Hugh Styles

GBR Radial team coaching Perth - best result 7th overall @ Worlds

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:04:56 GMT

Ive just been in Perth coaching for the GBR Olympic Sailing team for the ISAF Worlds.

The team of 5 girls worked hard in the build up to the regatta and had some really great individual race results, winning plenty of races in the course of the regatta. The highlight was Ali Young finishing 7th, well done to her and all of the girls.

Now thinking of Xmas and seeing the folks.

Next thing is the training for the Olympics with the girls in Miami in the new year and then the build up to Weymouth in the summer.

All the best.

Hugh

Hugh Styles Appointed As World Youth Sailing Trust Coach

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:15:05 GMT

ISAF is delighted to announce that Hugh Styles (GBR) has been appointed as the World Youth Sailing Trust’s coach and will be present at the 2011 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Zadar, Croatia to coach sailors on ISAF’s Athlete Participation Programme.
Styles, who finished sixth in the Tornado at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, has 20 years of elite level competitions experience and will bring invaluable knowledge to the sailors who are selected as part of the Athlete Participation Programme.

“I like to think I can be a role model to the youth sailors,” said Styles. “I’ve come from a background of sailing in the Laser but I have experience in two person dinghies and catamarans as well. In each of those areas I have been able to achieve a really high level.

”I’ve won medals at World and International Championships and been successful in teams in the Extreme 40s and races like the Sydney to Hobart.“

The sailors on the Athlete Participation Programme will be able to benefit from Styles’ extensive knowledge and experience of Olympic Sailing and coaching.

Having coached a wide spectrum of athletes ranging from Optimist sailors to Olympic athletes and professional sailors, who have gone on to achieve domestic and international success, Styles plans to bring the athletes together before the 2011 ISAF Youth Worlds.

”The focus is to try and connect with all of the participants before the event. There is a massive opportunity to use technology and establish links with people through social networking websites such as facebook and twitter.

“I would like to be in a position that when we come to the event we are not meeting people for the first time. Social networking is a massive benefit and the forum side of it will help us build towards the 2011 Youth Worlds and onwards.”

The 36-year-old from Poole, Dorset is a Royal Yachting Association qualified Level Three Racing Coach. From 2003-2004 Styles was the RYA Hobie 16 Class Coach and focused on a squad of eight sailors who delivered an ISAF Youth Worlds gold medal for Great Britain.

With a strong coaching methodology and success in the past Styles already has plans and goals in place for the 2011 ISAF Youth Worlds.

“We are looking to give everybody the best opportunity to achieve their ultimate goals and personal bests. Whether it is to just be in every race, place in the top ten or win the regatta it doesn’t matter. It is about allowing people to achieve their personal goals and the way we measure is through our coaching approach.

”This will focus on the individual with an initial assessment period before the event via social mediums to see what their needs are. Having done that we can benchmark their aims and objectives.

“When we come out of the event they will have an individual legacy that will help to positively contribute to their learning and improvement in the future. Through the opportunities they have had at the event the sailors will be able to have a structure going forward and will ultimately help them become the next Olympians, America’s Cup Sailors or Round the World Yachts people.”

The ISAF Youth Worlds take place from 7-16 July in Zadar, Croatia this year and Styles is looking past this year’s event and focusing on the long term legacy.

“I hope that in the next 5-10 years we can raise the game of youth sailing internationally and with the ever increasing ability to get online more people will be able to see what is going on in real time.

”The legacy of this event is really important because it builds into our sport. The ISAF Youth Worlds can help us develop links with the emerging nations in Asia, Africa and South America and from there we can build more opportunities for these countries to become even more successful."
On the appointment of Hugh Styles, World Youth Sailing Trust Chairman Carlos Ribeiro Ferreira said, “The World Youth Sailing Trust look forward to working with Hugh as we continue to support young sailors from emerging nations at the ISAF Youth World Championships.

