Daily Lift - Ideas for Teaching the Rules

Ideas for Teaching the Rules by Dave Perry

On the Water
• Practice starts with “live coaching” (vary the favored end)
• Starting line too short for all boats to fit at same time
• Extremely short beat (upwind start) or run (downwind start) – or start upwind, then reverse fleet and have them race to a nearby leeward mark
• Videotape races or sessions and do debrief on shore
• Pull boats aside right after incident and debrief while still fresh (have small dry-erase board in coach boat)
• Race around tiny track, keeping boats compressed
• Have sailors raise hands as they enter the zone; give feedback
• Create drills for ducking / slam dunking / lee-bowing
• Simulate rules situations right off the dock (with good sailors in boats and class on dock watching with an instructor doing “play by play”)

Daily Lift - Teaching Tough Topics Part II

Love Your Students, Love Your Material

• Be enthusiastic and students will follow your example
• Believe in your students and they will believe in themselves
• Always give feedback to each person
• Learn Names!!!
• Inspire Confidence! BE IN CHARGE!!

Daily Lift - Teaching Tough Topics

Are you teaching skills all at once? Here are some tips on how to break it down into bite-size pieces: 

• Make things parallel to regular life
• Remind students that errors are expected
• Limit jargon until students understand what things to do
• Think outside the Sailing Box for examples!

Daily Lift

A tip on teaching beginners - the first teaching goal when working with beginners should be to familiarize the student with the hull and its dynamics. Incorporate teaching parts of the boats, rig, and then start by towing without sails. Finally, slowly introduce how to control the boat with sails.