Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Laser Downwind Training

It has been fun these last few weeks practicing our downwind sailing in waves at the mouth of the Sakonnet River. The only downside (no pun intended) is that to sail downwind you have to first slog upwind. And it takes about twice as long to sail any given distance upwind and it's about three times as hard.

Some local sailors do manage to organize things to do downwind-only sessions. But it requires a helpful shuttle driver to move dollies and trailers and towing vehicle from start to finish, or a hell of a lot more back and forth on the road by the sailors themselves.

The other thing that was slightly annoying on Monday was that the winds started off strong and then slackened off. It would be a lot better if it was the other way round. Start with conditions that are easy and comfortable and gradually turn up the intensity.

Over beer yesterday evening my friend and I fantasized about the perfect way to do downwind Laser training. Just solve all the problems I described above…

Today I found this video….


ISA Downwind Clinic from International Sailing Academy on Vimeo.

As it says on the International Sailing Academy website...
Imagine spending a week doing purely downwind sailing. Every morning after fueling on a delicious brunch, we rig and set off in calm conditions for a 24 km (15 mile) tow. The following hours are spent working our way back in a building breeze, from 5 knots to 20 knots. After 5 days, we guarantee you will make huge improvements!

Hmmm. This might be the solution.

I wonder if any other training centers offer something similar?


2 comments:

Tweezerman said...

I might be so mesmerized by the up and down and rock and roll in the light stuff that I would be crap by the time the wind came up at 3. Sometimes a hard thrash to windward sets the body up for the dicey downwind. And no blast reaching training, 15 miles one way?

Tillerman said...

15 miles downwind. For 5 days in a row. Is that Laser sailing heaven, or what?

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