Chilly but beautiful afternoon... OK lets go sailing !!!

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Today's weather felt warm & sunny, until you got out on the water (which quite recently had a skim of ice on it). Then the breeze turned cold, especially if you got wet, which a few of us did.

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Remember last week, we did not quite get all the work done? Well, this is one reason why we have coaches, to pick up the slack. Here is our Head Coach Jerry Rezab (driving) and new guy Coach Chris Davies launching one of the Javelins.











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Meanwhile Coach Mike Murphy is motoring another Javelin over to the dock, ready to sail. No the motor will be removed before the cadets get aboard. No cheating!

If you'd like to know more about our sailing coaches, check here (link).

We had 18 cadets out on the water today... good thing we have all these many boats! Maybe we could use a few more !!!

The beginners went out in the Javelins, with coaches aboard helping. After all, for most of them, it was their first day ever sailing. The more experienced (and brave?) cadets went sailed the FJs.

This photo shows one of our best skippers steering an FJ on a CLOSE-HAULED (link) course.

This boat is Close-Hauled on Port Tack. You can see that the mainsail sheet has been pulled in rather tight, the end of the boom is over the corner of the transom. The jib sheet is pulled in to match the main. Although at the instant this photo was snapped, he looked around at the camera, but he has been focusing on steering the boat on a tight angle to wind while keeping it moving... yes it's trucking, look at the wake!

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  This particular young skipper went on to show exactly why we consider him one of the best in our program. He made a textbook landing in a fairly difficult situation. (1st photo)

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2nd photo of a properly executed landing under sail.   .   .

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The wind is blowing onto the shore at an angle, and several other boats are landing at the same time.

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Approaching the beach, the smart skipper turns toward the wind slightly and eases the sails out to slow down... or even come to a stop... allowing the other boats to complete their landing and make an opening at the beach. Then the boat turns toward the beach and the crew prepares to let the centerboard up. Then the boat turns toward the wind and eases sails again to slow down just where the water gets shallow and the centerboard must be raised a little. The skipper hhthe turn, the centerboard is then fully raised, the skipper pulls the rudder up too, the boat moves gently sideways up to the beach

Wait a minute... didn't we have 4 FJs sailing today? We sure did! Where is the fourth one? Why, it's tied to the dock where it was towed after a capsize, and the sailors are warming up because they wanted to learn about HYPOTHERMIA.

Just kidding. They got a chill but not hypothermic. Fortunately the coaches were ready for a rescue, with big fluffy warm towels to wrap up in. However, all sailing cadets will need to learn the material about hypothermia (not by experiencing it, please) such as how to recognize it, what the effects are, and what to do about it.

..... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

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