The Etobicoke Yacht Club's High Performance Laser Sailing Team hosted the second of three winter sessions on February 26th in preparation for the coming sailing season.
For this session, we had EYC coach Ethan Holtzer, Radial star Olga Koubrak and District 3's Master's champ Rob Koci as guest panelists to discuss on the water preparations before, between and after races. These experienced sailors and coaches spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of sailors.
Rob opened up the session with what to do on your way out to the course and what to look for when you arrive at the start area. He discussed the importance of listening to the RC to figure out what and why the pin and mark boats were doing what they were doing before a race. In a nutshell - he says the prestart is all about collecting data.
After Rob's talk Olga and Ethan brought in their experiences into the discussion. Olga's discussed what data she collected and how her prep differed from Rob's. This gave sailors in the audience other options to consider. Ethan reinforced the discussion from the viewpoint of the team's coach.
Throughout the session Ethan, Olga and Rob fielded questions and in return asked the audience questions about their prep strategy. Throughout the evening our three panelists interjected personal sailing stories that helped explain how this kind of prep panned out in real races. We all appreciated this; especially Rob's candid comments about his Master's World's experiences. The third session is set for March 26th at EYC is going to be a rules/protest night.
Ken Davy sails out of Etobicoke Yacht Club. He is one of the club's organizers for the High Performance Laser Team and was the club's former Dry Sail director. He races in the Soling class and has recently got back into the Laser fleet after a 20 year absence.
