Dear BYC MSSF,
On the 7th and 8th of December, I attended the SCYYRA clinic up in Long Beach which was hosted out of the US Sailing Center Long Beach. I was there sailing CFJ’s as a skipper with my crew, Kylie Roach. The two of us had a lot of fun and learned so much about the boat and about sail boat racing in general that I feel that I walked away from this clinic a much better sailor.
On the first day of sailing, it was forecasted to be quite windy throughout the day, about 15-25 knots. Kylie and I weigh about 260 pounds together and we were excited to go out into the ocean and see what we could do. The first day was planned to be a straight upwind boat speed day, and because of the wind, it made it quite easy to go fast. We sailed out into the ocean in our group of six total FJ’s and then the true sailing began. The ocean was quite choppy at first, which turned into white-capping waves as the day went on. Driving up and down the waves was quite a new and difficult process at first for me being that this clinic was the first real time that I had skippered in a CFJ. By the end of the day I got the hang of it and was flying by people because I was able to “get in the groove” which one of my coaches, Nate Dunham, called it. “You will know when you are in the groove because you are going fast and sailing through the waves really smoothly,” he said. When the wind began to pick up, and it was key to have your main sheet all of the way in, I was given a tip; “if you use both hands to pull in the main sheet it makes it easier and you have more leverage on it so it will be easier to trim in.” After this long day of sailing, all of the participants of the clinic listened to a speech given by a few of the coaches about health, balance, being organized, and keeping in shape. Just from the first day, I learned how to steer through chop and trim in a main sheet with ease along with many other things like the mast rake, rig tension, and where to have your jib cars.
The second day of the clinic was very different from the first. The maximum amount of knots that were seen was probably about 6, maybe. It was a very light day, and unfortunately it was our day to practice spinnakers. We did learn that weight and dead weight is very important, and it isn’t something to just forget about. For the spinnaker part of the day, both coaches agreed that in a real race, we would not even be flying a spinnaker because it would just slow us down. Although the spinnaker part was slow, I learned as a skipper to not steer with the tiller in between my legs. Both coaches agreed once again that it is easier and makes you look like you know what you are doing if you just hold the tiller extension in your hand as you are going through a jibe or pulling up the spinnaker. Although there wasn’t much wind, I was still able to get a full day of coaching out of it.
Thank you again MSSF for funding me so that I was able to attend such an amazing clinic. I learned so much, and my knowledge of the sport of sailing in all aspects grew by at least three times. I am so glad that I was able to be at such an incredible clinic and thanks to you, it was made possible that I may attend so thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Grace Vandervort