ROUND TABLE RECAP

by Pam

Arlington Yacht Club – July 11

A mini sailing clinic was run at Arlington Yacht Club in connection with their Fish School (an innovative fleet building idea). The morning started with on the water drills. First, figure eight drills to practice boat handling, right of way, mark rounding and jibing. Second, 1 minute starting drills ... about 30 of them with one or two short races. The average sailor on the course was fairly new so things started off a bit chaotic and after some repetition, things sharpened a bit and everyone seemed to get the hang of things and got in some good skills practice.

We took a break, had some lunch and then gathered for the round table. We started off with some basics and discussed our on the water exercises. Tight mark roundings, rounding with speed and getting into the inside passing lane, calling out right of way, anticipating and getting into position for mark roundings, setting up for the start, finding the favored end, getting a line site before the start, hitting the start line with clear air and speed, “pulling the trigger” to get off the line quickly. The last thing we discussed was Doug’s new technique/theory on when to tack which works best in pulsing winds found on lakes and not open water.