Westsail 2021 –

The Westsail tradition which has been running for over 30 years was again on last week during the school holidays.    It starts with a 4 day coaching clinic and then rolls into the WA Youth Championship for 2 days.

6 Days of sailing – Exhausted sailors that have learnt a season worth of lessons to be ready for the summer of 2021/22

For the second year, it was held at Hillary’s Yacht Club which gave sailors some very interesting waves and conditions to experience.

I had the pleasure of coaching the Open Skiff fleet with Olympic campaigner Amelia Kat and the sailors from a range of abilities all applied themselves brilliantly and walked away with a lot of good memories and new skills.

Some of the main things we worked on included:

• Sail Trim
• Tacking and posture in the boat
• Airflow and sail stall
• Heel Angle and Weight distribution
• Helming skills
• Sailing in Waves
• Weather and clouds
• Correct boat setup and rigging

Plus, the sailors worked on boat handling skills with some fun freestyle and a panel dinner with Olympians Nia Jerwood and Monique Defries.

We also had some adventure sails to beaches and Hillary’s Island where the local seals came out to play with the sailors, bumping one off their boat accidentally.

In total there were 83 sailors

Some images from the week from all classes to inspire your training are below.

Opening Day

Great to get the season underway.  Great keelboat numbers and a little low on dinghies as expected due to the school holidays and exhausted sailors from Westsail

BW8 Galactic Cup

The BW8 Class is holding a series of races on 6 and 7 November and have invited SoPYC to enter.  If you would like to represent the club either with your regular team or we make up a new team, please register your Expression of interest in the form here.

Crews are made up of 4-6 people, any weight and using Code 1 or 3 Jibs and Spinnakers. Skippers and crews can swap. The idea is not to make this difficult.  It’s about getting people on the water.  So very welcoming.

Sounds like the association will be putting on some drinks and trophies after the event.