Green Fleet Week 3 Practice Debrief

Green Fleet Team,

Another great practice this past weekend! I am excited to see that many of the sailors are improving in their boathandling. We have been focusing on sailing upwind to minimize our distance to the windward mark. This is done through reading tell tales and course awareness. We also were introduced to “kiting”- how we sail the boat fast on a run.  

Some things we learned about kiting-

- After rounding the windward mark, let your sail out 90 degrees to the boat

-pull the dagger board up (use the bungie to keep the board up!)

-body position: knees angled forward and feet locked in the hiking straps. In light air, sit as far forward as you would upwind!

-heel to the windward side of the boat (side opposite side of the sail, that you are sitting on)

-The goal is to get a balanced, stable and consistent windward heel

-If you are lighter and more of a beginner, you can hang off the dagger board, but more experienced kids should try to balance the heel without holding the dagger board and have the tiller and mainsheet in each hands. This is because the kids should be focused on playing the mainsheet.

-In light air, you need to let your sail out more than 90 degrees to allow gravity to keep the boom out.

 Below are two videos from kiting practice:

A new drill that we worked on this week was the mobile mark drill. This is where sailors are sailing around a mark and the (moving) motor boat continuously. This is a great drill for understanding course awareness and wind direction. It’s important that sailors understand that every change of direction around the course should be connected with the sail trim. USE THE SAIL TO STEER! As we round the windward mark (most upwind mark) and head downwind, sailors should be easing there sail aggressively as they turn down around the mark. The sail really helps the boat turn down.

Remember the goal of sailboat racing is to get to the next mark the quickest and using the sail to your advantage can really help you achieve this. Wind awareness is key to sail trim and reading your tell tales.

This coming week, the intermediate and advance groups are going to work on accelerations and stopping the boat, and practice starts. Along with this we will discuss 3 right-of-way rules on the starting line. 

Green Fleet assignment: I would like every sailor to write at least one glow and one grow pertaining to sailing. A glow is something you feel proud of confident in what you learned or accomplished. A grow is something you want to improve and work on.

You can find the glow and grow document here.

Julia Melton