Laser 2000 Training at East Lothian Yacht Club

Laser 2000 training at North Berwick © Duncan Hepplewhite

Glorious weather and a perfect venue

The ten boats who took part in training at North Berwick were amply rewarded for the effort. Two days of glorious sunshine, in a great location (that just happens to the venue for both our Nationals and the Scottish Alba Cup 2012) were made perfect with force 3 winds on the first day and force 2 building back up to 3 on day two.

Saturday started with a quick rethink of plans; as the weather was so much better than forecast, we got out on the water as quickly as possible. With requests for starting practice, as well as a chance to work out tactics and boat handling over long downwind legs, Duncan set us off on 3 minute rolling starts with every third start continuing into a one or two lap race. In coming ashore there was plenty of footage to review. Key learning points in the group included: awareness of line bias, planning your start, making sure you are on the line, in clean air, when the gun goes, tips for sailing as deep as possible downwind, deciding on either 'low and slow' or 'high and fast' in marginal planing conditions - not dithering between the two, and that sometimes you really do need a new sail!

A taster of what to look forward to at the Nationals, on shore as well as on the water, was provided on Saturday evening in the form of Andreas' Greek Night. Entertainment and delicious food - both of which just kept coming all evening - made sure no one went home unsatisfied.

On Sunday, we started with an onshore review of boat set up, finding some in the fleet to have mast rakes of up to 20cm out! Duncan demonstrated on shore the effect of each of the sail controls on mast bend and sail shape to inform our responses to the conditions. those who wanted to tune their boats had time to do so – the main thing needing corrected was strop length – Duncan demonstrated from video and stills how much effect this has on sail shape. Then we were out on the water for another 3 hours or so with a chance to put some of our learning into practice. Each start became noticeably more competitive as confidence grew to try out different approaches. With a shorter line, and variable bias, there was plenty of opportunity to practice and develop our skills. We counted that we managed nearly 40 starts over the two days giving everyone opportunity to practice various starting techniques (Bill and Grace even practised starting last !).

Back ashore, once packed up, we debriefed again, this time looking at footage of our spinnaker hoists as well as starts, and made our own resolutions for practicing and improving more. With Loch Venachar just a month away, and the first event on the Caledonian ring, we shall see who has managed to stick to their plans, and look forward to a few more travellers joining the Scottish circuit as well.

Training was provided by Duncan Hepplewhite a former Alba Cup winner and professional coach, and the event hosted by Eric Robertson, our Scottish Laser 2000 Class Rep. Rob Mutlow from Saillaser Scotland (and despite the closure of Strathclyde), kindly arranged for Iain and Sarah to borrow a new boat - opportunity to give it a try, as well as easing the logistics of getting to the weekend. Our thanks go to all three, who along with our cheerful competitors made it a great start to the season. As an aside, borrowing a brand new boat meant comparisons could be made with Dr Lavender, Iain and Sarah's 'dark blue' boat. With the exception of a few rigging tweaks, a brand new boat seemed to handle just as well (cryptically we are told we proved that it is who is in the boat that counts!).

Looking forward to seeing more people at events in Scotland soon.