We have been lucky enough that people like Greg Goodall, Daniel van Kerckhof, John Pierce and others have offered their advice in coaching sessions free of charge.

Currently I'm working on getting another such clinic by renowned olympic sailors this season in NL or Belgium. Their reaction was very encouraging.

But even if you have to pay for it then such sessions are typically well worth the investment. Another trick is to go out with two or more boats and just race eachother in close proximity and comment on eachother, sometimes even switching boats. It is surprising how much you can learn like that. Marks idea is right up there, setting a bouy and training starts. If you do such things regulary then your skills will shoot up. In my personal case such things didn't cost anything other then some phonecall costs or a tray of beer to get the other crews out etc.

Wouter