Zone Squad 1 at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

As Chew is only an hour or so away from home we left early on the Saturday morning and got to the gate in a queue of Toppers keen to get onto the water.

On Saturday our main aim was boat handling and it was Sunny & Flat & Northerly & 3-7 Avg. & Gusting 7 for the 2 ½ hours we spent sailing.

By the end of the day I had really got the hang of Roll tacks and Stop tacks after coaching from Lynne.

On Sunday our main plan was light wind trim, as there was hardly any breeze so we spent extra time on fitness before we went out.

By the end of the day Lynn had showed me how to improve my trim and to keep speed up in light winds.

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Zone Squad Land Day

My first day in the Squad -  I made sure to wear my VR Race Team jacket and all my friends were impressed  

We got to meet our coaches, Duncan & Lyn and Chris our  High Performance Manager who told us all about the squad and the RYA's World Class Pyramid Programme.

Afterwards our parents were sent off to their own briefing and we went to the gym and had our private coach to squad briefing to work out our squad contracts as a team. 

Because the weather was so harsh and waves were being blown over the top of the RIB pontoons we stayed inside and had lunch before we went into a boat setup session to improve our race performance.

New things today were lessons on physio from Isy who told us all about posture and from Chris all about Fitness, Nutrition and Hydration. 

We played a game about nutrition to end the day and the coaches all wished us good luck for the squad training and our first training at Chew Valley Lake.

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First day on the water for the Topper 4.2 Squad

My school gave me the afternoon off so that we could get to our hotel near Carsington at a good time.  We picked up Charlie #170 and his dad and we watched films on his laptop all the way there – it took a long time. 

On Saturday morning we picked up Shaun and Charlie @ 8 o'clock so we would get there safely before 9, because otherwise Charlotte would make us do p****ups. Even with the ice on the car we made it with loads of time. 

We now have to drink 2-3 Bottles of squash or sports drinks before going out on the water to smoke the blocks  ! Race training was great, got to keep racing until the end no matter where you are in the fleet and keep your head out of the boat 

There was a bonfire & pie supper at the club on Saturday night so we stayed on to watch the fireworks.

On Sunday we picked Charlie and Shaun up bit earlier because we had an early start with Charlotte. 

Exercises today were pac-man, Gutbusters and diamond geezer. 

It was even colder, but I still managed to keep the main sheet off the mark as we practised boosting over the marks – but I must practise doing my turns quickly when I hit the mark with my buoyancy aid.

Shaun & Charlie needed to get home quickly on Sunday night so we dropped them at the station and will take Charlie's boat to Grafham

Thank you to DAVE, CHARLOTTE and ANDY!!!!

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