”Hugh has fantastic credentials both as a competitor and as a coach and through his experience we hope to achieve the Trust’s aim of ensuring young sailors return home after the ISAF Worlds enriched by the experience."

www.TimeontheWater.co.uk

ISAF Youth Worlds Site

ISAF Youth Worlds Facebook Page

ISAF Youth Worlds Twitter Page

World Youth Sailing Trust Microsite

Flying Fifteen coaching Parkstone Yacht Club provided by Towergate Mardon

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:45:31 GMT

Saturday the 20 November saw a keen group of Flying Fifteen sailors attend a coaching workshop provided by me on behalf of Towergate Mardon and my coaching business TIME ON THE WATER. 10 boats were involved and several other class keen helpers were along to assist in the days coaching.

The weather was cloudy but a good 10 knots of wind and every now and then there was a little drizzle but generally it was a good and nice day. The focus for the coaching was racing skills and after an initial session of assessment of the ability of the group we got out on the water nice and early.

With a simple windward leeward set the sailors were put through their paces and learnt about their starting approach, time and distance, identifying the bias in the starting line, getting transits, creating a gap to accelerate into off the line and executing a good start. The sailors made some great advances during the day, the most notable being Nadia who by the end of the session was mixing it in the thick of the action at start time, well done.

We also worked on the sailors boat handling, tacking and gybing on the whistle, initially with mixed success, but eventually the teams were tacking without the jib flapping and the kite filling all the way through the gybe.

The next steps will be for the sailors to practice all of the little lessons and when we have the next session in the spring we will be able to gear up for the season and go for it at the next open meeting.

Ill be coaching 49ers at the weekend, so a change of speed and angles, but it will be interesting to see how the team have improved since i last saw them in the end of the summer.

Towergate Mardon & TIME ON THE WATER Coaching session at Grafham Cat Regatta a resounding success

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 23:26:26 GMT

Saturday saw the first day of the Grafham Water annual catamaran regatta, which was attended by a couple of hundred teams, across classes as diverse as the single handed Dart sprint 15 through to the NACRA N20 twin wire beast, this year as a special support for the sailors Towergate Mardon in combination with Hugh Styles of TIME ON THE WATER and NACRA provided a free coaching session for sailors at the event.

With catamaran sailing in the fore front of the sailing press at the moment now that the next Americas Cup will be raced in AC45 and AC72 catamarans, there was a real buzz at the event and the sailors jumped at the chance to get some coaching help and an opportunity to improve skills through accessing the free coaching.

The day saw a mix of conditions, but with a biting northerly wind, the wind chill signified the onset of the winter. But this didn’t dampen spirits and the gust and shifty wind was unpredictable to say the least. This made it tricky for the race officer to lay an even course and for the sailors to be able to decipher the shifts until many of them had come back to the beach and discussed it at length in the bar.

The schedule for the Saturday and Sunday was three races and TIME ON THE WATER coach Hugh was on the water observing and taking video of opportunities for teams to improve performance. This was then debriefed shore with both individual and group debriefs and a number of Q&A sessions.

The evenings debrief in the Grafham Water Sailing club, the focus of the session being in two parts:
Tactical and strategic positioning on the race course relative to the course axis and the gust and wind shifts
Mark rounding processes and how to create better tactical options by improving mark rounding smoothness.

Point 1. Was eagerly discussed by the participants, and with some simple rules of thumb provided by Hugh the sailors broke down the scenarios they had experienced and generated game plans for the how they would attack the race course the following day. The biggest hurdle most sailors felt was dealing with traffic and keeping options open to be able to sail their race strategy.

Point 2. Most teams were pushing too late with their spinnakers up too close to the leeward marks to be able to make a good mark rounding exit. Using Video analysis the sailors were able to see exactly how far in advance of the mark a good rounding should start. This was then used to improve routines with a more accurate assessment of the time and distance approach to the marks. Conversely at the windward marks teams found that there were many more options open to them than just following the boats in front, the focus of clear air and keeping in the gusts was highlighted as the priorities going forward.

