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

A WEEK IN WEYMOUTH

It’s been a while, time for a wee catch up…

After my training with Alexi at the Royal Forth Yacht Club it was time for my second semester at Edinburgh University to kick off. With Uni ongoing with assignments and deadlines dotted around I spent two of my weekends at home and sailed out of Royal Forth. I had one weekend spent sailing with the university at a team racing event which was a change to the usual laser! Another weekend was spent coaching the current Scottish Laser Development Team and training with the Scottish Keelboat Academy. It was great to get a wide variety of experience on the water in different boats and different disciplines.

After that busy block it was very quickly the middle of February and I was faced with a weeks trip down to Weymouth for the first World and European Qualifier of 2017 and the second Under 21 UK Youth Squad camp for this winter.

After a short wait for wind on Saturday the committee held 2 races in Weymouth Bay, The racing on Sunday was held in the harbour with a nice westerly breeze instead of the southerly breeze like the day prior. Over the weekend we completed 5 out of the 6 scheduled races in nice mild weather! I sailed a relatively consistent series with a 15th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 19th which put me 16th overall and 7th Under 21.

Monday through to Wednesday was a solid block of training with some nice big sessions in Weymouth Bay.  Thursday was blown off due to storm Doris but we had some beneficial land sessions and the time allowed me to get on with some boat prep!

With the week over I was back in the books with two presentations counting towards my grade during the week following the qualifier.

Lewis

Weymouth Qualifier:
http://www.kbsuk.com/laser/events/showrace.asp?EventID=93&RaceURL=%5Bresults%5D/stdwpnsa1.2017nh.html

SCOTTISH ELITE SQUAD TRAINING

On the weekend of the 10th and 11th I was sailing out of my home club, the Royal Forth Yacht Club, in Edinburgh.  I was fortunate enough to have Hugh Styles coach me for the two days.  Hugh helped Alison Young to the London Olympics, Rio Olympics and her 2016 World Title; it’s fair to say he’s a great coach and I can only echo this after my weekend spent with him on the water.  This opportunity was made possible with thanks to Tim Ellis and the funding made available to me through the RYA Scotland Elite Programme.

For the majority of the two days we focused primarily on hiking posture and turning the boat efficiently downwind.  Here is a short clip of me sailing upwind:

I made some great progress over the weekend but there is still heaps to work on as ever, exciting times!  Next up, I’ll be traveling to Palamos in Spain for a regatta just before Christmas.

Thank you for reading,

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

UK LASER STANDARD U21 YOUTH SQUAD

A few weeks ago was my first U21 Standard Youth Squad camp!  It was a great four days to kick off the start of my winter training.  The camp was a prime opportunity to chat with the coaches and the rest of the team about the 3 qualifiers that have just past to see where we could all improve (see my other post).  It was also a really good chance to discuss next summer and my target events for the year ahead, exciting times!  The week was pretty tough for me as I had a lot of uni work to catch up on in the evenings; I had a report to hand in on the Friday of the camp and I had to catch up on the four days I had missed, I had a few late nights but it’s all done now!  All in all a great week with good improvements and lots of takeaways to work on.

I flew down from Edinburgh to Southampton on Monday night and hopped on a train to Weymouth.  The camp started on Tuesday and after an introduction to the team we quickly got on the water.  The main focuses of the camp were downwind turning, downwind tactics and match racing tactics.  We headed downwind into Weymouth bay on one of the days; here’s a short clip of the downwind turning I’ve been working on…

Thanks to Alex Mills Barton for the filming.

The match racing was very hard!  We were fortunate to be joined by a few of the sailors from the British Sailing Team who taught us a thing or two… or three… or four… about match racing tactics.  Loads of fun and heaps to learn which is super exciting!  We rounded the camp off with some short races in Weymouth Bay; a perfect chance to piece together the points discussed and consolidate them as much as possible.

We finished early on the final day of the camp which allowed me an hour or two to get some boat preparation done before my flight back home; it’s pretty hard to find the time to work on my boat when its kept 460 miles away! The boat is now all ready for a trip abroad this Christmas!  The rest of the team and I are heading out to Palamos, Spain for the Christmas regatta on the 15th.  I’ve not been away from home at that time of year before so that might be a challenge ,but I will be home just in time for Christmas Day.

I have a busy block of training at the moment including some training as part of the Scottish Elite Squad and the Scottish Keelboat Academy, looking forward to it!

Thanks for reading,

Lewis

UK YOUTH SQUAD CAMP

The big summer trip has begun, and what a weekend to start it off with!  Sunny Weymouth provided the team with champagne sailing conditions 4 days straight with 20+ degrees and fair winds.

This was my first trip heading down south that I was been able to help with the driving, which made it a lot easier for my Mum. We arrived late Friday night, with the camp kicking off the next morning.  The camp started off with a short briefing and we swiftly got on the water for a great session in the sun.  We sailed in the harbour for 3 days and out of the harbour on the last day to get a contrast of sea states which was very beneficial to me; I managed to take learning points away, from all 3 coaches we had, in the different conditions.

Wearing my summer wetsuit in Weymouth certainly wasn’t something I was expecting to happen!

At the half way stage of the camp we were fortunate enough to have the British Sailing Team psychologist Sophie Walton answer questions we had about the up coming competitions and how to deal with our mind-set and behaviour.  The main thing I took from this was to be an individual and not to be led by anyone else when it comes down to my routine and what works best for me.

The day after the camp was finished we all drove in convoy to Holyhead, Wales to catch the ferry across to Dublin, Ireland for the Youth World Championships.  Due to traffic accidents we decided to travel through Snowdonia National Park on our way to Holyhead.  The scenery is really quite impressive and we took a few stops on the way to take it all in! After a 2 hour ferry crossing we were docked in Dublin and we only had a short 30 minute drive to Dun Laoghaire Harbour to drop the boats off at the venue.

The World Championships start on the 23rd July, until then I will be training and getting used to the venue and my surroundings.  Watch this space for a post competition update!

Lewis

ISLE OF MULL CYCLING SPORTIVE

Exams are done! Phew.  I had my last exam, Physical Education, on Friday.  I also sat Geography, Graphic Communications and Computing Science at the beginning of May, all at SQA Higher level.  Definitely feeling the sailing withdrawal symptoms after a month of hard revision!  During May I was lucky enough that my exams landed me a nice 2 week gap at the half way stage allowing me to sit my driving test with enough time either side for minimal stress.  I’m pleased to say I passed first time!  But before I get too carried away on four wheels trailing up and down the country, I decided to spend last weekend on two wheels instead.

I spent the weekend with a close friend of mine, Tom, who’s a former training partner.  We travelled to the Isle of Mull which, on this occasion, greeted us with a very pleasant 20+ degrees.  Tom and I travelled over to take part in the 70km (44mile) sportive cycling event that takes place on Mull every year.  It was a great weekend out in the sun and allowed me to continue my cardio fitness on the bike, but just a little further a field.

I now look forward to a very busy summer ahead, involving 4 international regattas!  But before I travel to the first of these events in Kiel, Germany I have a few days training with Jamie Calder at home, sailing out of Royal Forth Yacht Club.

Lewis

Full results here:

http://www.mullcyclosportive.co.uk/Results.html

Kudos to Tom for 2nd Place!