Ripon Sailing Club Junior & Youth helms enjoy the Easter break
by Jennie Clark 31 Mar 2016 04:23 PDT
26-27 March 2016
Champion Club coaching at Ripon © J Clark
RIPON SAILING CLUB JUNIOR AND YOUTH HELMS ENJOY THE EASTER BREAK
As an RYA Champion Club, Ripon SC prides itself on the training and coaching it offers young helms. This Easter saw two days of Champion Club coaching, funded by the RYA, designed to give a kick start to the season.
The days were split into 2 very clearly focused sessions, with day 1 being led by Brett Cokayne and working on skills for single handed sailing, and day two looking at the skills for sailing in double handers. The club has a long history of developing junior skills and this coaching provided some helms with a chance to get back on the water after the winter lay up, whilst for others it was a chance to get back on the water after a long winter of coaching. No matter what, the fleet got out on the water and made the most of some fantastic sailing conditions.
Single handed day saw a fleet comprising Europe, Topper and Tera dinghies with a wide range of exercises designed to improve boat handling skills. The wind picked up steadily during the day giving some great conditions for the sailors with some of the smaller lighter helms being pushed to just about the limit of their wind strength at the end of the session but nevertheless coming ashore with huge smiles on their faces.
Double Up Day was a new experience for many of the helms, but provided a chance to put the club's fleet of 6 Quba dinghies, all with jibs, into use. These boats have proved to be a fantastic addition to the club fleet, allowing adult use in single handed mode and now double handed for juniors. With pairings designed to separate siblings and attempt some sort of balance between crew and helm the 6 Quba dinghies and 2 Feva dinghies took to the water under the watchful eye of Coach Dave Eccles. Dave provided the group with a really great introduction to the fun that can be had when sailing double handed with plenty of games and exercises to test out communication and boat handling skills. This is the first of a number of sessions the club has planned to increase interest in double handed sailing amongst it's younger members and on 18 June the club will host an RYA day showcasing the versatile RS Feva dinghy to encourage interest in the RYA Zone Squad scheme.