Waszp Training at Tata Steel Sailing Club
by Jess Nelson 9 Jan 2020 05:35 PST
4-5 January 2020
Six Waszps arrived at Tata Steel Sailing Club on January 4th with the promise of bacon and egg baps and a good day's foiling.
With full stomachs and a clear plan, we hit the water to work on our own specific goals, some were focusing on foiling tacks and gybes whilst some of us with less experience were focusing more on getting foiling and maintaining this. After a few chilly swims we were starting to get the hang of it with coach Ross Harvey giving out some invaluable tips. It was a great way to either blow off the Christmas cobwebs or just get used to sailing the boat. What a great way to welcome 2020!
With everyone fully warmed up we started doing some box course racing, helping us all to put into practice what we had been learning earlier on. This gave us all a focus and I think it's fair to say that we all saw some great improvements from the morning. After some stellar pasta bake by Head Coach/Chef Max Todd we hit the water in some lighter breeze in the hope we could get some more foiling in but unfortunately the Welsh Riviera forecasted big breeze did not pull through so we headed in with the promise of 21 knots on Sunday.
Sunday arrived, 21 knots didn't! Although marginal we had enough wind to plough on using a slalom course giving a great emphasis on boat handling and gybing, which everyone agreed could always be done better! The afternoon yet again had lighter airs but this gave us an opportunity to work on our low-riding tacks in some short course racing.
As the first girl to take part in a WASZP UK Class training session it was great to see how supportive everyone was, and although I'm inexperienced in a Waszp each and every one involved was more than happy to help rig or give me tips to improve. It was a fun atmosphere to train in, a terrific group of sailors with expert coaching and I'm looking forward to doing it again soon!
On behalf of the WASZP UK Class Training team I would like to say a massive thank you to Tata Steel Sailing Club for being so welcoming and hosting us, to Ross Harvey from Sensible Sailing for providing some top quality training, to Max Todd from Fastafoiling and WASZP UK Head Coach/Chef for organising and looking after us all so well making some excellent breakfast baps and pasta bakes. Also a big thank you to Noble Marine Insurance and Zhik for sponsoring the class.
We are looking forward to the next training event, further information will be sent out shortly regarding the venue and date.
If you require any further information regarding WASZP UK Class Training please contact Petrina at