The Topper dinghy is beginning to take hold in Howth. This new class of dinghy for HYC is being developed for HYC Junior sailors to work along side the RS Feva class, and between the Optimists and Laser classes.
Already there is a good group of male and female Junior Topper sailors active in the Club.
To bring the class forward and to develop the skills of our Club sailors, three very high quality weekend training sessions will be held in Howth over the next five months. Sailors from clubs all over the island, north and south, will attend.
The Optimist training program run on Saturday afternoons and also at mid-term has been a great success.
All levels of ability were catered for from beginnner to advanced.
Ian Mc Sweeney & Team proved to be very popular with the young sailors.
Unfortunately 2 days of sailing were lost due to bad weather with a gale force warning in place.
Winds varied from 10kts to 30kts with beginners sailing in the ligher airs and the more advanced sailors showing their mettle in heavy weather.
For those used to race management it is a well know fact that an Optimist race can start in winds up to approx 22 kts so our more advanced sailors made the most of the heavy weather at mid-term to get some practise in.
Training will start at the earlier time on Halloween at 1pm. So please be rigged & ready to go!
A regular visitor to Howth ISA Coach Thomas Chaix will host a Winter training clinic in Tralee Bay Sailing Club in early January full details are on www.tcsailingcoach.com
For those who prefer to stay closer to home Howth will run their own clinic from the Sunday 3rd January to Wednesday the 6th of January all levels of sailing ability will be catered for and it's a great way to welcome in the New Year and Blow the cobwebs away!
We've had a great response to the winter training program and are looking forward to the next few weeks activity.
Just to confirm a few details regarding the winter training starting next Saturday the 10th of October.
The dates are as follows:
Sat 10th at 2pm
Sun 18th at 2pm HYC (training moved to Sunday to facilitate End of Autumn League)
Sat 31st Oct at 2pm
Midterm Optimist Clinic: Sat 24th, Sun 25th & Mon 26th from 10am until 4pm
The Afternoon Coaching session will officially be run from 2pm until 4:30pm.
Ian Mc Sweeney and Simon Rattigan will be the coaches and they will be assisted by Lauren Mc Sweeney.
Sailors will be divided into groups based on ability.
Coming into the winter the daylight hours are precious so to maximise the time on the water.
All participants should be rigged & ready to launch at 2pm. Stragglers wil be left behind !
For those doing the midterm clinic it will start at 10m ready to launch by 11am there will be 1 hour for
lunch from 1-2pm (sailors should bring a packed lunch) approx and sailing will finish for the day at 4pm.
The costs are as follows:
Afternoon training 35 (euros)
Mid-term Clinic 75 (euros)
Payment should be made in advance of the training starting to either Des Flood or Myself.
Arrangements have been made for you to leave your boat in the dinghy pen during the training period.
I will email out the program for the training later in the week but the training will be skills based and focus on boat handling and speed.
35 (euros)