Musto Skiff training
at Derwent Reservoir SC
Northern Area training was held at
Derwent Reservoir on 18th and 19th April. A small but
dedicated fleet of seven Musto Skiff sailors turned
up for training from experienced Musto sailor and coach,
Martin Boatman.
The weekend's forecast was for very little
wind and Saturday conditions were a fairly unsteady
force 1 to 2. After a short briefing from Martin the
fleet headed onto the water for some quick races so
that he could gauge the standard and best address the
sailors' training needs. The fleet was given some excellent
tips on light wind sailing including tips on sail setup,
boat trim and light wind tacking technique. The training
also concentrated on starting technique and practicing
holding the boat steady on a start line (a surprisingly
difficult thing to do in a skiff even in light winds!).
A video debriefing session was held after
sailing. This was very useful as it gave a comparison
of different sailor's techniques and Martin was able
to point out how and why some boats were going faster
than others. Martin had also jumped into a few skiffs
over the day to show how it should really be done!
Sunday brought even lighter winds but
the fleet headed onto the water for some more training
regardless. It was clear that the quality of light wind
sailing had vastly improved as the sailors implemented
the tips from the previous day. Sadly the wind soon
died off to nothing and the fleet had to pump or paddle
their boats back to shore. In the afternoon Martin demonstrated
some land-based tacking and gybing drills and then went
over boat setup including rig settings, control lines
and other go-faster tips.
Despite the extremely light winds all of the sailors
who attended learnt a lot and got some really useful
tips for sailing the boat in any conditions.
We would like to thank Marin Boatman
for providing some very high quality and enjoyable coaching
despite the difficult conditions and Derwent reservoir
Sailing club for letting us use their ribs and facilities.
Derwent Reservoir will be hosting its Musto Skiff Open
Meeting on 26th and 27th June. Details have been posted
on the forum.
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