Sunday, 4/27 -- The Team and Day One Practice

We arrived at the Annapolis Sailing School in the early afternoon after spending an hour or so at the hotel readying the boys’ new sails. We met the rest of the team at the Annapolis Sailing School and rigged for a short, late afternoon sail. Everyone was there with the exception of Trevor Rowedder who was still in search of his charter boat with Winner Boats. The team consisted of Dane and Quinn sailing under the SBYC burgee, Jack Barton, Will and Lauren Ceffali, Christopher Swanson, and Trevor all from SFYC, Kate Shaner from Seattle YC and Esteban Forrer from San Diego YC. The launch area consisted of a gravel parking lot that lead down to an east-facing beach right at the mouth of the Severn river on the Chesapeake Bay. Breeze was around 6-10 knots from the NE. We were without a coach so we took our borrowed Montauk 17’ out and lined the kids up for some simple straight-line sailing. We only sailed for an hour and a half and simply got everyone oriented with the area and their charter boats. That evening we found a Whole Foods close by and stocked up for the week.

Monday, 4/28 -- Meeting Manny, Coach Extraordinaire

First thing, we met our new coach, Manny, and had a parent meeting. Manny instructed us to hand over the kids for the week and hope for the best. He assured us the best thing for the kids was to have them be responsible for themselves and to trust him and them to be accountable. His quest was to get to know the kids one-on-one and discover their level of interest and abilities without the respective parents’ influence. As the week progressed this proved a wise approach.

After a sailor meeting the kids spent the remainder of the morning rigging and tuning their boats. This became the theme of the week as speed is king. After coach and sailor were satisfied with their respective set ups everyone had a bite of lunch and went sailing. Conditions were windy, 12-15 knots from the SE. Quinn donned a new drysuit and looked very happy to go sailing in the cold, windy conditions. The team was on the water from noon to 3:30pm. Just after they arrived back at the beach the weather report called for a brief squall with winds up to 50 knots and lots of rain. We scrambled to get the boats in a safe, protected area and waited for the onslaught. It arrived right on schedule and lasted the predicted 20 minutes or so, then cleared and settled in to a nice 15 knots and clear skies. The team de-brief was an hour long, the kids emerged tired, but enthusiastic.

Tuesday, 4/29 -- Rigging, Running, Yoga and More

We were greeted with a very chilly North Westerly breeze. Rigged and ready at 9:30am. The team continued to work on their rigs and tuned their sails, masts and sprit tensions until they all were feeling confident. The coach and team then spent the next hour and a half running and doing yoga. Lunch and on the water at 1pm the kids sailed in about 15-20 knots for 3 hours. Cold and windy, the coach reported Quinn showed great fortitude finishing all the drills and toughing out conditions much better suited for the bigger sailors. They had a chance to sail with a couple other teams and worked on speed against some of the top sailors in the fleet. The team de-brief was about a half an hour, then it was off to shower and a team dinner and a chance for the parents to get to know the new coach a bit better. Turns out he’s also a big wave surfer and lives in Nicaragua right near a sweet surfing spot, so speculation quickly turned to the possibility of a surf/sail camp in the near future.

Wednesday, 4/30 -- Final Practice and Registration

Before registration the team first took advantage of another solid North Westerly and headed out on the water at 10am, sailing until 2:30pm. At the end of practice we said goodbye to the Annapolis Sailing School and headed over to the Annapolis Yacht Club for registration and measurement. The scene was remarkably calm, organized and business like. Each sailor took responsibility for getting their boats weighed, and their spars, blades and sails measured. Once their hulls were cleaned and polished we packed everything up and headed back to the hotel for an early evening.