Training for Lendy Cowes Week 2018
August 5, 2018
On Wednesday the 1st of August 2018 the Winsome crew has made their way to Cowes for the preparation of Lendy Cowes Week 2018. Everybody in Cowes seems ready for Lendy Cowes Week, however there is one big loss in this beautiful town on the Isle of Wight. The Pier View closed at the beginning of this year. This makes for an extra challenge for the Winsome crew – deciding where to have our evening “meetings”.
The Winsome crew is a full copy-past of last year. We are glad to once more introduce the crew that consists of Harry, Laura, Leen, Joost Dantuma, Boj, Dirk-Jan, Joost Nijhoff, Floris Oud and myself (Herman). Dirk-Jan arrived with his boat (“Xoana”) the week before. Aster did arrive on Friday and they are hosting a sleeping place for Boj and Joost D. on their boat. The rumor goes that the breakfast on the Xoana is extraordinarily good, but for now it stays a rumor for the rest of the crew.
On Thursday and Friday we had two training days to prepare for a full week of sailing. Most of the crew have already sailed a couple of in- and offshore races this season, however not with this crew combination. The boat was prepared and all the spare parts were brought to “de hok”.
The medium-heavy jib and the number two jib where replaced in 2018, both have been used during our training rounds and look great. Again we think Winsome has never been prepared so well as this year.
We went out on the water on Thursday morning and started preparing the boat on the water. A beautiful day on the Solent, especially in the afternoon when the sea breeze picked. With some assistance of the engine we sailed multiple circles, squares and difference courses so Boj could calibrate all the instruments. Eventually he was satisfied so we could start sailing.
There was absolute no wind on Friday morning, which delayed our training. Laura arranged a coach to join us for the training day. Paul Blowers first had extensive talks with the whole crew to identify where there was some room for improvement. Thereafter we picked up Luna and started sailing. Half way the training Paul stepped onto Luna and coached us from the rib. The three main take-away’s were the crew weight to windward on the downwind, powering up the genoa in light winds and taking multiple transits before the start and at the moment of approaching a mark. It was very helpful to have some expert eyes on the boat. Thanks Paul for joining us!
All in all a great start of the Lendy Cowes Week 2018!
Herman
Post by Boj | August 5, 2018 |