2014 Orange Bowl Debrief- Green Fleet
On December 27th-30th LYC sailors
competed at Orange Bowl at CRYC. All of
our sailors achieved personal goals throughout the regatta; for some of our
sailors it was their first regatta ever, while others sailed to top finishes! Kudos
to the following sailors for participating in this regatta: Ryan Kronrad,
Joseph Harrington, Raia Ottenheimer, Lauren Carron, Sofia Tudzarov, and Jake
Burgess. They all learned so much about a regatta, sailing in light air and
starts. We saw great improvement after each race! Thank you Haley Fox for
coaching these sailors!
Congratulations to our top place finishers in green fleet:
Miles Wolff 2nd
Anna Vasileva 6th
Lucy Meagher 8th
Bobby Rielly 17th
Jack Caroll 25th
Here are some of the considerations and coaching tips that
helped our sailors at this event:
Conditions: Light wind 5-8knots, Wind direction ESE
1.)
Take a chance! Split away from the fleet and go
right (tack out early)! We learned that the right side was paying off especially
on Day 1 and Day 2. This was a mixture of sailing the longer tack due to
current first, more pressure on the right, and a persistent right shift! A golden rule of sailing is if something is working;
stick with the same plan unless conditions change.
2.)
Light air racing. Be on the line, on time with
speed. Miles and Lucy had an excellent 2nd day and this was due to
great starts. They were able to hold their spot at the boat for the entire 5
minute sequence. This can be challenging to do, but with good boat handling it
is possible to maintain the same position on the line by. It was important to
play a side of the course (majority was the right side) rather than sailing in
the middle. This allowed more leverage on the rest of the fleet and clearer air
by sailing to an edge.
3.)
Downwind it was important to sail as low on the
first reach leg and sail high on the second reach leg to maintain inside
position at the mark. We had our sails sometimes out more than 90 degrees to
allow gravity to keep our sail out.
4.)
Reestablishing speed. We talk about how to accelerate
but we don’t always discuss how to regain you speed after being headed, lifted
or sailing under other boats. When your boat hits the breaks for whatever reason,
you need to build speed again. This is done by easing to the new shift and
trimming the sail as you head up or tack. When you hit a lift, it is important
to ease to the course you are on and trim to head up, rather than heading up
with only the rudder and not the sail. We build speed through our sail!
5.)
Focus and concentration- Hydration was key for
staying focused throughout the day. It was critical to plan for the puffs and
anticipate lulls by sitting forward and in before they hit. Watching you sail
trim and tell tales were soo important!
6.)
Checking in with the fleet. It was important to “watch
your back” especially when you split away from the fleet. Make sure that you
consider whether they have a better angel to the mark.
7.)
Clear air. The most challenging legs on the
course were the first and last leg (both upwind legs). The first leg was
keeping right and winning the start. The last leg you needed to sail more
tactically. If you are rounding the leeward mark ahead of boats, then you need
to keep them behind you by sailing on top of them.
8.)
Believe in yourself. No matter how well or disappointed
you are from your previous race, you must take what you learned and apply it to
your next race. Stay positive and never give up!
Thank you parents for supplying
water and snacks and also to our towers: Jay Carroll, Virginia Holden, and
David Kronrad.
Happy New Year!
Julia Melton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orange Bowl Debrief
Miles Wolff, Green Fleet Sailor
The Orange bowl regatta was spectacular. All of our green
fleeters did so well. For the newcomers, All of them did not place next to the
more experienced L.Y.C sailors but for their level of skill, they did amazing
for their first regatta.
I think everybody could improve on some sailing
techniques to finish in a better position.
One very important thing to do is stay hydrated. Our
coach Julia was always making us drink a whole bottle of water every race so we
would focus and concentrate.
I was always sitting in my boat so I would never have any
windward heel. If we ever felt that we did not have a good race and felt sad
about it, Julia would tells us to forget about it, move on and go try to do
better next time.
The light wind at Orange Bowl 2014 was challenging because
when you try and sail your boat in the small choppy waves my Opti would crashes
against the oncoming chop making my boat not go very fast.
Sail Fast!
Sincerely,
Miles Wolff
No comments:
Post a Comment