The opportunity for the future of catamaran sailing is bright at the moment with the added benefit of the Americas Cup 34 in catamarans. In order to support this TIME ON THE WATER is running coaching sessions in catamarans as well as monohull’s during the winter months to help raise the level of skill in the UK fleets across the board, if you are keen and want to fast track your sailing please contact Hugh Styles on email Hugh@timeonthewater.co.uk.

Many thanks to Towergate Mardon and NACRA who made the coaching session possible, but also to Grafham Sailing club and Paul Wakeline for helping make the day a resounding success. Thanks also to Magic Marine for the clothing support for the coaching team.

Dart 18 Towergate Mardon Coaching day with Hugh Styles

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:01:13 GMT

Dart 18 Towergate Mardon Coaching day with Hugh Styles

This Sunday the Dart 18 Class had their single handed nationals and Women’s nationals hosted by Parkstone Yacht club. In a weekend of variable conditions a good fleet of 25 boats turned up on the Saturday morning with the prospect of a windy weekend.

The reality was that the forecast did not match to the conditions at all, as is so often the case in the UK. The wind didn’t blow on Saturday and did on Sunday, far more than expected, and meant that the Sunday sailing was abandoned. But before this happened the Dart sailors were however able to get a a positive spin from the day for the sailors by linking them into some good local knowledge, coaching of the land effects and tidal influences in Poole harbour, this coaching was provided for the Dart class by Towergate Mardon who’s ambassador Hugh Styles of TIME ON THE WATER (Olympian and high performance sailing coach) attended the event in support of the class.

The Sunday, dawned with a windy and rainy outlook, and from the initial assessments of the meteorology web sites, there was a mixed message from the various weather models of what would be the likely wind conditions, with many forecasting light and variable winds. The end result being that the weather was totally dependant on a weather front moving over the region during Saturday night and Sunday morning, and that this front moving faster than expected managed to hang over Poole for long enough to keep the very windy conditions for such a time that it precluded the Sunday racing from occurring. The one benefit of this situation was that there was an opportunity for a training session with Hugh followed by question and answers in the clubs training room.

Hugh being one of Britain’s few successful Olympic catamaran sailors, was able to focus on the needs of the fleet, and ran an initial assessment session, then helped sailors with some hints and tips of how to improve their starting and mark rounding skills, this then developed into more elaborate insights into how to make big gains in the tactics and strategy of start and mark rounding incidents, where avoiding boat on boat traffic and incidents on the water help provide race wining opportunities.

This coaching day was one of a selection of days which as part of an innovative new approach to supporting dinghy sailors and attendees get the benefit of the teaching as well as the opportunity to get a discount opportunity on insurance premiums. Many classes such as the Flying Fifteen and J24 class have already expressed an interest for coaching days in the future and If your class or fleet would like a Towergate Mardon sponsored Hugh Styles coaching day please contact hugh@timeonthewater.co.uk, we currently have several opportunities for these days in the calendar for next year and would be keen to hear from interested clubs or classes.

Hugh Styles
CEO‘Time On the Water’, agents for Magic Marine UK
Tel +447712760524
Email: hugh@timeonthewater.co.uk
Skype: hughstyles

Team Boskalis win F18 Nationals 2010

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:34:33 GMT

This weekend saw the F18 National Championships held at Whitstable Yacht Club, it was a fantastic event “the best nationals for a long while, well done to Whitstable” was heard at the prize giving after the last 3 days had given fruit to all conditions + excellent close racing.

Team Boskalis sailors Hugh Styles + Chris Rashley sailing a NACRA Infusion dominated the regatta from start to finish counting 5 firsts and a 2nd place, this is the 5th National Championship win in the F18 class for Styles. At Whitstable 2nd place overall went to John Worthington and Seb Gruber who were very impressive in the breeze, in another NACRA Infusion and in 3rd Matt Humphries and Luke Yates.

