General Guidelines to On-the-Water drills

Always remember the Four Fs FOCUS, FORMAT, FLOW and FEEDBACK.

FOCUS On-the-water practice sessions should always be goal oriented. It is usually most effective to concentrate on only a few specific skills at any one time. FORMAT Use a standard format for drill sequences so that students will know what to expect. Start with simpler warm-up drills then lead to drills that focus on the targeted skills. Make sure that the skipper and crew switch position frequently. Using a standard format will help your students know what to expect. FLOW Make sure that the transition from one drill to the next is smooth to eliminate down time. Brief your students on the drills you will be doing and any hand or whistle signals that are not obvious. If a particular drill requires lengthy setup time, set the course while the students are engaged in the previous drill. FEEDBACK Provide effective feedback on your students performance. Try to determine the actual cause of mistakes before offering correction. Be careful to emphasize the correct technique. Keep feedback simple and concise to eliminate confusion. Drills dont need to be complicated in order for the students to learn the required skills. In fact, simplicity is definitely a virtue simpler drills are easier to set up and understand. Vary your drills frequently so students dont get bored going around in circles. Switch skipper and crew often so everyone gets practice in each position. Have several Back Up drills in your repertoire for times when the planned drills are not working out. With a little pre-planning you can turn what might have been a disaster into success by smoothly flowing from a failing drill into another more successful drill. Adjust your drills to your classs ability level. Be cautious about using racing as a drill since not everyone feels comfortable being competitive by definition every race has a winner and a loser. Instead of straight races try to structure your performance drills so that the emphasis is on teamwork and the skills being learned rather than finishing first.

What follows are a few suggested drills to try out. For more suggestions, refer to Teach Sailing the Fun Way! and Sailing Drills Made Easy, both available from US Sailing. Many are probably familiar, hopefully some are new to you. Dont hesitate to modify these drills to suit the circumstances. Although many of the advanced drills might be too difficult for some students, all of the basic drills can be modified to make them suitable for more advanced students. Be creative

The Basics
Crosswind Figure-8
Can be used for either tacking or gybing. This drill is perfect for beginners. It teaches the students how to tack and gybe in a confined space. Goals: a. To tack and gybe without losing momentum b. Get accustomed to sailing in traffic c. Proper sheeting, steering& weight distribution. d. Sailing in a confined area under control e. Sailing as close as possible towards a specific destination How to set Drill: Drop a mark in the water. Go at a 90-degree angle to the wind, as on a port tack, and drop a second mark 75 feet away The larger number of boats in the class the larger the course should start. Helpful Hints: a. Begin shrinking the course as the students get better. b. Use the powerboat and a flag to create a gate for the students to go through to refine handling

 Crosswind Loop
Tacking and gybing Goals: a. Tack and jibe efficiently with speed from a reach to a reach b. Proper sheeting, steering& weight distribution How to set Drill: Same as Figure 8.

 Diamond Drill
Another great drill to teach tacking and gibing

 Start & Stop Group Drill

Start and stop on a command

Safety Position Group Drill Circle Safety Boat Follow-the-Leader

Intermediate
Whistle Tacks Whistle Gybes Sailing Backwards

Cone Drill
Start with boats all on the same tack in the safety position and have the safety boat motor steadily to windward. Call out to the boats to tack when they reach the edges of the cone.

Head up/Fall off on the Whistle Overboard Recovery

Practice different methods, simulate two scenarios (crew falling overboard & skipper falling overboard.

Laylines
Set up buoys for students to practice sailing to (judging laylines) and stopping next to (mob recovery/speed control). To start with you can set a leeward mark and a windward mark to define the layline they should be sailing.

Shrinking Course
Whatever course they are sailing keep reducing its size so they have to tack and gybe sooner each lap.

720 on the Whistle

Execute 720s on command. Emphasise proper sail trim and tacking and gybing over the speed of the turn by increasing the frequency of the whistles boats who do not trim their sails effectively will soon slow and stop.

MOB Gate
Set up a gate with two buoys close together and then use other buoys to define the MOB recovery pattern desired (figure 8 or circle gybe). Students sail through the gate and then follow the buoys to get the MOB pattern. Drill is completed when they can sail through the pattern and be stopped in the gate.

Pair Sailing
Have crews call the tacks and gybes and see how long they can sail close together.

Tennis Ball Tag

Set a box course as a boundary. All the boats must remain within the box and recover thrown tennis balls and use them to tag other boats.

Light Air
Dry Capsize Kinetics
Have students experiment with rocking, sculling, and ooching to get around a simple course. If they are more advanced (and adventurous) have them experiment with tacking and gybing by using crew weight only, try to steer with body weight from forward of the mast etc.

Roll Tack
Practice aggressive rolls.

Advanced/Performance
King of the Box
A Rules of the Road variation of Tennis Ball tag where instead of a tennis ball the students use the Rules of the Road to try to chase others out of the box while staying in themselves. Once a boat has been chased out of the box it must circle around outside until the sequence restarts. Variations: Use a triangle with the base downwind, or the apex downwind to make things more challenging.

Heave-to on the Whistle Parking Drill

Hold Position on a starting line for as long as possible.

10 & 5
Set a starting line and have a starting sequence. The catch is that the time between the 10 Second signal and the 5 Second signal can be anywhere from 0 to a Minute. Boats must find a good starting position and hold on to it.

Rolling Starts
With a three-minute start sequence students start, sail upwind for 30 Seconds and return to start again.

Individual Recall
Call a boat (or boats) at random to return.

Luffing Start
All boats stopped on the line with 30 seconds to go and accelerate at the starting signal.

Slalom (Windward/Leeward) First to Last

With a short windward-leeward course the first boat to round each mark circles back behind the last boat before continuing back to the mark it just rounded while the other boats continue on to the next mark where the process repeats for the new first boat.

720s at a Mark
First boat at each mark does a 720.

Pig in the Middle (Passback)

Three boats set sail around a course. The lead boat constantly tries to slow the second boat by blocking their wind or using the Rules of the Road to force them to tack away until the third boat is in first place. Once a new boat is in the lead the cycle repeats.

Sailing Football
Divide the boats into teams, set two goals to windward and leeward. The boat in possession of the football must pass the ball to a teammate before tacking or gybing. Fumbles (ball in the water) are fair game to any boat. If they tack before passing the ball then they must surrender possession to the other team. After scoring a goal the boats return to the 50 yard line where the other team takes possession. Switch the teams goals after each score so one team isnt always going upwind.

 Laser Heart Drill

This is one of the best drills around to teach kinetic steering in a laser. Goals: a. Steering with ones body weight b. Pushing the boats to the limit in handling c. Building boat handling confidence How to set Drill: See diagram below