ON-WATER PRACTICE


SETTING UP ON-WATER PRACTICE & GAMES As a sailing instructor, you will spend the majority of your time each day leading activities on the water. They give students the opportunity to try a maneuver for the first time, bring their skills together, and do what they came to do - sail! To have success on the water, instructors should begin with a combination of chalk talk, land drill and instructor demonstration. On-water practice and games have the most variables of all of the teaching methods (i.e., weather, sea state, , open space), which requires a higher degree of planning and repetition to achieve success.


Common mistakes when running on-water drills and games include poorly laid out courses, lack of specific directions, students’ inability to hear the instructor and lack of group control, resulting in wasted time chasing sailors around. Follow these guidelines to help make your on-water practice and games run safely, smoothly, and effectively.


KEEPING IT FUN & SAFE


For intermediate and advanced sailors, have one to three focus skills for the day. Make sure there is enough time within the drill or game to practice and build upon all the skills presented.


For example, if your focus skill is tacking and you set a triangle with a short windward leg and very long reach legs, your sailors will spend only a short time executing tacks compared to a relatively long time sailing on reaches. This may be fun, but it is not helping your students learn tacking in the most efficient way. It would be better to shorten those reach legs so more time is spent going windward.


Asses the complexity of your chosen drill or game. Is the skill level and age of your students appropriate for many maneuvers, rules, or directions? What conditions do you need for this drill to be successful?


E This should be identified in your written lesson plans as a reminder. For example, introducing roll jibing with a jibing slalom course would be best done in lighter and moderate air.


E Marks close together allow for more maneuvers (tacking and jibing), but also increase the interactions between boats.


E Marks farther apart allow more time for students to work on sail trim, body position, keeping the tiller straight, and boat balance.


Will the drill or game allow you to give sailors feedback?


E Some fast action or crowded drills and games, the box drill, may require you to stay farther away from the group. If that is the case and you cannot give feedback, be sure to have a waterproof notebook with you to write down your specific comments for each sailor, pair, or team.


142 Table of Contents


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