This year the Formula 18 class had the best turn out at one of its National championships ever, this is down to the good balance which exists within the class between good testing racing at break neck speeds and good fun social banter off the water. Its amazing to see the success of the class, even in the UK where catamaran sailing is the poor relation to the dinghy sailing, popularity is building and this is mirrored internationally, with the recently held worlds in France which had a limited entry of 160 teams competed for the title, and the top 20 of this looking like a who’s who of Olympic Tornado teams of recent years.

To the regatta, Friday and Saturday provided champagne sailing in fresh winds and sunny skies, and racing on the tidal waters of the Thames estuary teams had to make tough lay line calls both up and down wind. Three races on the Friday and race one saw some really close racing between Styles and Rashley and Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch, this was won by Styles and Rashley. The second race was very open, and then disaster stuck for Wilson as he broke his mast, ending his regatta. Race two was won by Worthington and Gruber, with David White and John Sweet a good second and Styles and Rashley third. Race three in more wind saw Styles and Rashley dominate from the front, with White and Sweet solid in second.

Saturday dawned even windier but with a cloudy sky, Stuart Gummer with Ryan Crawford lead the first lap of race 4, but were overhauled by Styles and Rashley who kept to the left side of the upwind on the second beat. The fifth race of the day in ever more increasing wind was blessed by sunshine, and a battle royal between Styles and Rashley and Worthigton and Gruber, the former lead for the first lap, to be overtaken on the downwind as Worthington powered through the chop, the teams were close again at the top but Worthington sailed another blistering downwind to take the winning gun. The last race of the day was cancelled due to too much wind, but with 4 races scheduled for the Sunday.

Sunday started with a SW 10 knots which died through the race and had Styles & Rashley tussling with Humphries & Yates, with Adam Piggott & Lewis Crawford third, and this is how I ended. As the wind died on the last leg it swung west 60 degrees and this turned the fleet inside out after the top 5 finished.

The wind disappeared and swung through 360 degrees until just before 1400 hrs when a SW breeze came in and the last race got away in 9 knots Styles and Rashley fought it out on the first lap, with Gummer and Crawford pushing hard, but this was not enough to hold off Styles and Rashley who managed to overhaul them and in doing so winning the Boskalis team the national title for the fifth time in 6 years for Styles.

Many thanks to Whitstable yacht club for their amazing hospitality, to Stuart Offer for the good race officering. Now the focus will be for the Forts race at Whitstable in 2 weekends time, then the F18 Inlands on the 16/17 Oct before the final event of the season the NACRA Nationals which will be at the Weston Cat open on the 6/7 November.

As ever nothing would be able to be achieved without the great support from the many sponsors family and friends so many thanks to:
Time on the Water
Boskalis
Nacra Europe
Towergate Mardon
Magic Marine
Marlow Ropes
Tactick

Hugh Styles

Great day F18 UK Nationals day 1, 1st, 3rd, 1st

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:18:36 GMT

Great day F18 UK Nationals day 1, 1st, 3rd, 1st
posted by Hugh Styles // August 20, 2010 21:10
Whitstable was the venue and a fleet of 37 boats competing on the Thames estuary, with a South Westerly winds from 8 – 16 knots, big shifts and loads and loads of sunshine, it was champagne yachting as the F18 catamarans blasted up and downwind flat out wiring.

Race one was one of the best closest battles ive had racing for a long time, Chris Rashley and I were racing our Nacra Infusion against Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch. The lead changed a number of times, but we managed to take the lead before the last mark and were never headed.

Race 2 was all about Jon Worthington and Seb Gruber who stormed out of the left side on the first beat and did a horizon job on the fleet, we were all left trying to catch up, David White and John Sweet second and Hugh Styles and Chris Rashley third.

Race three took it toll and left crews with tired arms and very thankful when they got to the finish. The race was lead from start to finish by Hugh Styles and Chris Rashley on their NACRA Infusion, followed again by David White and John Sweet in another NACRA Infusion, third Luke Yates and Matt Humphries.

The forecast for tomorrow is meant to be windier, which will put a little dampner on this evenings entertainment, but everyone is hoping for more champagne sailing tomorrow.

