Follow the Leader
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Sailing & Windsurfng Follow the Leader Liz Matthews idotphoto A popular exercise used during sessions afoat is to get our dinghies to sail in formation around the water. But ensuring that students gain value, knowledge and skills is trickier than you might think. Simon Winkley, RYA Coach Assessor, looks at when and how to use Follow The Leader exercises to improve sailing skills and to maximise group control. Justifying the exercise When and where to get Group Control Use of a student as the leader useful question to ask the group to turn is a crucial Setting a group of from a beach needs to be carefully managed yourself when planning consideration. Initially getting each to a distant sailing area could as there is a risk of group control A a Follow the Leader (FTL) boat to tack where, not when, the lead to loss of control and a being lost. session is, ‘What are my objectives?’ boat in front tacks will aid group starburst situation. FTL is an The RYA resource ‘Efective Use The session brief should justify control. efective means of controlling the of a Powerboat for On Water the exercise to the students and As the group advances, all boats group in transit to and from the Training and Coaching’ details suggest what they should expect could be tacked simultaneously on nominated sailing area. good practice that should be to gain from it. Also ask yourself the whistle which will change the FTL is also a great method to observed while running sessions whether you feel the group is leader to the person at the back of sweep up a group who have such as FTL. Here are some actually ready to sail in such the line. Getting all the boats quickly begun to spread out (or look like considerations: close formation or could such an back into a neat formation will really they are at risk of doing so). Act » When leading from a powerboat exercise place too much pressure test their speed control and boat early to maintain group control, the driver must take care with on the students at their particular positioning, similar to race starts. selecting one dinghy to follow regard to the boat’s angle to the level in the prevailing conditions? A key objective for all levels the powerboat as you drive back wind. should be to focus on the fve and forth adding more and more » Any point of sail can be utilised Improving skills and essentials. Intermediate and boats to the back of the line. but care should be taken to setting up the session advanced students worked hard Then, when all the group are avoid creeping into the no- If using FTL for skills coaching, some in areas such as exaggerating ‘in tow’, the session can either go zone or driving too deep elements to focus on include: trim (sinking the stern) and sail continue or the group can return downwind which could cause » Speed control and stopping setting (oversheeting downwind to shore. Zig-zagging beginners the group to either lose power » 5 Essentials for turbulence) to slow the boat upwind as they follow you can or to gybe unexpectedly. » The benefts of proximity sailing in stronger winds and avoid help them with early upwind » Communication from a Beginners should start with overtaking any boats in front. Avoid success. powerboat is likely to be about three to four boat lengths providing your students with too If the frst boat is unable to minimal as shouting instructions between boats, which can be much to focus on and this will maintain the required distance over the engine noise to decreased for more advanced enable them to put each point from the powerboat, one option multiple boats might fail to get sailors to around one boat length. into action and to understand the is to send them to the back. This a clear message across. Basic rules of ‘no overtaking’, outcome or efect. tests their lying-to skills as they These are fundamental safety and ‘no being overtaken’ should Remember that the close hover before accelerating to rejoin considerations, and a driver or prevail in standard FTL exercises, proximity of other boats the end of the line. This can also be spotter, where available, allows alongside the normal safety and automatically adds a thrill to the used as a fun challenge. the instructor to communicate as group control signals in case exercise that is not always felt clearly as possible. things need to change or be when sailing as an individual Who will lead, and safety Used efectively, FTL exercises abandoned. around a course! considerations provide dynamic opportunities for Nominating a well-briefed group control as well as adding a instructor or assistant to lead little extra zest to coaching sessions Amanda Van Santen in a dinghy has best efect. as the challenges increase and Chief Instructor, Dinghy & Windsurfng Alternatively the instructor can the sailing becomes more fun. But E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 023 8060 4179 lead from the powerboat but remember, objectives need to be safety needs careful consideration. clear and the session set up safely. 14 | www.rya.org.uk.