RS Feva HISC Squad 25/26 Weekend 3
- Dylan Collingbourne
- Feb 7
- 3 min read
Unfortunately our second weekend of training with the HISC Feva squad was blown off, but we still managed to spend a solid day working on theory to help majority of sailors first season in the boat. During this shore day towards the end of 2025, we worked on:
Goal setting for 2026 - performance and results
Fitness expectations for helms and crews
Downwind theory
Rig settings
General boat checks
For our third weekend, the focus for the squad was downwind low and slow (including hoists, gybes and drops) and starting (mainly trigger pulls and getting off the start line). The Saturday provided excellent conditions with a steady 12-14 knots, sunny, lovely south westerly and actually warm! Sunday was a mixed bag for the weather with 18 knots and grey skies when we arrived, then 2 knots when we were about to launch for an hour with glorious blue skies and sunshine, and then a steady 6-10 knots with drizzle. But we still managed to work on the squads downwind performance with great progression comparing to our first weekend back in November.
Goals and low and slow
Key thing for crews to remember for the kite - keep it driving! Keep enough power in kite to keep forward speed. Often crews will ty and soak as low as possible to minimise sailing distance but then the kite just hangs there and doesn't 'pull' the boat downwind.
Communication is key, the crew steers the boat downwind dependent on the pressure in the kite and the helm focuses on tactics and strategy but calling where other boats are, wind coming in etc.
One main are of focus over the weekend was gybing and trying to get the kite to pop! This is on the exit and is down to the roll caused by the helm in order to allow the crew to legally pump it on the exit. This manoeuvre was practiced a lot of the weekend but practice is key to make this manoeuvre consistent.
Trigger pulls
Timing is everything. The Feva is a heavy boat and takes time to accelerate and for the trigger pull, majority to nailing the time and distance to hit the line as close to go as possible with good speed. A large focus for the weekend in terms of trigger pulls were:
Trimming the main and jib - When gaining speed and the broad reach, it is important to trim both sails together to maximise flow on the main sail to gain speed.
Time and distance calling - This comes down to the crew where they are calling the times on the run up but also whether they are on time, late or too early.
Settings on the exit - get the boat set up correctly (especially kicker) should be step one of the trigger pull with about 15-30 seconds before go, we do not want to be getting it on once already racing.
Positioning in the boat on the exit - try and think what position are we going to be sitting in on the exit, if the conditions are light, it doesn't mean that both helm and crew flatten off the boat.
The weekend covered a lot of detail within specific boats and it felt like that everyone had something to work on between now and the next weekend. Keep up the training!
For questions or extra insight, get in touch at dylan@apexsailing.co.uk or follow @apex_sailing on Instagram and Facebook.
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