Junior Race Squad Update
Dated 3 March 2003
from Dean Stanley

Hi all
Congratulations to Ben Hanns on a great result - Winner of the 2003 South Island Optimist Championship. Ben sailed an excellent regatta winning three races and collecting two fourths as well. Congratulations also to Josh Junior for finishing third in a close fought battle with Scott Davies (Auckland) and Ben. Worser Bay had five sailors in the top eight, and all our sailors in the open fleet finished in the top twenty of a 48 boat fleet. Well done Emma, Sarah and Kristin for completing their first major regatta. It also sounds like we had good success in the Wellington OPTI champs over the weekend. Rowan Swanson 1st, Simon 2nd and Stacey 3rd in the open fleet, and Ethan 1st and Shelley 2nd in the green. Well done everybody.
Tomorrow (11 March) we are focusing on tacking. The activities will be similar to those for last week except we will be videoing tacking instead of gybing. Once again we will use the slalom buoys for this activity. We will video you as you sail through the buoys then show this in the clubrooms afterwards.
 

The programme for the session is as follows.
4.00 briefing (watch video of Martin Jenkins tacking)
4.30 on the water warm up sailing through buoys focusing on practicing tacking
5.00 video each of you in action (three sets of tacks each)
5.40 quick fire races with moving race track
6.00 off the water, view video and derig

This Saturday there is no race squad at Worser Bay as there is a two day regatta at Evans Bay Yacht and Motorboat Club. After this regatta all Saturday and Sunday activities leading up to the nationals will be held at Worser Bay.

ONLY 38 DAYS TO GO!!!

CU Dean

Junior Race Squad Update
Dated 3 March 2003
from Dean Stanley

Hi all.
Once again a good set of results were achieved at the Titahi Bay regatta. A tense battle was waged between Shelley, Ethan and Elvin for the green fleet prizes. Good to see everyone coping well with the light and shifty conditions.
This Tuesday (4th) our focus is on gybing. We will use the slalom buoys for this session. After a half an hour or so of practice gybes we will video everyone as they gybe through the marks. We will show the video after the session so you have an idea of what it is that you need to work on.

The programme for the session is as follows:

4.00 briefing (watch video of downwind captured on Saturday and of Martin Jenkins gybing) 4.30 on the water warm up sailing through buoys focusing on practicing gybing 5.00 video each of you in action (three gybes each) 5.40 quick fire races with moving race track 6.00 off the water, view video and derig

This Saturday (8th)there is no race squad at Worser Bay. About half the fleet are heading across to Picton to contest the South Island Opti champs while the other half will be Paremata competing in the Wellington Opti Champs. Good luck to everyone concerned.

Cheers Dean

Junior Race Squad Update
Dated 23 February 2003
from Dean Stanley

Hi All
Good to see Worser Bay sailors finishing strongly again at the Worser Bay Regatta this weekend. The teams racing also seemed a lot of fun on Sunday. Well done the white team (all four of you!). We will do this again in April.
Following is what we are up to this week.
Tuesday night we are focusing on transits, timing, protecting your gap and hitting the line at speed. This will involve each of you taking it in turns to try and hit the middle of a long line at speed. We will video this for viewing after the session in the clubrooms. While you are waiting your turn we will use the slalom buoys to practice protecting your gap on the line.

This Saturday Greg "Bubble" Wright is running a session on downwind sailing. A briefing will begin at 9.15 am sharp (note this is earlier than normal due to the resail of races which is happening this weekend). Bubble will run through some videos of downwind sailing, including some video snippets of each of you sailing off the wind at the Worser Bay regatta. He will then provide some coaching support during the racing and we will revideo you guys in action. There will a debriefing after the racing to discuss what you need to work on. Bubble will then continue the session for an hour or so after lunch with those who are keen.

Sunday is the Titahi Bay Boating Club Regatta.

The following link takes you to a report of the Picton clinic that appeared in the Marlborough Express.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/marlboroughexpress/0,2106,2261030a6424,00.html

                     Cheers Dean

Junior Race Squad
       Update
 from Dean Stanley
Dated Monday 17 Feb 2003

Hi All
Congratulations to everyone on great results over the weekend at the WYA junior regatta held at Muritai. I thought everyone sailed extremely well. If I had to single out anyone it would be Hayley, Cushla and Aaron HM for their great results in their respective fleets. It was good to see some of you testing the wind and line with your buddy. Lets try and get everyone going out early and doing this at the Worser Bay regatta in Saturday.
This Tuesday the focus is on "transits and timing". Terry Steven and Pete Whiteford are helping with this activity this Tuesday as I am at a conference until 4.00ish. They will be setting up a start line about the same length as the Nationals start line. Each of you will take it in turns to try and hit the middle of the line as the gun goes. One person will start, then one minute later the next person will start, and so on. We will video the ten seconds leading up to each boat starting and the ten seconds after each boat starts. After the on the water session we will show the video and you will be able to see how close you are to hitting the line as the gin goes. You will probably all get 3 or four attempts so you should get a pretty good idea of how close you are to the line. Terry tells me there will be a prize for the person who gets the closest. We will have the slalom buoys out so you can practice your gybes and/or tacks as you await your turn.
This Saturday 22/2/03 it is the Worser Bay Regatta. On Sunday we have scheduled teams racing for those who are keen. Briefing on Sunday is at 9.30. Please let me know by return email by the end of the week if you are keen so I can set up some teams. This is a lot of fun and doesn't matter.
Strait Shipping has said we can get Optis and our support boats across the strait to the Picton Optimist Nationals ( NOR Here ) for free. So far we are taking Lovelocks as a support boat but are also looking to take another boat to tow WBBC race squad members to the sailing area and to help with weather and other support issues. They have asked that we make a group booking for the trip so if you still need transport please let me know by the end of this week.

That's all for know.
See you either Tuesday or on the weekend.
                          Cheers, Dean

Message from Dean Stanley to the Junior Race Squad.

21st January 2003

Hi All
I trust you all have had a good holiday and are all set to get into the second half of the sailing season (as well as a little bit of school work!) We have put together a training programme for the build up to the Opti nationals and have attached it to this email. I'll try and keep you posted with what is happening a week in advance using the email from now through to Easter. If I don't get around to it then just refer to the schedule of events in the training programme to find out what is happening > on any given week.
Coming up over the next week:
Saturday 25 Jan: Series racing at Worser Bay. I'll be in New Plymouth at the Sunburst North Island Champs but Tom Taylor and Joe Porebski  will be around for coaching during the racing.
Sunday 26 Jan: Heretaunga Boating Club Regatta
Tuesday 28 Jan (4.00 pm briefing): Coaching at Worser Bay with a focus on identifying the correct side of the course to take on an upwind beat.
Good luck for Saturday and I'll hopefully see you next Tuesday.

Cheers Dean
PS Be sure to read the January 2003 Race Squad Newsletter .... DOC & PDF Versions for Downloading.
It has a complete program for the rest of the season!