RYA Mirror National Junior Squad 2009 - 2010

RYA NJS at Carsington 27th & 28th February 2010

The 5^th National Squad was held at Carsington in Derbyshire. Catherine our national coach was assisted by Nicky McGreggor and Emma Barry. Carsington is a resevoir located in the beautiful Peak District. The members of Carsington Sailing Club were very welcoming and kind towards us, letting us have our own room for teaching.

On Saturday morning, the weather was very cold and the winds were light and fluky, so we decided that we would do some work on land before going out on the water. We learnt about communication between the helm and crew, which proved to be most useful. We also learnt about the roles of the helm and crew on the race course. When we got on the water the wind had picked up and was blowing a force 2/3. We did a few races to get warmed up and then we did some spinnaker work. After a challenging morning, we came in for lunch. During lunch we warmed up by having the delicious food cooked by the Carsington chefs.

Rutland National Squad Report

We started the second National Junior squad weekend at Rutland Sailing Club (one of the few up north) with a rushed rig. We were all eager to get on the water after the last weekend at Weymouth. We all changed quickly and headed up to the briefing room to be greeted by Matt McGovern and his full time sailing brother; Johnny who told us that we still wouldn't be finding out who our new coach was till the next weekend. We were focusing on boat handling and starting over the weekend. It was about 13 knots so we started with an around the clock exercise followed by trigger starts, numbered starts, follow my leader, river bank and floating buoy races with a short brake around half way through for lunch. After a very tiring day on the water we de-rigged and changed for a debriefing with Johnny and very useful video feedback. Then we all off to the canteen for a well earned supper and then off to the pub for chips. . .

Hayling National Squad Report

The weather forecast for the Saturday was for rain in the morning with 25 knots of wind, reducing as the day went by and for light winds on Sunday with a pleasant temperature of 10 degrees centigrade. The weather forecast for once was spot on. David Woodhead became the head coach for the weekend in the absence of Catherine. Dave decided in view of the wet weather that the sailors did not have to rig their boats until the rain had stopped, which was in perfect time for lunch...

First National Squad Session - Weymouth

The first National Junior Squad Weekend brought eighteen eager sailors, and nine fully rigged boats; and of course 60-knot gusts of wind to Portland Bay. With a dismal looking forecast, the hopes for sailing were optimistically high but unfortunately short-lived. On Saturday morning, parents and sailors alike were in a hurry to rig boats, Peter launched his rib, and some sailors even started getting changed. It was around 10 o’clock then, when Peter and Matt McGovern slowly began to realise that if the sails were to go up, Mirrors would soon be flying everywhere. Before too many boats flew off their trailers, we all put our Mirrors in the huge red hangar in the WPNSA and Peter and Matt wildly began to plan an indoor-based Saturday. Although it was a big shame not to get on the water, we were all able to get to know each other a bit better and the coaches were able to explain the up and coming winter training. With the help of brief breaks every so often, I think it’s fair to say we had a productive day, and it’s also fair to say that Helena had a nice enough birthday in the process! We finished the day’s training off with a short burst of fitness.