College of Charleston Advanced Racing Clinic a Success

By Airwaves Writer Paige Hoffman
With the fall sailing season already beginning for high school and college sailing, athletes have been preparing all summer with preseason activities to give them an edge on the course this year. Recently, I had the experience of travelling down to the College of Charleston to participate in their Advanced Racing Clinic for high school sailors. The clinic is geared towards providing sailors with coaching necessary to bring their sailing to the next level in high school or collegiate fleet and team racing. I’m very pleased to say I had an extremely beneficial experience in South Carolina, and that I would highly recommend the clinic to other sailors looking to enhance their performance on the course.
College of Charleston head coach Ward Cromwell, who has led the team to countless national championships, coached the clinic, which took place at the college’s own sailing center, the J. Stewart Walker Sailing Complex. Sailors from all over the country attended, coming from states including Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas and California. Day one of the clinic began with introductions between the sailors and coaches and a detailed review on z420 and FJ tuning.
The early stages of the clinic focused extensively on specific rig tuning techniques and adjustments. That evening, after a productive day on the water, clinic attendees were invited to participate in a weekly informal fleet race hosted at the sailing complex With twenty one of the college’s FJs and 420s participating, it was very well attended, and the racing was quite exciting. Nights were spent aboard the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier from the Second World War. That in itself made the experience unlike any other I have ever had sailing, working with some of college sailing’s best coaches while also exploring the historical side of the city I was sailing in.
Days two and three went by far too fast. Focusing mainly on team racing, sailors started off doing mostly combo drills, followed by starting drills and racing. Time on the water was followed by a lunch on land and video debriefs. These on-land sessions helped the sailors unwind while focusing on key areas of improvement before heading back out to sail. No time was wasted, with almost the entire day being spent exclusively at the sailing center. Extra curricular activities, like visiting College of Charleston’s campus, were arranged by sailors from the college who had volunteered to help. Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to my newfound love of Charleston and head back to Massachusetts.
The experience I had sailing in South Carolina was very different from any I have had back home. The current in the channel of Charleston harbor was stronger than any I’d felt in New England, and the warm, southerly breeze was quite a contrast from the cooler wind up north. Everything about the venue made it different from my home base in Duxbury, and even factors not directly correlated to sailing itself, like the frequent dolphin sightings and container ship traffic, were outside factors that I had to learn to adjust to and normalize. As a sailor, the best things you can do for yourself are sail in new places and learn how to win in those places. Sailors don’t have the benefit of playing a game on a field that never moves or changes. By participating in this clinic, I took myself out of my comfort zone of sailing with familiar people in familiar places completely. As athletes, thinking of ways to challenge ourselves on and off the water is part of what we do, and I am so glad to say that this summer, I was able to do just that and gain a tremendous understanding of how diverse sailing can be in the process.
For information on next Summer’s C of C advanced high school racing clinics, check out sailing.cofc.edu or contact Greg Fisher directly at fishergv@cofc.edu or 410 212 4916.