts, like a bunch of ballerinas, pirouetting into a line up to leeward of each other to work on straight line speed. This was followed by a starting practice with many scenarios thrown at us. We swapped coaches, downed some lunch and carried on, finishing the day with some tactical advice during short course racing.
The wind was now up and gusting around 30 knots and the War Machine decided to gybe the kite on the last finish and take a short joy ride back under the harbour bridge to the marina. The result is captured on the end of an excellent video video of the day produced by our cameraman Tomo of Argentina Marine Media
We finished with a debrief over a beer back at the Squadron. The conclusion, everyone learned a lot, had fun and would be keen to open up to more boats and repeat in the future.
About the Young 88
The Young 88, about 30 feet in length and with a fractional rig, is a popular multipurpose boat that offers speed and agility for racing, with space and comfort for cruising. The first mould was built by Roger Land in the 1980s, and since then 158 have been built. Of these, 77 are still in the Auckland area, 9 in Northland, 13 in the rest of the North Island, 19 in the South Island, and 38 have been exported.
The Young 88 class is driven in New Zealand by the Young 88 Owners Association.
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