A New Challenge... Relocated Due To Coronavirus-19

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Well, it seems like we have some new great challenge every other year or so. Hurricanes? Boat crashes? Glodal Pandemic?

This program has been thru many changes. It began almost 20 years ago, and primarily focused on class room work and some sailing as guests on local club members' keel boats. The instructors found that the students could do almost everything, if encouraged, and the demonstration of seamanship skills was the students' main task.
Next, in about 2007, the program acquired some boats of it's own, and the centerpiece of the program was the students sailing their own boats independently.

 Boat collect leaves, pine needles, and dirt. In an effort to keep Navy clean, we are now covering them with tarps, and supporting the tarps with this invention: a 'T' of plastic pipe, fiberglass rod, and padding (swim noodle).

With the fleet of 6 Flying Juniors, 14' two-person racing class sloops, the New Bern NJROTC sailing really took off. Classes were 30 to 40 students, we hosted regattas for local sailors and high school teams. During this time, the course evolved into the framework that it has now: learning terminology and parts of the boat, on-water safety and capsize practice, practical demonstration of being able to sail a boat to a directed goal and carry out basic maneuvers such as tacking and docking (bring the boat to a controlled stop).

Since then, we acquired Javelins and used them for introducing the beginner sailors, reserving the tippy sporty "FJs" for advanced sailors. Then in 2018 Hurricane Florence took away our fleet of FJs. Since then, we have used the Javelins for ssailing instruction... they work great as learning platforms in the parking lot... and then, thanks to members of the Fairfield Harbour Yacht Cub, we let the students demonstrate what they've learned on big keel boats... and added navigation and radio communication to their skills.

Along the way, we've gained some new coaches and new attitudes. We will meet this new challenge with smiles and determination!


Ron Cox, a lifelong sailor and enthusiastic volunteer, joined us in 2018. Here he is showing off the Javelins parked temporarily at Fairfield Harbour. They are in a protected spot on high ground, and close to the coaches who will work on them over the summer.







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Being a sailing coach is very demanding, but it's very rewarding. One of the main jobs of our coaches is to take our donated boats, and get them up to standard for teaching. We cannot safely teach young students on old rattley unreliable equipment!




Another change in our program, we are now keeping 12 of the NJROTC District's Lasers. These boats are used for a summer time sailing & leadership academy. We will have the option of using them for advanced sailing instruction. We had planned to do so this spring but the pandemic broought these plans to a halt.

A sailing coaches work is never done, you can see these rudders and daggerboard need a little spiffing up!  

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Sailing (lesson) Upwind Efficiently... and getting there faster!

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Wind shifts are very rarely noticed except by pilots and sailors. But they can make a HUGE difference in making progress to an upwind goal. Recognizing and using wind shifts is one of the two main ways sailors can get UPWIND most efficiently. The other is using sail trim and steering when CLOSE-HAULED.

First let's talk about sailing upwind.

If you are not yet completely familiar and comfortable with this diagram of Points Of Sail, please go back because the rest of this lesson will not help you. (Sailing Lessons Table Of Contents (link))

We can go upwind by steering the boat at any course above a beam reach. As we steer a course closer to the wind, we pull the sail in, until we can pull it in no more. This happens at approximately 45 degrees to the wind.


For sailing "close-hauled" we sometimes we tell beginners "corner to corner" referring to the clew (link to GLOSSARY) of the mainsail being over the corner of the transom. But many boats including Lasers and Javelins, can pull the mainsail closer to centerline than that.


I tell students "close hauled" means that you are pointing CLOSE to the wind and the sail is HAULED in tight/hard, to help them remember.

How hard do you pull in the sheet, and how close an angle to you steer? That's a good question.

Let's say that a sailor slowly turns his boat from a close reach to close-hauled.

As we turn and trim, the boat goes closer to our goal but also slows down. If we turn a little and pull, always keeping the sail just a tiny bit away from luffing, using our telltales for scientific accuracy (!), we are going as fast as possible for that angle.  By using a little math, we can see how fast we are going towards a goal directly upwind.... one we'll have to tack to get there... but don't worry about that just now, just be aware that 1- we can get our sail trim ju-u-st right for best speed and 2- 'close hauled' is a narrow range of courses just like 'broad reach' is a generic description for going downwind at an angle.

