IOCA South Pre Zone Winter Training Session 1 at Bosham Sailing Club
by Roger Cerrato 3 Nov 2019 23:30 PST
3 November 2019
IOCA South Pre Zone Winter Training at Bosham © Andy Kerr
Eighteen keen young Optimist sailors arrived bright and early for the first of six IOCA South Pre Zone winter training sessions at Bosham Sailing Club.
Despite an ominous forecast earlier in the week conditions on the day were just right, glorious sunny weather with the gentlest of breezes. The morning session focused on exploring sitting positions, balance and boat trim in an Optimist.
A special mention to Ed Upton-Brown who not only managed to sail around most of Bosham Harbour without a rudder, but also challenged himself and succeeded to sail back to the slipway for lunch using just weight and sail trim to steer his boat!
As the tide rose, so did the wind, rewarding the sailors with perfect training conditions for an afternoon of tight boat handling before finishing with two races to put their newly learned skills under pressure in a competitive environment.
One group of sailors shared race officer duties, demonstrating pin point accurate flag changes and timings. Well done to all the sailors and thanks to parents for being perfect pit crews. See you again in two weeks!