Regatta Fleet Plan for the Regionals 2012

The aim of the Regatta Fleet is to help sailors achieve the necessary skills required to compete in a sailing race. To do this, Regatta fleet sailors will have coaches at each event; Cian O'Regan is the Head Coach along with Conor Hopkins, the Assistant Head Coach. There will be local coaches from each host club at each event.

The Regatta Fleet co-ordinator, who is an IODAI committee member, Amanda O'Connell will co-ordinate the Fleet for each event and will publish the Regatta Fleet report after each event.

The plan at each regional is to have training in the mornings and 3 races in the afternoon. Sailors will either have lunch afloat or ashore, so sailors should always pack their lunch in a waterproof bag, just in case!!

The training will consist of boat handling along with some race tactics. Boat handling will be broken down to upwind and downwind sailing. There will be a huge emphasis on the 5 essentials: Sail settings, course made good, dagerboard, trim and balance.  Through the 5 essentials, sailors will learn all the boat handling skills necessary to win races! Sailors will also learn about start sequences and the rules of sailing.
The sailor will also be taught the basics in tuning their rig.

Sailors will be coached in small groups to facilitate effective learning. Each session plan will be tailored to the group’s ability and the weather.  

The Races will consist of small courses and it is aimed that each race is approximately 15 minutes long.  For the sailors that need help sailing around the course, the coaches will coach them around the course.

For the sailors that are unsure whether to make the huge leap to the main fleet use local club racing to help make that decision.  Regatta fleet races tend to be 15-20 mins in length and main fleet races tend to be approximately 50 mins. The end of seasons regatta can be a good time for a regatta fleet sailor to test  out the main fleet, but check the long range forecast before entering.