UKLA 4.7 Training Datchet water

28 Sailors turned up to Datchet water, for the second UKLA 4.7 Class training, despite severe weather warnings for much of the UK! The training has a different racing theme for each of the 5 weekends culminating with a coach supported race weekend, at the ESSO championships.
Andrew was joined by assistant coaches Clare Chapple and Matt Goodbourn, who together focused the training around the main theme of tactics and boathandling around Mark roundings, but with winds touching 25 knts at points, windy weather boathandling was a big part of the training too!
With a building forecast on Saturday, the sailors hit the water straight away to take advantage of the lighter conditions first thing. The sailors were put through there paces on tight courses designed to put the pressure on there markroundings, and as the wind increased towards 25 knts before lunch time, all types of boathandling was put to the test. Star performer of the morning was Cameron who seemed to love the heavy winds, but everyone improved massively by pushing themselves in the strong conditions. The sailors then together broke down the skills required for a good windward and leeward mark rounding over the lunch debrief, before heading back out for the afternoon to put there ideas into practice. The afternoon, consisted of more around the course exercises with 2 sailors breaking off with 1 coach for some specific 1 on 2 coaching.

Sunday dawned with a consistent 22knts on the water, but with big gusts coming across the lake. The sailors and coaches therefore decided to use the morning for theory and then having a early lunch and long afternoon session on the water. A mixture of topics were covered including some rules of thumb wind strategy, correct setup and technique for different wind strengths and a great session from Clare and Matt on what the sail controls actually do to a rigged 4.7 sail inside the classroom…..
The afternoon was very productive with a mixture of races and exercises using the length of the lake, with the sailors split into two groups. Probably the biggest improver of the afternoon was Melissa, who really improved her upwind sailing after starting to use the sail controls properly to depower her sail.

The 3rd Open 4.7 training weekend on the 10th and 11th of December, is open to any UKLA member, and will focus on Boatspeed and starting skills across the weekend.