SCOTTISH KEELBOAT ACADEMY

After a busy week toing and froing from Edinburgh to Glasgow for a few workshops it was time to get back on the water.  What a weekend it was!  We had two full days of sailing in glamour conditions, the sun was shinning and we had a moderate breeze that was perfect for working on what I wanted.

On the Saturday I was focusing on my role as bowman on the Sonar, I was working on my communication and the timing of the processes involved.  Bow is the role I am least familiar with and it’s great to see some progress from when I started with the Keelboat academy.

Sunday, again with amazing conditions, brought a day with me helming the Sonar – a role that I am much more comfortable with.  Similar to the Bow role I was working on my ability to communicate with the rest of the crew, this is something I’m not used to in a single hander!  I didn’t sail my best, but there was still lots of positive takeaways in terms of my goals I was working on.

Next up is the Youth National Championships at Hayling Island Sailing Club!

Lewis

SCOTTISH KEELBOAT ACADEMY

On the 19th November I drove through to the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club (RNCYC) for the Introduction weekend to the Scottish Keelboat Academy (SKA).  Unfortunately I could not attend the Sunday due to university commitments, but the Saturday was great fun; I learned loads and met some really nice people!

The morning started off with some paper work and a complicated team building exercise which was a good laugh! We spent the rest of the morning in the classroom working on some goal setting; I broke my long term goal down and I now have a great focus on what I want to get out of the SKA weekends.

After a bite to eat we headed out to the boats.  Unfortunately there was not enough wind to sail at first so we did some stationary drills whilst tied to the pontoon.  We were working on spinnaker hoists and drops, both leeward and windward.  I was focusing my attention on the bow position; their individual roles in the manoeuvre and how the other positions work with the bow man.  The picture below is of me in the bow position during a windward hoist, a big thanks to Patrick Condy for all the media posts and photos of the weekend – make sure and check them out on the SKA Facebook page!

After a lot of run throughs on the pontoon some breeze finally filled in and we managed to have a short sail at the end of the session.  We had two boats on the water and had a race downwind, with my team managing to execute a windward hoist in a race scenario, albeit a little haphazardly.  It was a great day on the water and there was lots to be learned!

A big thanks to the coaches for running the training very well and to Patrick for the media updates.  The SKA training would not happen without the support from RYA Scotland, RNCYC and Silvers Marine, so a thank you goes to them too!

On the Saturday evening I attended the Royal Forth Yacht Club annual prize giving back in Edinburgh, check back soon for another post with some exciting news!

Lewis