Guest crew shares a few tips

The team met for another weekends skiff training today. Before sailing a few jobs were long overdue, one in particular was debranding the sails and hull from the former sponsors Investec. The boys were seen in the wet bar at Rutland wielding a hairdryer over a vast sail and getting some strange looks.

Today saw a guest crew of Stu Mears from Pica, bringing him alot of European circuit experience. The boys invited him up to show them a few things and so he could see how the team was progressing. The No2 rig was chosen, which proved to be ideal for the strong winds that followed.

The usual upwind and downwind course was set after a short blast up the arm. Alot of small changes were highlighted by Stu such as the order of swapping sides in gybes and a totally different method of gybe dropping. The boys also practised sailing the boat high on the wind. Stu talked them through trying to kill the apparent wind by letting the kite curl, getting weight back and allowing some extra heel. The boat stayed out for a long few hours, with tacks becoming much faster with plenty of power out the other side. 

Tomorrow is forecast for a lighter wind day, but the forecast for today was wrong, so the rig decision could go either way. The rutland skiff is joined by KKT, and hopefully the boats will make an appearance at sunday racing.