What's coming up for Spring Sailing ??

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We have a number of cadets who are sticking with the sailing program BEYOND the basic level, and there will be some advanced activities coming up. Some of this will be new, some of it will be similar to stuff we've already done, and some will be a repeat.

(picture at right) One of these boats can keep right on sailing, the other two will have to dodge! Which one has the Right-Of-Way?

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The 3rd Annual NJROTC Regatta will be held in May at our sailing base, Bridgeton Harbor Marina. This will be run by all cadets, beginner sailors & advanced sailors, and we expect that once again the competition will be tough. The previous races had a mix of local racing sailors & high school teams, this event is a fundraiser for New Bern NJROTC Sailing and entry is open to all. It is run largely by the cadets and we encourage anybody who is interested to come check it out.

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We have organized a Keelboat Cruise, this will be open only to advanced sailors... those of you who have completed the Basic Sailing qualification already. It may include an exercise in night navigation, but will definitely include rigging & sailing skills plus using the chart & compass plus using the VHF radio. Those of you who are looking to get some of these signed off in your Blue Books, don't miss it!

The NJROTC sailors from years past may recognize Keelboat Sailing, since for a long time the cadets sailed Ensigns at Fairfield Harbour and larger cruising keelboats also.


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Another big-boat sailing event on the Neuse will be the NYRA Invitational. This has been an annual event based out of Bridgeton Harbor, but this year it should be bigger & better than ever! ... link to official Notice of Race... We can sail our own FJs, or there will be several opportunities to crew on larger racing keelboats. Other one-design classes such as the Sunfish, Flying Scot (think bigger than the Flying Junior), and the San Juan 21 will be present. This one will not be restricted to the advanced cadet sailors!


New event- the Bulldog Regatta at Charleston SC, April 14 & 15. This will be a high-school only event, and will include some other NJROTC teams! Because it will involve overnight travel, we will have to organized to do this, and this event also will not be restricted to the advanced cadet sailors. However, to participate you will have to prove your skills in sailing the FJs because the Bulldog Regatta will be in 420s (link to show what a 420 is) which are very similar to the Flying Junior but is faster & tippier.


The Sailing Squad Commander has all this info and more, so if you have any questions ask him! The class this spring should be at least as much fun as we had in the fall, in spite of the fact that it's a real class (yes we have tests & stuff). We don't get enough time out on the water, so don't miss any of it!

...posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

2012 spring schedule

This week, all the students are taking exams. Study hard & do well!

Here is the spring schedule. It's not long until we will be sailing again, and remember we may have some other activities coming up sooner, like the NYRA Winter Series.

Feb. 13 Orientation at the high school for all new cadets to the sailing program

Feb 27 Dryland Session at Bridgeton Marina for a hands on introduction of FJ to the new cadets

Mar 5 Swim Qualification & Capsize Drill at the New Bern YMCA (A FJ completely rigged will be used in the covered pool)

Mar 12 Sailing session on the water using the Javelins and FJs.

Mar 19, 26 Sailing session on the water using the Javelins and FJs.

*Mar 31, Apr 1 NYRA Invitational Regatta at Bridgeton Harbor

*Apr 14, 15 Bulldog Regatta, Charleston SC

Apr 16, 23, 30 Sailing session on the water using the Javelins and FJs.

May 7 Sailing session on the water using the Javelins and FJs.

May 12 NJROTC Annual Invitational Regatta & Fund Raiser - This is a Round Robin type regatta for all local sailors to compete using the NJROTC 6 FJs. All cadets encouraged to participate, this is YOUR event!

May 14, 21 Sailing session on the water using the Javelins and FJs. May 21 is the final session for the 2012 Spring series.

...subject to weather & other changes...

* these events will require additional arrangement or qualifications

posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

Merry Christmas !!! !!!

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And we heard them exclaim

As they sailed up out of sight

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

And to all a good night!

Work Work Work... no sailing, sad day

Last week we had a sad day... a working party (Navy lingo) to unrig & put away the NJROTC fleet.

All the FJs had their masts unstepped, halyards & stays secured, and carried to storage. The hulls had everything stowed securely inside & turned bottom-up, then secured to their bases again. This means no more FJ sailing this semester...

At least we had good weather!




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Here's Flying Junior #1, getting ready to hibernate for the winter. The cargo strap across the hull is secured to 2 helical anchors screwed into the ground, we want it tight enough to be secure but not too tight... don't want to bend the hull!



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FJ#7 on the far right (our only hull that is not bland white) is a 1967 Grampian, built in Canada. This boat was the NJROTC's first, procured by our first Head Sailing Coach Larry Rota of FHYC.

Sunset on FJ sailing for 2011. We will be reviewing the condition of all the boats & doing some work on them over the winter.

... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

We Get Lucky... with the weather, more actual SAILING !!!

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Today was a great day of sailing. We had 7 boats in the water, 6 of them skippered by cadets...all skippers completed the "Clock Drill" (link) and almost all cadets took a turn skippering a boat. There was also one ugly ducking in the flock, FJ#4 was sailed by Coach King and LCDR Tyson... hey we like to have some fun once in a while, too!

