The Irish 420 Association promote half term open training every Spring and Autumn with a view to providing all sailors with access to top quality coaching that is not readily available at club level. For 2022 the Spring training will be held at Kinsale Yacht Club from the 21st to the 25th February with a potential additional half day on the Saturday to provide racing.
Our training programmes focus on developing the skills of sailors with all levels of experience. We therefore provide a low ratio of sailors to coaches so that sailors get maximum benefit from the training. The Spring training will be an on the water focused training event. We divide our sailors into groups in order to best focus a programme of training for their current level of experience.
All our coaches are highly experienced sailors in their own right at both national and international level. Of equal important are their skills in communicating with the sailors in order to develop skills and sailing knowledge. The training is open to sailors with all levels of experience from those who have recently started sailing 420s up to those who have competed in National and International events. The coaches for the 2022 Spring half term coaching week in Kinsale Dave Harte, Graeme Grant and Cara McDowell.
As a number of boats will be attending the Spring training for the first time and we very much hope you enjoy the sailing and the racing. Some event details as follows:
- The week will consist of training on Monday to Thursday with racing on Friday.
- The cost will be €135 per sailor or €270 per boat. Please email treasurer@sail420.com for payment details.
- Kinsale yacht Club will be open all day Sunday to allow boats to be delivered, taken off road trailers and their masts put up etc.
- Boats and trailer parking details at Kinsale to be advised.
- Training commences on Monday at 10am, Sailors should be at the club for this time to allow briefing by the coaches who will advise on when to rig and get changed.
- The training will commence at 10am each morning with a likely finish time of 5pm.
- Please bring a pen and notebook for taking notes during briefing and debriefing sessions.
- Each day the coaches will evaluate the weather and decide what each group will be doing each day. Sailors may have different coaches each day, or sailors may switch between groups depending on training exercises being carried out.
- The weather in February can be variable. The water temperature will be cold and all sailors should bring appropriate sailing gear for the week. Perhaps bring spare sailing gear to change into at lunchtime. Drysuits are ideal if you are particularly prone to the cold.
- Depending on the weather the group coaches will decide if sailors will stay out on the water for lunch, so please bring a packed lunch each day.
- For sailors having lunch on shore between a morning and afternoon session, hot soup will be provided to go with their own packed lunch. A hot drink will be provided at the end of sailing each day for sailors as they come off the water. We do ask that parents assist in preparing and serving and this will be set up on a rota basis.
- We will need a contact number for a parent or guardian attending the event as an emergency contact number. This is used if sailors come in early from sailing or need to go home early for any reason. Please make sure to inform us of any changes to information given.
- All sailors are invited to a meal on the Friday evening, COVID depending. The Association pay for this evening so that sailors get an opportunity to socialise with each other outside of the sailing activities during the day.
We hope you have a fantastic week and if you do have any additional questions please do not hesitate to contact our event organiser president@sail420.