Sunday 1/10/2021 Optimist Practice

Hi LIGHTER WINDS TACKING Great job sailing. We had some fun team racing too… Here are some videos of you all. You may want to compare yourself to the photos below: https://share.icloud.com/photos/0UAke1J0yFXLOIXMUTMDAvxJA

We focused on tacking today, and added the “double-tack” as an added item. Everyone made improvements, but we can be a LOT better. We need to:

minimize and/or eliminate early “lean-out”
be willing/able to turn the boat consistently and effectively… no slow downs and stops. Too many times you all would wait for the boat to heel…. waiting…waiting, and then you’d roll/turn. This is very slow. Keep the tack going. The optimist has NO momentum.
as you wait for the boom to come across, you will then do a quick roll, easing the sheet as you so you can get under the boom.
Then, if you are tall enough you launch like a track racer to the new side, making sure to pull the main back in so it doesnt luff, and stay low. When you launch to the new side, also lean and launch FORWARD.
every tack is different but the result should always be the same: be smooth, quick, sharp and athletic. Work on this a lot and you will gain an enormous amount.

Don’t do this:
leaning, and way too early
Keep turning and be patient, dont lean out too much at all too early, and look like this as the boat heads into and past head-to-wind:

3. Launch to the new rail, staying low and launch FORWARD… like a track star. This will help accelerate the boat. DO NOT sit on the rail!! Put your hand on the daggerboard trunk for balance.