TRANSPARENT COACHING 4

by Pam

Wednesday evening brought 6 Butterflyers out for some practice.  Luigi got the benefit of coaching from Gary, Bruce, Doug and myself.  Catherine's brain was still full from the last practice and she opted to sail on her own and felt like she made lots of progress.  The conditions were on the light side and she kept the boat moving, didn't get frustrated and kept track of the wind.  At the end of the evening we did some chalk talk and it was evident that Catherine was absorbing more of what was being said.

Luigi is a special challenge.  Doug felt that he had a decent feel for the boat but his bigger challenge is all the English sailing terminology.  It's confusing for a native English speaking person to grasp that sailing has about four of five ways of saying the same thing and invariably, once you learn one word and its meaning, people start using a different word for the same thing.  It also makes it hard to learn the rules although our rules coaching hour on Saturdays has been absolutely awesome.  Thanks Frank and Bruce.  Luigi, just for you, we'll be posting English sailing definitions later tonight.  We'll also post a brief description of the starting sequence so you'll know how to set your watch.  The next person that does race duty with Luigi needs to spend a little time educating and teaching.

Doug was encouraged by Luigi's newness to the sport.  He hasn't had time to develop bad habits, he has a very good attitude and is patient which all make him an excellent student who is likely to progress rapidly with some instruction.  Just knowing the starting sequence and setting his watch is going to make a big difference.

The evening ended with some chalk talk.  Doug and I both attempted to walk through and describe our own method of getting a feel for the boat and having it talk to you.  Most sailors have learned not to sail a straight line on any given tack and are usually testing the upper and lower limits that the wind will let them sail.  Doug's method is very slightly beyond that and is subtle but if done properly not only keeps the boat on the wind but can also be used to make the boat accelerate and go faster.  First, we talked to Catherine and Luigi about the method and how to find the groove and feel the boat and next we'll go out and do some straight line speed and have each of them discover their own method of implementing it.