UKIDA Teach-in at Rutland Water Sailing Club

by Jonathan Hayley

6 boats from the North West and North East participated in an excellent weekend of Dart 18 training at Rutland Water on 15th and 16th of June. 4 boats from Dee S.C. and 2 boats from Runswick Bay and Bridlington. Rutland is one of the largest artificial lakes in Europe and a phenomenal venue for both racing and race / sail training thanks to the substantial sailing area, not to mention the fabulous views and surrounding countryside. I first visited Rutland in 2017 to watch my son (and Dart 18 crew) compete in the Cadet Inlands. I was so envious watching him sail at this amazing place that when UKIDA announced that they were proposing to host a UKIDA Teach-in weekend there, I leapt at the opportunity.

In order to avoid this being an essay on what a great place Rutland is I’ll summarise what I see as the main attractions (in no particular order):

• HUGE and varied sailing area which allows you to adjust where you sail according to the wind direction

• Easy launching - just slide off the grass and into the clear fresh water

• On-site bunkhouse, camping (and bar)

• Great on-site catering and training facilities (and bar)

• Beautiful walks around the lake and picturesque local villages make this an attractive family destination if, for some bizarre reason, the whole family are
  not sailors

• Really good pub just 15 minutes’ walk away (not sure that’s an official benefit of a sail training venue but it is a really good pub)

• In addition to the fabulous venue (last time I’ll mention it) the other huge attraction was the star coach whom UKIDA had secured for the weekend, Joffan Garcka.

In the Saturday morning briefing session we spent some time recapping on sailors’ objectives for the weekend, and then went through the agenda for the day. The morning session focussed on the basics of tacking and gybing around a small course in light wind conditions. This is something I do rarely, and to spend a few hours just on repeating the basics under the watchful eye of experts to iron out any bad habits, is incredibly helpful. The vagaries  of lake sailing meant that it was drifting one second and trapezing the next, which kept everyone on their toes including the instructor boat (DUCK everyone!). In the afternoon we moved into some race exercises, which was where the real fun and inter-club rivalry came out. An intensive series of short races with on-course tuition helped everyone improve, and even when the rain (monsoon) came we all wanted to stay out for more. Typically, the sun came back out in time for debriefing and liquid refreshments, which were followed by a delicious meal and further liquid refreshments in the local pub (not sure I mentioned it before but it is really good).

Being serious sailors and wanting to get our moneys’ worth out of the training weekend, we all retired promptly to our cots and that’s all that will be said on
the matter.

Sunday morning saw sunshine and a very good stiff breeze. After the gybing / tacking short course warm-up we went into full speed mode with boat-on-boat speed drills over the whole width of the reservoir. You know it’s good when the safety boat is struggling to keep up! More Jedi Joffan nuggets of wisdom were imparted and everyone seemed to be going faster - except for those who were practising their capsize drills. But we won’t mention that again will we, Jon?

In the afternoon the wind came up a notch (or ten), and we moved again into sequences of short races to put into practice what we’d learned in the morning. All 6 boats being used to sea sailing experienced, there was a very quick learning curve in what happens to your bows downwind in fresh water and wind.

Overall, a truly epic weekend. Some really good Jedi Joffan go faster tips were shared, as well as much banter and partaking in liquid refreshments. I won’t give all the sailing tips away here - either join a training session or bribe one of the participants to share them - which we might do at the end of a weekend’s racing!

UKIDA instructor team, Joffan Garcka supported by Simon Moruzzi, Adrian Parsons and Rutland Water Sailing Club - a huge thank you from all the sailors. Hope we can have a repeat weekend in 2020!