Boatshop24 - Learn to Sail : Jack and Balazs try out the Advanced Techniques 5/6

Jack: Hi I'm Jack Stonehouse from Boatshop24. 

Balazs: And I'm Balazs Jarai from mailspeedmarine. 

Jack: And you're joining us today in Sussex with Alex Mills Barton a 2016 GB sailing hopeful. And he's hopefully going to teach us how to sail in a day. 

Balazs: We're going into it 90 degrees [inaudible 00:30] pretty much. 

Alex: Yep.

Balazs: Come around and... 

Alex: Yeah. As much as you can almost. And the same as as what you were doing before with the tacks away from you. You kind of just keep the main sheet the same is it is, you don't need to adjust it. But if you can go quicker, the better probably so you don't get stuck into the wind. 

Jack: Okay.

Alex: And the main thing will probably be making sure you don't-, through the tack you'll come through the 90 degrees, so onto 45 degrees to the wind on the other side. The sail will cross again but you need to make sure you don't go any further. Because you need to make sure your optimum angle is into the wind. So the further down you come the slower-, well, you'll go faster, but you'll be doing a lot further distance. 

Jack: Okay.

Alex: That would be a key thing I think. And also for kind of like capsizing and stuff, if you go too far it will make it a lot harder. You'll probably be more likely to go over. 

 

You've got the tiller in your left hand and the main sheet in here again. And what I want you to try and do is, try to do a bit of mark round  around there. Then up into the wind where you're doing the zig zag. 

Jack: Yeah. 

Alex: And just imagine there's an imaginary mark a hundred metres up or something. There, then just do a bear away and come back down. 

 

To get that block on the other side, you just do a big jab like that towards you. There you go. 

Gone for a jibe. Nice. 

 

Alex: So he's a bit stuck into the wind at the moment. So at the moment he could do with really just pointing the bow further away from the wind, just getting the speed up. And then the sail will kind of fill properly. 

Barazs: Yeah. 

Alex: And he will be able to go. But he's done the tack now and he's on his way I think... 

Good. Main sheet in as tight as you can. 

Going back down. Ooh, he's fallen in. So Jack's now going to show us how to right the capsize. So he's swimming back to the boat, he's going to put his weight over the daggerboard. And try to climb in as soon it comes up. He needs to jump in before the boat tacks on its own. He's done well there. 

 

Jack: Do you find it hard to have a personal and work life balance while you're sailing and while you're training? 

 

Alex: No it's not too bad. I seem to be doing a pretty good job of it at the moment. I've got a long term girlfriend who's really understanding so she's good. She knows what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. And I've got a good group of friends, both at home and with the sailing lot. And I never really feel like I'm missing out on anything. 

Jack: Yeah. 

 

Alex: So he's going to try and climb over now...

Yeah. He's made it...

We'll see if he can climb in when it comes up... 

Almost, not quite, good attempt at a dry capsize. 

So he's coming on a downwind angle now, into the mark. Pushes the tiller away. Main sheet in Jack? Just got caught round the transom. 

 

Jack: So what are your long term goals that you want to achieve whilst you're sailing? 

 

Alex: I'd love to go to the Olympic Games and win a medal... 

Jack: Yeah. 

Alex: ... yeah for sure. 2016 is looking a lot more likely than 2012 did. I mean I'm still quite young so I've got a couple of cycles to do. 

Jack: Cool. 

Alex: But a big push till 2016 to see what we can do. 

Jack: Cool. And what about further on from that? Is there anything you kind of want to achieve? Any other events or anything you want to get number one in? 

Alex: Yeah of course the Worlds and Europeans are big as well. They're second to the Olympics so along the way definitely. Those are the goals. Those are the ones that really matter apart from the Olympics as well. So big importance to selection and stuff like that. 

 

A couple of points I noticed that you're struggling with a few times. I think the wind has picked up quite a bit now. So it's actually a lot harder to learn in this. The sail becomes a lot more powered up and it's a lot harder to control. And a couple of times, your mark around is really good, but sometimes you just didn't quite get the main sheet in quick enough. 

Jack: Yeah. 

Alex: So the sail would start flapping and you'd lose a lot of speed there. And just before the tacks as well... the speed through the tack is very important because if you get stuck halfway, then that's when you started going backwards... 

Jack: Yeah. 

Alex: ... and then when you push the tiller away or towards you, it actually does the opposite of what you want it to do. So when you were pushing it away and trying to go, carry on through the tack, and got stuck halfway, it would actually pull you back out the way you came. 

Jack: Yeah. 

Alex: So you almost just get confused then. It doesn't really... doesn't make you think the way it should work. But, so maybe next time if you get a chance, just try and get the speed on through and just push it all the way through and then straighten up when you're through. Just so the sail doesn't get stuck in that middle section and you can stop yourself from going backwards. But you looked good. And the capsizes were good as well. Jack: Yeah.

 

Alex: So just the same as what Jack was trying to do. Imagine there's like an imaginary mark kind of half-way up or over the far end. Got to get around that mark and then back down to this one. Okay straighten up, the other way, the other way. He's gone over. So he's climbing over the other side on to the daggerboard. Pulling it up. He's going to trying and climb in as quick as possible. Great, didn't even touch the water there did he? So rudder towards you a bit, just get the speed on. And then in the middle, there you go. Got some good speed there. Sail is going to come across, watch out, watch out. So when you're jibing, the sail comes across the boat a lot quicker than when you attack. 

Jack: Is there a particular role model who you strive to be and you look up to? 

Alex: Not massively, but probably Paul Goodison a bit. I actually helped out training with him before 2012. So I got to see a lot of what he did and stuff like that. And he won gold in 2008 so that's a pretty good start. 

Jack: Yeah. 

Alex: He's definitely up there with role models. 

Ooh. 

Good. And back away again, nice. 

Barazs: Sweet. 

Alex: Yeah capsizes were brilliant. 

Barazs: I had enough practice. 

Alex: Surprised you did a good job there. Sail is capsizing again, you're looking a bit wet. 

Barazs: Yeah I did. 

Alex: A couple of times you managed to climb over the top, which was brilliant. That's perfect because the amount of time you save is, tripled or almost quadrupled from when you could climb over to having to swim across. So you did a really good on the capsizes, I think with the upwind, going into the wind, just struggling a bit like Jack, just with the speed...

Barazs: Yeah. 

Alex: ... looked like you're getting it towards the end, but just not quite pushing the bow down far enough on the other side. 

Barazs: Yeah, yeah. 

Alex: You were kind of going into the wind and then getting it just about around, but just the pace wasn't quite enough to pull the bow down and get up to speed on the other tack. So next time, just try and hold it over across the other side a little bit longer than you think and then straighten it up and main sheet back in again.…