A few people are natural sailors and will always do relatively well with the minimum of preparation and effort. However, most of us need to develop a structured approach to learning right from the outset. Continually developing your skills will avoid the trap of getting stuck at a particular level that many sailors fall into — it’s possible for newcomers to overtake many of these in a relatively short time span.

Review each race to identify what you did well and what you could have improved on — it’s hard to over-emphasise how important this process is! Even if you don’t write a formal training plan, have clear and achievable targets of what to improve and how to do so. You will also need to regularly review progress and revise your targets as they are achieved. Writing a journal of lessons you learnt during each day’s sailing will help consolidate those points, as well as helping to identify priorities for improving.