Class Association
RS 200 Northern Youth Squad Weekend - Beaver SC 12-13 December 2015
The second RS 200 Northern Youth Squad meeting was held at Beaver Sailing Club on the 12th and 13th December. It was raining and cold when we arrived and it remained so for the rest of the day; however there was a good breeze and everyone was up for a good weekends training.
The day consisted of learning the art boat control on a start line. We mastered ways of stopping and restarting the boat while in close proximity to others. After a break to get warm Adam decided we would be better off being active in the boat on a cold day. We played ‘gut busters’ and did some racing, unfortunately Eleanor and I death rolled and we got the mast stuck in the mud only 3 feet under the water. After probably more than 20 minutes, we had to be towed out of the mud and we were surprised to see that we still had our burgee (a little bent but it was still there). At the end of a full days sailing and coaching we settled down for and excellent supper and the whole squad played Christmassy games.
The following day brought no wind. We tried (and emphasis on tried) to do trigger pulls… one of the hardest techniques to master with no wind to push you forward. We literally went from not moving, to not moving after even the best of trigger pulls.
We quickly abandoned that idea and went inside for a team quiz which consisted of questions about things such as flags and rules. My team and I didn't win but were beaten by just one mark. After lunch we ventured out to do a race in incredibly light airs. Will Hide and Tom Squires showed us all how it should be done, followed by Ollie & Ester, Emma & Faye, Sam & George and Reg & Emma. We then had a crews race in even lighter airs (if that was possible) which was won by faye caswell followed by Ester Parkhurst and then George Stainforth. Eventually it was decided that the wind was not going to arrive and so after a debrief we wished each other a Merry Christmas and we look forward to Southport in the New Year :)
Thanks to Adam and Martin for the training and Elise Scott, Helen Penty, Helen Grayson and other helpers for the great food on the Saturday night and throughout the weekend.
Ana Paterson/Eleanor Whittaker
-Monkey 1359
