TRANSPARENT COACHING 3

by Pam

Friday evening was informal chalk talk followed by more picture and video analysis on Saturday. This time Doug had the memory card in the camera and filled it up. But … my computer died Friday evening and I usually edit and upload his pictures and videos so they’re probably going up on the website unedited and I’ll fix them later.

Chalk talk was a sampling of appropriate subjects from a Laser clinic Doug will be doing in Colorado. He asked me what I wanted to see him teach at the clinic and I think I talked nonstop for over 30 minutes without pausing. Essentially, I’ve asked him to dumb things down and I also asked that he tell me how to approach the starts, etc. depending on whether I’m a beginner, experienced or advanced. I’ve seen him get fouled up at the start and come all the way through the fleet and make it look easy (and he says it is). All the courses I’ve ever seen talk about winning the start and catching the first shift (in a perfect world type thing) but no one tells you what to do if everything didn’t go right. He’s come up with some interesting concepts. I’ve seen pieces of the course and I’m really looking forward to seeing the whole thing.

But I digress. The course smattering that Catherine received started with Doug discussing how she is actually sailing 3 different boats depending on the wind speed. Light wind is about being smart, medium wind is about being fast and high wind is about being fit. Each boat requires different tuning and pointing. He discussed rig tune depending on the conditions. It’s the usual stuff ... ease everything in light wind and tighten up in heavy. His Laser clinic is actually going to have a laminated Blind Man’s Guide for tuning and trimming. I’m not sure the Butterfly lends itself to the same cut and dried type of cheat sheet. Lastly, Doug discussed some basic rules and tried to explain the learning process of acquiring a feel for the boat.

Saturday was time to hit the water again. Doug’s take away was two things. First, at Catherine’s level of sailing, no amount coaching or training will overcome a bad start. A good start is any start that results in clear air after 10 seconds. Starting at the boat in the third row and then tacking into clear air is still a good start. Second, Doug has observed a common error that the entire fleet makes which provides numerous opportunities to gain and pass boats. He’s talked about sailing angles for years but it appears that the significance of the concept hasn’t been fully understood.

Catherine’s performance today showed improvement but she is also at the phase where things are going to be a bit frustrating because she now has a lot of stuff floating around in her head to remember. Next logical step is boat handling practice and night sailing.