Three weeks of intense coaching sessions with coach Thomas Chaix concluded on Friday last with an inaugural “Skilled for Gold” Regatta Day. This was a new idea for the now traditional club skills coaching programme suggested by Thomas to give the young sailors a mini Olympic type regatta experience, including a qualification series to divide the fleet into Gold and Silver fleets, and “medal race” to conclude for the Optimists. The final day regatta format certainly created some excitement and the regatta name of “Skilled for Gold” was arrived at by the sailors themselves. The weather thankfully played ball in that almost no time was lost during the programme despite the usual four seasons in one Irish summer experienced over the three weeks.
The coaching was primarily made up of Optimist sailors (37 in total) and also included sessions for 420 and Laser sailors. Extra sessions were added on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for the younger and less experienced Optimist sailors to give them the skills coaching programme experience.
The 420’s (although most had departed for foreign shores), Lasers and Fevas also took part in the Regatta Day on Friday, racing under the PY handicap format.
The Medal Race for the Optimists brought overall success for Richard McGinley and the PY mixed dinghy winner was Billy Duane sailing a Laser 4.7.
Thanks to Thomas for the hard work he put in to make it a success and for all those who helped in planning and organising during the programme, particularly for the final day Friday when additional resources were needed to run the regatta.
No comments yet.