27th December 2009
Today was the start of sail training for a full week. I am going to do level 2 with my friends from the last session so we are doing a sort of advanced level 2. My brother Lachie is doing level one in his Optimist AUS 531 called Optimist Prime from the Transformers Movie. Lachie even has a Transformers truck. Corbin is not doing this training as he is away with his parents on holiday but Keelan and Alex are doing it.
2oth December 2009
Today was the last day of the sail training sessions. I also wore my new Ronstan black rashy my dad bought me at Sandringham. We did some practice with my dad before the session and my brother Ben came out in a Laser 4.7 because it was light. In the training session we did some more tacks and gybe practice. After the session the off the beach captain of the club Scott Llewelyn got all of us going to Australian Championships to stand up and people cheered for us. We then got our certificates for completing our sail training level 2. Next week is Xmas and then my birthday yeh!
13th December 2009
At sail training I went out again and we practiced our tacking and gybing. It was a lot windier today and some times I had to hold on and was my mainsheet. I did not tip over though. Today I improved my tacking and we started to learn about roll tacks.
6th December 2009
Today we went sail training outside of the moorings. My group had two Optimists and two Minnows. Corbin and I were in our Opti’s and my friends Alex and Keelan were in their Minnows. Our coach had us compete in a Optimist versus Minnow challenge. Ellouise and Ben our coachs were in a RIB and they would throw a bottle and we had to sail over to it and pick it up and then pass it to our team mate and then get it back to our coaches. If we hit another boat we lost a point. I did hit a couple of times but the other guys hit me too so I did not lose any points. The wind was light so there was no damage done. We then practiced sailing upwind on a beat and I was really pleased with myself as the coaches said I steered very well. When I was back onshore the coaches gave me a prize for sailing well. Yeh!
15th November 2009
Today at sail training our coach Ben got us sailing inside the moored boats and he got us doing figure of eight turns and sausages around marks. We had to tack and gybe and turn around the marks. Before my sail training my dad took me out for a practice sail. He was in our RIB and my brother was in his Opti as well. Outside of the moorings the wind is steadier and you can go for longer without having to miss a moored boat!
8th November 2009
Today we started the sail training program and I met up with my friend Corbin who I did the level 1 course with last year. Corbin sails an Optimist too. We were put into groups and allocated an instructor. Our head coach at Sorrento is Ben Mathews who is from the RYA in England. We did some basic boat skills and then some capsize and bailing practice which was fun.
1st November 2009
Hi my name is Finn Hartnett and I am learning to sail in my Optimist at Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club. I am nine years old. Last year I did the level one basic learn to sail course at Sorrento. This year I have my own Optimist AUS 584 which is called T2 after the movie Terminator 2. In January I am going to the Australian Optimist Championships in Adelaide with my brothers. I will sail in the Green Fleet. My brother Ben will be in the Open fleet as he is older than me.
Below is a picture of me with my Optimist on its first sail.
My first sail in T2