This photo shows Coach King leading the sailors thru a GYBE... in light wind, it's easy but we want to be ready for stronger winds, right??!? BTW where was FJ#2 and why were they not in this picture?

What does the "Clock Drill" accomplish? It puts the boat(s) on everypoint of sail, and the boat(s) must both tack & gybe to sail around the circle. At the beginning of today's exercise, not every skipper knew the difference between tacking & gybing; but by the end of the sailing session we were not only tacking smoothly, gybing with good control (most of us).




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We also got a chance to practice the RIGHT-OF-WAY rules! Coach King spent most of the session looking backwards (offering helpful advice to the student sailors) but that is no excuse for getting in a collision! But wait a minute... isn't the R-O-W vessel supposed to take avoiding action when it becomes obvious that the one who is supposed to give way isn't ?? ok it wasn't really a COLLISION more of a gentle bump. Still, not good!


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If we can get in some more practice this fall, we are ready to begin some sailing games. This might include some racing... although clearly none of the cadets are ready for the big league, since Coach King and the Commander were easily faster while looking backwards & giving instructions... and working on finer points of control such as sailing backwards.

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Not such a great photo, but it was taken with a cell phone while skippering an FJ... that Coach King is full of excuses! This picture shows close action with all the Javelins together, they are moving right along in this light air.

Still, it's possible to stall the boat and stop accidentally. We are seeing less & less of this sloppy boat-handling as we make progress. The fact that all the boats kept together, all the boats completed the drills (umm, wait, did every boat do a STOP at a buoy?), and everybody got a chance to skipper, shows that we're moving forward on this!



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All good things come to an end.

It's well into autumn, the sun set at 1708 this evening (that's 5:08 pm to you civilians) and we were already putting the boats away. There will be less & less time after school BUT with any luck at all, we can get in a few more sailing days this semester!

Thanks to Coach Drew McCrocklin for all the photos (except for the cell phone shot).

Now remember, we will also have AT LEAST one more written assignment to turn in this semester! If you have work to turn in, do so... not everybody is going to pass this sailing course and turning in assignments doesn't hurt your chances.

... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

A CHILI day... thank you, Cape Lookout Sail & Power Squadron!

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This past Saturday a small crowd wolfed down chili for a cause... the annual CLSPS cook-out benefit for -us- the NJROTC sailing program. We really appreciate the support, and the chili was delicious too!





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Coaches Gormley & King brought their own home-cooked pots of chili, along with a dozen more Power Squadron members. LCDR Tyson brought a pot of "Official Navy Game Chili" featuring venison & Guinness... hot enough to get your attention, and delicious! There was also no-bean chili, white chili with chicken, generous helpings of cornbread, and a steaming pot of clam chowder (not a Southern tradition, but a welcome treat).


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There was some discussion of various ways of cooking chili, and everybody got to vote on the HOTTEST, the BEANIEST (is this good?), and the overall BEST chili. Although Coach King's chili, which featured curry as one of the spices, was the first to disappear, it did not get any votes. Bob's Oktoberfest Chili was almost unanimously voted the 'Best Overall' even though it was almost sweet rather than spicy-hot.

Richard Tobacco, Power Squadron Commander, announces the winners. You can see all the chili lined up on the counter... nobody went home hungry!

Meanwhile, out on the river, winds were strong and our head Coach Jerry Reab was winning the first of the Winter Series races. Overall it was a very good day!

... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

Cool but beautiful fall day... breeze is HERE!

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This afternoon we got lucky with the weather again... maybe somebody up there likes to see us sailing?!? There was just enough wind that the boats got moving briskly when handled right, and made mistakes obvious without severe punishment (although we did have a couple of capsizes, but that is not really "severe" is it?).


We almost got the whole fleet out sailing, and today for the first time this semester, the coaches were on the dock or on the motorboats.

Here's a few boats doing the "Baby Duck" drill... hey where are the others???

Congratulations to all our new sailors! Looks like you can really do it... need more practice though...



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Here's one of the Javelins moving along smartly, proud new skipper doing quite well. This boat performed both the 'Baby Duck' and the 'Clock Drill' during the afternoon.
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Couldn't resist this shot. FJ#3 with one of New Bern's historic steeples and Town Hall clock tower in the background.

BTW this skipper is one of our 'blue-book' cadets with a previous semester of sailing under her belt, so why isn't this boat right in the center of the previous 'Baby Duck' photo?






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Here's an FJ and a Javelin both working on the "Clock Drill" (link) where they have to demonstrate all points of sail, tacking & gybing, and keeping control of the boat. It's good practice... what you don't see in this photo is that both these boats actually ran down the yellow buoy and snagged it's anchor line... oops!

As you can see, this afternoon's sailing went fairly well. We should continue to improve if we get the chance to practice more. Also, the patient and hard-working cadets who spent their time CREWING this afternoon should get an equal chance to show their skippering skills!

We have written assignments DUE so turn them in... those few of you who already turned in the assignments got quite good grades and will receive full credit. Remember, it is possible to get an UNSAT for the basic sailing course (ie fail).

...posted by Assistant Sail Coach Doug King