ODP Recap: All-Girls Skiff Clinic, San Diego

 

Pictured: Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha sailing a 470. Photo taken by Willie McBride.

• Host Club: Coronado Yacht Club
• Coaches: Willie McBride, Molly Vandemoer

By Richard Feeny, Youth Development Program Manager

12 young women sailed in the Skiff Girls clinic in San Diego May 1-3, 2015. Coronado Yacht Club was the host and was a perfect venue because we had light air in the mornings, building into a manageable sea breeze in the afternoon.  Even a 12-year-old Optimist sailor was able to get some solid tiller time in the light air, and though she was upside down more than the rest, she still improved a ton and was able to sail around in the breeze too.

Our primary goal at this event was to help the sailors fine tune and figure out the 29er, and to help them get an idea of what opportunities and resources are out there should they choose to pursue high performance racing either in the 29er or another Olympic development class. Sailors exhibited new confidence in themselves as they de-rigged. The coaches shared their passion about the pursuit of excellence and mastery in this type of sailing. Sailors increased their capacity for personal development through working on sailing skills, organizing their own summer campaign, learning how to work towards goals, learning how to learn from failures, and learning how to operate well as a team.

The skills and lessons that you learn in the Olympic development classes will carry into everything else that you ever do. As Charlie McKee said during a debrief, I think that all of these sailors will be able to look back on this and be proud that they were there at the beginning of the US Sailing Olympic Development Program! A wide base of sailors across the US can be competitive in this type of racing if they decide to commit the time to it.

Key Drills

• Heeled-to-windward progressions:
  • Start with both sailors seated inside the rail, skipper trims main – sail boat with windward rail touching water by easing main
  • Both sailors in seated inside rail, crew trims main – sail boat with windward rail touching water by easing main
  • Crew on wire, skipper trims main – sail boat with windward rail touching water by easing main
  • Crew on wire crew trims main – sail boat with windward rail touching water by easing main
  • Crew on wire crew trims main – sail boat with windward rail touching water by pinning main and steering to control heel
• Tacking around forestay