From the Czech RS Facebook page - More "RS Fevys" arrive!

50 hardy sailors from around the country travelled in minus 8 temperatures to the National Sailing Academy for the combined NJS, CNS, CIS & S/SW Zone Squad training.

Olympic Bronze & Silver medallist Simon Hiscocks came out to watch the sailors on Saturday & took part in a question & answer session with sailors after the evening de-brief.

Saturday was cold but the perfect medium wind strength meant only a few unlucky sailors took a dip. Lots of races & boat handling excercises helped keep the sailors focussed. Infact, some complained about getting too hot during the 'gut buster' !

Sunday seemed positively balmy as the wind dropped from 6 knots to next to nothing & back up again. 

NJS coach Dave Hivey was keen to concentrate on starting practice whilst CNS & CIS coaches Nicky Macgregor & Debbie Darling chose down wind tactics/speed  as their focus. All four squads were able to join in together whilst focussing on their own objectives. 

The general consensus was that the weekend was a huge success. In the coming weeks NJS will join ECS at Rutland, S/SWZS will join SWCS at Torbay then on March 17/18 all the Feva squads will join together at Hayling Island Sailing Club.

Jon and Golly have just come back from a very exciting trip to Italy looking for venues for RS Feva 2013.  They were expecting a little gratuitous sun and a bit of Mediterranean ambience but  the cold snap saw them landing in seriously sub zero temperatures and it not really reaching the snug heat of +zero the whole time they were there. The major problem is that they visited two places that were awesome. They were wined and dined by the Italian Class president whilst they were there but summer hotel rooms in midwinter can be a tad chilly! Lovely and cool in the summer we'd imagine though. I'm not feeling to sorry for them on that score! So it's down to two spectacular locations which offer all that we are looking for in a World Championship.  We will have to keep you waiting a little longer until we make a final decision and sign agreements. Whichever it is though, it will be a stunning event. I'm so looking forward to it already - but HISC 2012 first!

The RYA is encouraging sailors to dust off their boat covers and take to 

the water as part of the new Activate Your Fleet programme.

The aim of the programme is to work with Fleet Captains of sailing clubs 

across the country to develop new ideas on how they can encourage more 

sailors in their fleet to get their boats out of the boat park and out 

onto the water.

To help Fleet Captains to ‘Activate their Fleet’, the RYA is offering a 

RS workshops which will give RS fleet and class captains the chance to 

get together sharing ideas and tips and discussing fleet development.

The RS Workshops are scheduled for -

Thursday 16th February at Hamble River SC, from 1900hrs - 2100hrs.

Thursday 8th March at Bartley SC, from 1900hrs - 2100hrs.

Tuesday 20th March at Northampton SC, from 1900hrs - 2100hrs.

 
“There are a huge range of classes spread throughout the boat parks of 

clubs all over the country and whilst we recognise there are some very 

successful fleets out there, there are also some boats which have not 

moved for years” said Robbie Bell, RYA Regional Development Officer for 

the East, who has been instrumental in setting up the scheme. We truly 

believe that there has never been a better time to enthuse sailors to 

dust of their boat covers and get back into sailing on a regular basis 

and we are here to help in achieving that aim.”

Please do get involved, or encourage your club Fleet Captain to do so.

Seewww.rya.org.uk/go/ayf  <http://www.rya.org.uk/go/ayf>  for more 

details of the scheme, and book by contacting me at debbie@rsfeva.org.uk

RS Feva Spanish Training Camp

This event is now full.  If you are still interested in attending please email Golly to put your name on a waiting list.

golly@rsfeva.org

SELL OUT for our first ever International Training Camp – can’t be bad!

Thinks again - what is the venue like? What does the wind do? Rats, finding the venue guide the day before the event means you don't really 'get it'. Luckily some sad dude has already found it! Read the venue guide here!

Some pre-nationals training?

I do love the odd complete irrelevance that just makes me laugh. And here is todays. You don't have to be a geek to enjoy the absurdity of this, but here is the original Starwars broken into 15 second bits and each 15 second bit has been produced by someone different. You don't need to watch much to know how silly it all is and it did just make me smile on a wet dismal day. See if you can't resist a grin from breaking out.

The Hayling Class Squad braved 25 knots with 35+ gusts on saturday. The bold Feva sailors didn't let this put them off some racing and for some a little capsize practice. The swimmers however got up and carried on with everyone returning to the beach with big smiles.

When the winds got into Force 7 on Sunday the coach Ollie, called it a day so they came in for a debrief on race tactics and heavy wind sailing. Elliot and Jake lost a rudder and Tristan and Jeremy broke a spinnaker halyard shackel. It is a very varied squad with new to Feva sailors mixing with some with experience. All of them did an exellent job in the conditions considering they faced some monster gusts............Victoria Payne , Feva Class Captain

Nice report Jonathan from the ECS but here are Sam & Matt King training at Queen Mary SC. OK it was in Sept but nice anyway!

The third weekend for the East Class Squad always looked as though it could be breezy, what an under statement !

 Eighteen boats arrived to bright sun and 18 knots, followed after 20 minutes by cloud and 25 to 30 knots. 20 minutes later, sun again… Grrr.

 This pattern was clearly established and not expected to change for the day. Coach decided that it was worth a go and after a briefing on high and fast downwind techniques the intrepid sailors headed for the changing rooms.

 As the boats launched the breeze built, every boat gave it a go with differing degrees of success. All, however agreed that it had been an experience and had given them confidence. One team decided to ignore coach’s wise words to keep the coloured sail in the chute…. Upwind they went, made the bear away, hoisted the kite, went for the fill and BANG, down came the top of the mast ! Those following decided that discretion was the better part of valour.

 Ashore, an intrigued parent measured 29.8 knots on the slipway, only to be told later that this wasn’t at the winds peak.

 Lunch and story telling followed, the sailors went to launch for the afternoon session but wisely Coach called them back as 2 metre white horses appeared.

 Sunday morning, while coach was checking the weather, he noticed white horses in his mug of coffee and it was clear that sailing was not going to be possible.

 The sailors were split and circuits and event prep and helm/crew roles and responsibilities were covered. Finally the Fevas challenged the 29ers ( who hadn't  even got changed all weekend !! ) to a rowing race on the 4 ergo machines provided by Oakham. Ok, they lost but it was clear that the 29ers cheated.

 Here’s hoping for a bit less in 4 weeks time............Jonathan Lewis, Head Coach ECS