Thanks to all of Team Hugh Styles sponsors:
Boskalis
NACRA Europe
NACRA Watersports
TIME ON THE WATER
Marlow ropes
Magic Marine
Tacktick
Towergate Mardon

2nd Texel Dutch Open 1 day to go!!

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:24:00 GMT

Epic Day in Texel, big breeze and waves and lots of hull flying,

We were 2nd in race one with a storming race, were learning about our boat as it has new foils and theyre taking a bit to get used to.

Race two we underestmated the side slip on foils and were shut out, tacked to clear, but lost breeze on RHS and then behind the bunch at the top mark arrrghh, fought back to 6th.

Race three, were good off the line and went left but evens at the top, but behind a group of boats and rounded in the pack, catching up all way with the next 2 laps to finish 4th and oh so close to 3rd!!

2nd overall and pushing for the overall lead, tomorrow a big day!!

TIME ON THE WATER 3rd at J24 worlds qualifier

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:35:57 GMT

The newly formed company TIME ON THE WATER owned by Hugh Styles and David Lush had their companies first success, on the bank holiday weekend with Hugh Styles skippering a J24 team to a podium position of 3rd place, this was a great result considering that the team had many changes of crew through the event.

The bank holiday weekend saw a good fleet of J24’s competing in the Poole Harbour Regatta 2010 as one of the J24 class worlds qualifiers. The regatta saw a whole range of conditions, with Saturday cold wet and windy, through to Monday with a dropping breeze, sun tans and glassy seas.

Duncan Mcarthy with his local Parkstone Yacht Club team were the class act, with a boat handling edge in the windier conditions, Bob Turnders SERCO team were a close second, snatching one race win and several second place finishes, both of these teams now go onto the Europeans in Holland next weekend for the first major J24 regatta of the year, we wish them all the very best.
The surprise success was the TIME ON THE WATER team finishing 3rd overall behind these two, showing some great potential, as after a slow start to the regatta in the big breeze the teams performance went from strength to strength, finishing the regatta with the best results of any team on the last day Monday.

A great regatta with close racing and a variety of sailing conditions which made for a real test for the teams which are just off to the J24 Europeans in Holland.

TIME ON THE WATER would like to thank all of the members of the crew who, specially to David Lush and David Hepburn and all the owners of the good ship ‘Jobs for the Boys’, Russell Whitworth, Jules Scott, who were the core team and supported by Ed Lush, Steven Tiernan, Ed Whitehead and Luke, who all played their part in making it a successful regatta. Then TIME ON THE WATER would also like to thanktheir supporters and sponsors, Magic Marine, Towergate Mardon, Laser Perfoermance Europe, Pelican Racing, Marine Resources, Gill, Marlow Ropes, Nacra Europe, Boskalis.

The next activity is the SB3 event in Seaview on the Isle of Wight in a weeks time.

Styles races F18 at Carnac 2010

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Mon, 03 May 2010 08:10:19 GMT

This weekend was the first regatta in the F18 calendar of the 2010 season, racing in the waters off the Brittany coast in France. The bay of Quiberon and Carnac Yacht Club hosted the 2010 Eurocat regatta, which comprised a series of short course round the cans racing and a seperate long distance race of some 30km to the extremity of the bay of Quiberon and back.

Racing was in 4 fleets on two course areas, one handicap course area and another for the Formula 18 class. in total some 400 boats were in attendance at the regatta, with numbers down on the last few years of competition.

Racing the NACRA Infusion the Team Styles F18 campaign had a mixed bag of results, with the highlight being the last race of the day finishing off well with a 2nd in the last race. Now looking to the next major event in the calendar which is the NACRA international championships and then the Texel Dutch open in June, before the F18 world championships, which are in Brittany at Erqy in the first week in July.

Many thanks to the teams sponsors and supporters, in particular, Towergate Mardon Insurance, Magic Marine, NACRA Europe, Tacktick, Marlow Ropes, Holt.