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| Home >> Top Tips >> TopTip2020 #17 - Train Together - by Karl Thorne, GBR |
Train Together
by Karl Thorne, UK
To get faster, you need to practice, just not on your own.
'At the end of October last year I faced up to the reality that at 66kg I was going to be too light for the RS Aero 7 I'd chartered for the Worlds in Melbourne in two months time. My thinking had been that it would be a windy regatta, similar to what we had seen in Weymouth in 2018 but with bigger waves, I'd also seen some scary articles on Yachts and Yachting about Finn and OK events that had taken place at the same venue. As such I was going to have to switch to an RS Aero 5 rig and take a crash course in how to sail one, as I was told the rig response is different to the RS Aero 7 that I'd been sailing for over 4 years.
Fellow Lymington sailor David Ellis, at sub-60kg and already a seasoned RS Aero 5 campaigner offered to help, encouraged by the prospect that he would have someone a bit heavier to train with to help fine-tune his heavy air upwind skills. For me it was a no-brainer, Dave is already a multiple National champion in several classes, a close friend and from previous experience, a great coach. Which gets me to the point of the tip....
Focused training exercises in pairs or small groups can improve your boat speed more than racing or practicing on your own. OK, that might be obvious, but how many of you actually take the time to go and two boat tune or practice in a small group to simulate busy start lines, coming off the tightly packed start line, out of a leeward mark lee-bowed or sailing downwind in a very narrow lane.
For any type of training, agree a focus for the session with your training partner or group before you launch and stick to it. Agree what you are trying to get out of the session, where and how it will happen, and what success looks like! None of this requires a coach boat, although if you have one observing and filming everything it makes it easier to talk through afterwards.
Two Boat Tuning
We used this to practice two essential things, optimising boat speed and lane holding. In both types of exercise you need to line-up with a couple of boat lengths lateral separation and with the windward boat a little bit astern of the leeward boat so you are both sailing in fresh air. The exercise is over when one boat needs to tack to clear their air or the leeward boat can cross the windward boat; if there is no clear front-runner stop after 5 minutes and reset. To reset, first go alongside your partner and discuss what was happening, what worked and what didn't, from those learnings agree what the focus of this next rep will be and keep at it!
Click video below to see an example of Ben George and I two boat tuning before the 2018 Worlds in our 7 rigs, notice how we line-up to do the speed run and then talk through after each run what was working. I try to do a Marc Jacobi style commentary on the video of what I’m thinking about and seeing but the microphone is not great at picking up your voice whilst you go upwind and face the other direction!
Training in a Small Group
We found when training earlier in the year that a group of five sailors of similar ability worked really well for this. The exercises we did included "rabbit starts", to keep us close and fighting for a lane, and "leeward boat must tack - whatever". The second exercise is to practice hitting that first left hand shift coming off the start and needing to get right quickly by either ducking or crossing the fleet. Amazingly we didn't have any accidents in the 25 knots of breeze and Solent chop that we tried this in, but it was a bit hairy and does build confidence for that reflex tack that can so often put you at the front of the fleet.
Finally, for the Here and Now....
Looking forward to when we can pick-up where we left off and that our sailing can be a high priority in our lives once more! Stay safe everyone, and take this opportunity to learn as much as you can about weather, tactics, fitness, nutrition and the venues you are planning to sail at over the coming year! Also if you haven't had a go on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game, I'd recommend it, it's great for developing decision making skills around wind strategy and fleet management - also it's a great way of keeping in touch with your mates and keeping morale high in these tricky times.
Karlos '
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09/04/2020 16:46:00
Peter Barton
Posts: 4692
