Practice practice practice

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Tacking drill!

Weather not so good, we have the remnants of Tropical Storm Karen coming over... strong winds, threatening rain... no actually it did rain...

 At this point, we should know how to rig the boats, and know all the basic terminology. That part went relatively well today






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What about the advanced sailors? This program has quite a few sailors who have gained a higher level of knowledge and skill. Today was a day to learn & practice some navigating.









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 In strong wind, we have a method of making the sails smaller. This is a slight added complexity, most of the advanced sailors already know about REEFING. The beginners figured it out o-k.













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And of course, rigging up the boats involves showing the coaches that yes, you can tie the proper knots. 

So we got the boats rigged up, we got skippers & crews organized, we worked on POINTS OF SAIL and on TACKING. Frankly we are a little behind where the class should be, partly due to weather and partly due to lack of study. To pass this course, beginners must learn to skipper a boat thru all points of sail, the basic maneuvers, bring the boat to a controlled stop, and be familiar with the basic Right-Of-Way rules (link) so we know how to drive properly and not crash. This is what it means to be in control of your vessel. We are barely scratching the surface of the first two goals!

We may have a chance to gain a lot of sailing time, and some good practice, this coming Sunday Oct 13th; the New Bern NJROTC Sail Squadron has put on sailing demonstrations for the past few MumFests (link). Hope to see you there!

... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King






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