 


All three of these boats are Close-Hauled. Boat A has pulled her sails as tight as they can possibly go, and is steering an angle so close to the wind that the sails are not driving the boat well. Boat A is going slow, and as a consequence is more difficult to steer and is also sliding sideways (called "leeway") because the water flowing past the centerboard or keel in not sufficient. Boat B is steering at a wider angle, but not by much. However that slightly wider angle is letting her sails provide more power, her sheets are eased perhaps a few inches, and she is going faster thru the water. She is not making as much leeway. Boat C is steering at a wider angle yet, and has eased the sails enough to notice. She is going faster yet and making less leeway.

Terminology: Boat A may be said to be "pinching."

Boat C is "footing." All three are close-hauled.

If 'Close-Hauled' is just a range of angles, how can you tell when you're doing it, versus sailing on a close reach? Is it just a matter of opinion? Not really, when sailing on a close reach, you don't have to pay as much attention to wind direction because pulling in, or easing, your sail will not make a difference in what course you steer. Nor are you planning to TACK (link) to reach an upwind goal.

When sailing close-hauled, if the wind shifts against you, towards your bow, you may be able to pull your sails in a bit tighter and keep going, but you may lose speed toward your goal.




So which is faster to a goal directly upwind: pulling the sail in super-tight, until you hear it squeak, and aiming as close to the wind as you can without luffing, or steering a slightly wider angle and easing a few inches, so the boat goes a little faster?

I don't know. It will depend on a large number of variables, and learning  to answer that question is part of becoming a good skipper... not just for racing but for all-around skillful and effective sailing.

 In general, in boats that are more old-fashioned, or heavier, or when the water is more choppy, the boat will have greater effectiveness at wider angles.

When sailing close-hauled, the skipper (or the helms-person steering) -must- pay attention to the angle of the wind, and steer accordingly. You must watch the leading edge of the sail, the luff, and either read the tell-tales (those little ribbons on each side of the sail) or the old fashioned way of looking for a bubble or bulge caused by wind around the leading edge. The tell tales or the bubble will tell you when you must bear away, turn slightly away from the wind, and the rest of the time you must concentrate on bringing the boat as close as possible, as tight an angle as possible, to the wind, for the close-hauled course you think best (pinching or footing).

Let's say for now that we can pick a fast effective 'close hauled.' We can choose pinching or footing, and sail those courses well enough that we are very sensitive to the angle of the wind, and will instantly know when the wind shifts.

WIND SHIFTS- it's always happening whether anybody notices it or not!


When close hauled on port tack, let's say the wind shifts to the left, or counter-clockwise if looking down on the boat from above. We're sailing at our best, and we instantly respond by easing the sail very slightly. The boat will speed up, which is great, but now we are at a slightly wider angle than we want for our absolute best efficiency to get upwind. So we get back to our best "close hauled" by turning slightly to port, toward the wind, and pulling those inches back in. We have just been LIFTED, that wind shift is called a LIFT, and we are now aimed closer to from our upwind goal! Nice!

But hey, the darn wind is always shifting, not two minutes goes by and we are still sailing at our best and we recognize that the wind has shifted to the right, clockwise, and we pull our sail in so the boat instantly slows down a little. Ee quickly get back to our optimum close hauled by turning slightly to starboard, away from the wind, and easing the sail back that little bit we pulleded. We have been HEADED. This wind shift is called a HEADER.

Just by doing this alone, we have gotten far ahead of our friend who is sailing along with us, but is busy looking at the animal shapes in the clouds or wondering what if Superman had a fight with Batman.

But what if we tack on the header? Will that work even better?

We know that the wind is always shifting, in strength as well as direction. If we're on a lake or small bay, we can use landmarks... a certain house on shore, an odd-shaped big rock, etc etc... to see whether we are being lifted or headed.  This should come naturally and is a good place to start. A compass is even better.

http://nbnjrotc-sail.blogspot.com/2011/02/sailing-lessons-on-line-table-of.html