Andrew Campbell

Monday Morning Tactician: 18 Feb 2008 Top 3 Training Tips for the Laser Worlds

February 25th, 2008 in Monday Morning Tactician.

When approaching a Laser worlds like the one we just finished in Terrigal, and similarly to the one going on at present for the masters fleet, there are a few concepts as well as concrete preparations you can give yourself to maximize your experience and performance at that regatta. After a few days to reflect on my event and drawing upon my own set of experiences I’ve come up with a few things worth remark. My first Worlds in 2001 in Ireland, I was a 17-year-old high schooler fresh on the scene and fresh to the boat in reality. I had only recently come out of the laser radial and was probably over my head thinking I could jump right in with any real success. Now, at 24 after having sailed in Cadiz (’03), Jeju (’06), Cascais (’07) and Terrigal (’08) I have a better feel for what to expect and how to approach the event mentally and physically.

1. Show Up Early:

By getting there with plenty of time to go before the regatta, you can take advantage of the time to both acclimate yourself to the new location and get your head around any potential jetlag, but more importantly you can take advantage of training sessions that are second to none and only available specifically before the Laser Worlds. There are never that many top Laser sailors together at the same time for a more concentrated week of sailing than in the ten days before the world championship.  Never, on any other racecourse, in any other fleet will you have such an open and available mix of high quality sailors ready to train at such a high level except in the ten days before the Laser worlds. Lining up against world champions, european champions, top-ten ranked sailors and top-level sailors in the varying conditions is a relatively easy thing to do in this precious time period because everybody hits the water in or around midday.

1-Corrollary:

Practice your rabbit starts. Rabbit starts are the most commonly used procedure used on the training course before the worlds. It is not uncommon to have 75 or more boats ducking a single rabbit before going upwind for 10-15 minutes to a coachboat or small training mark. The key to getting the most out of this training period is to get out from the rabbit start with a clear lane and then hold that lane for as long as possible. Obviously this is the key to most starts in most aspects of sailing, but being at full speed just below close-hauled or at close-hauled when your bow passes the rabbit’s transom is paramount to having a successful training race.

The best part about the large fleet rabbit situations is that there is always somebody new going fast each race. There are always people sailing in and out of the group so you always have fresh legs and fresh faces. If you want to practice holding your lane on somebody’s close hip, then you can do that. If you want to practice footing from a pin end start, then you can be the first boat to duck. If you want to see how you’re going against the group from the right, you can be the rabbit. The informality allows for flexibility in your personal training. That said, there are some negative aspects of the training that you need to be aware of an account for else you may walk away frustrated.

2. Don’t Get Burned Out by Practice:

I say this because the Laser is a very simple boat. It is not entirely difficult to get the boat going fast. The beauty of the class in many ways is that it is not hard for new sailors to hop in a get up to national-level speed in a very short time. Because of this, there are generally about 100 boats capable of having top-15 finishes at the worlds in any given race. I’m not sure that can happen in many other classes. It is very common for first-time Worlds participants to be absolutely blown away by the lineups before the regatta starts. The ruthlessness of the competition, the lack of commitment to the rules, the desperation for any extra ounce of speed, and the peak condition of the athletes sailing during this training period makes the sailing extremely difficult and at times frustrating. Try as best as you can to keep that from happening. Besides wasting time and energy getting frustrated, you waste precious minutes and hours of training before the biggest regatta of the year. It is easy for nobody, so hang tough and keep putting your nose in the front row and be reasonable about the number of hours you train.

3. Know your threshold for good training:

Following the same idea we just discussed, it is important to have a good feel for where your body is physically before you start each day’s training in preparation for the worlds or any major event on your calendar. Have a good plan about which days leading into the first day of the event you will sail and which you will take off. For instance before this recent worlds I counted the days before the worlds and in the final week before the first day of racing I planned to sail in this pattern:

7 Days until Race Day (RD - 7): Sail a 2-4 hour session. Light/no gym.

RD - 6: Sail a 2-4 hour session combined with normal gym session.

RD - 5: Day off from sailing. Light gym work and covering the small details like re-rigging and ensuring that all the parts and pieces, extras gear etc. is set for the upcoming regatta.

RD - 4: Sail for a 2-3 hour session, normal training intensity. Last gym day before the worlds. Put up the racing sail if the breeze is light-moderate.

RD - 3: Sail for a 1.5-2 hour session near the projected start time posted for the upcoming event. Put up the racing sail if the breeze is light-moderate.

RD - 2: Registration, Measurement, and a short sail to see where the race committee sets up for their practice race. I chose not to sail the practice race but instead to get in ahead of the crowd, get packed up and put away and go home to eat large amounts of food and start to rest before the event

RD - 1: Day completely off and away from the boatpark except to check for notices and changes to the schedule/sailing instructions.

Day 1: First two races…

By tapering the intensity of the sailing and gym work you can ensure that your body will be totally rested before the first day of racing. It is critically important to force yourself to take a day off here or there as the recovery is more worthwhile in terms of the upcoming even than another day’s training.

Monday Morning Tactician Says: Have a decent plan for exactly what you want to do before the big event and then stick to it (as much as you can regardless of day-to-day conditions) and you will see improvement of your performance.

_____________________________________

Check out the recent SAIL Magazine February for my article on the US Olympic Trials format.

Monday Morning Tactician (TM) is written by Andrew Campbell for CampbellSailing.com.

0 comments.