Training at Segelclub Attersee 2009

Whilst I understand the weather was not so good in the UK, the sun was shining and the wind was blowing just nicely for the weekend of 16th – 17th May for the training on Lake Attersee in Austria.

For those who are not familiar with this venue, the lake is 45 minutes drive east of Salzburg (1½ hour flight with Ryanair from Stansted) at the northern edge of the Alps. Lying north – south, the lake is approximately 15km long by 2.5 – 3km wide and regularly hosts major championships. It is similar in shape to a small Lake Garda, and also deep (nearly 200m in places) the southern end has steep cliffs rising out of the lake into the Alps, and the northern end is open to the rolling hills. This geography provides a regular thermal wind (not usually as strong as Garda) with the exception of July and August when the hot summer temperatures stops the wind.

Paul Manning ran the training with thanks to the club for organising a coaching boat and laying marks etc. Thank you to Felix, Martin, Wolfgang and all the sailors for making me very welcome, and showing a great deal of interest.

Saturday morning was spent checking through the 12 boats attending the event to ensure they all had the generally accepted correct rig settings, and discussing all the pimps that make the boat great fun to sail. Before going on the water, there was a briefing to run through the exercises for the weekend. Saturday afternoon was spent on the water with the sailors trying out the points discussed earlier in the morning.

Sunday was warm with a stable 12knot northerly breeze, and the skiffs were on the water for 6 short races.

The fleet will be moving to Alpsee in two weeks time for a joint open meeting with the 29er and 49er classes, and it is expected sailors from Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland will join the locals.

Paul Manning left the fleet will exercises to practice, which focused most specifically on starting and low speed boat handling.