The summer holidays are almost over for another year, but hopefully we might all enjoy an autumn of settled weather in September and October with gentle warm breezes for sailing. It has been another busy teaching season for MCS around Chichester Harbour with 1:1 coaching for sailors. At HISC with Youth Training Week, Women on Water 3 day event and Optimist Pre-Regatta training. New race coaching at Emsworth SC for Junior Race Week, third year for Mirror Training at Itchenor SC and a sixth term at Langstone SC for Junior and Youth Week. Read on for more news ….
Optimist Pre-Regatta
The Pre-regatta Optimist training programme at HISC was staged across 6 days in early summer. Each day the young sailors progressed with learning new skills such as close-hauled sailing, slowing down, stopping and accelerating from zero to fully hiked out. In almost idyllic sailing conditions with sunshine, blue skies and fresh winds of 18 knots, gusting 21 knots, on the final day, the six confident Optimist sailors controlled big gusts together with efficient tacking and safe gybing throughout the day. Bringing together all their new found skills it gave everyone the opportunity to practice and return to the beach safely under control. “I can do it” was echoed around the debriefing with achievement prizes presented for ‘sailing with confidence’.
Itchenor Mirror Training
An amazing two weeks of Mirror Training at Itchenor Sailing Club in the heart of Chichester Harbour. Fully booked for the entire 10 days of training, the 40 Mirrors, 80 children and 32 Instructors enjoyed a fast moving, structured and fun fortnight of tuition in preparation for ISC Junior Fortnight. There was certainly no shortage of wind but a little more sunshine would have been welcome. The enthusiasm and tireless energy of Itchenor’s dedicated team of Instructors delivered a first class programme to the ISC Mirror sailors.
Charles Hyatt Commodore of Itchenor Sailing Club added “Mirror Training Week provides structured training plus an aspirational pathway for people looking to develop their skills on the instructional and management side. Thanks everyone for all their hard work in creating the success of the two training weeks which in turn has helped enhance Junior Fortnight.”
Emsworth Race Week
A brand new coaching experience for Junior and Youth racing sailors at Emsworth SC in August was hailed a big success. A keen fleet of 25 boats took part in the race series including visitors from Emsworth Slipper SC and Langstone SC. Race coaching from Melvyn Cooper focused on many topics throughout the week such as pre-start line preparation, teamwork & communication, mark rounding, spinnaker handling and sailing in the groove close-hauled, using tell tales. Sue Cosens Junior co-ordinator commented “The race week was excellent and well-structured. Introducing an RYA Race Coach was something new and it worked really well.” Winners of the Race Week – Handicap fleet Laser Radial sailor Nick Leeming (ESSC), Optimist class Henry Chandler (ESC) and RS Tera class Isabella Coote (ESC) Well done guys.
Get Racing Club wins
Get Racing Club is a big hit again with HISC members in 2015. Now well into its second year the racing initiative for adults has already seen 160 sailors competing this year, twice a month in their own boats and club RS Ventures. Racing comes in the form of 3 short back-to-back races including a race briefing, feedback debriefing and coaching on the water. Selina Strowlger racing her Laser 4.7 commented “Thank you to all the class Mentors for great sessions at GRC. Great to see more people in their own boats and new people joining in. How lucky are we to have some top folk give their time to help GRC.”
WOW is amazing
Hayling Island Sailing Club hosted its most successful Women on Water (WOW) event to date with 30 female sailors participating in near perfect sailing conditions for the three day training event. Initiated over five years ago, this year’s event attracted the most participants who enjoyed outstanding tuition from the large group of experienced RYA instructors and RYA Race Coaches.
To accommodate the popularity of the event, the course was split into two groups with an ‘Improver’ programme led by Melvyn Cooper which concentrated on a range of boat handling skills, racing skills and the finer points of start lines.The Beginners’ group concentrated on more general points of sailing including tacking and gybing and accurate steering. Using their new found skills, the beginner group sailed to different parts of Chichester Harbour to experience the challenge of sailing in new destinations.
Youth Training Week
Youth Training Week at Hayling Island Sailing Club is a 4 day annual event and as predicted again, sold out after only 2 hours of opening its communication routes for bookings. Ninety Junior and Youth members took part in variety of instruction and race coaching in three classes of boat – RS Tera, Optimist and RS Feva. RYA certificates ranging from Stage 1-3 and RYA Start racing were awarded at the end of the week.
RYA Senior Instructor Melvyn Cooper delivered the programme for 30 Optimist sailors with an enthusiastic team of RYA Dinghy Instructors. It was a great week of developing sailing skills, enjoying lots of fun on the water and making lots of new friends.
Melvyn’s calendar
MCS specialises in improving adult and youth boat handling skills & racing skills. Try a one-to-one day session or team up with a friend and share a day. A little coaching to help improve your sailing skills can make all the difference and often makes a marked turning point in sailing development. To check MCS coaching availability simply open Melvyn’s Calendar and find a convenient day from your diary. If it’s completely blank on the calendar date choose a full day lesson, morning or afternoon. Finally drop us a line at melvyn@melvyncoopersailing.com with your requested date and we will confirm back to you. Alternatively phone 01243 370884 for a chat about how we can help improve your sailing this autumn.
Sixth year at Langstone
An exciting week of sailing at Langstone Sailing Club for their annual RYA Junior & Youth Week in August 2015. Twenty-six children enjoyed sailing the Topper, RS Tera, Wayfarer, RS Vision, Laser Pico and RS Feva club boats. A team of 10 RYA Instructors delivered a week of RYA courses ranging from Beginners on RYA Stage 1 and 2 through to more experience youth taking the RYA Intermediate Racing programme.
As Langstone Sailing Club develops its Junior and Youth scene, new layers of home-grown sailors moved up the ranks and started teaching for the first time as RYA Dinghy Instructors and Assistants Instructors and delivered a top class week of training. Thank you to everyone involved in making it so successful again this year.