Operation MUMfest Sail 2012

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Last year was the first Sailing Demonstration for New Bern's MUMfest (link). This year, we repeated this operation -but- (listen carefully here) two of our three boats were skippered by cadets! This is a big step up. Congratulations to those who have reached this level of skill!

We could have done better at close-quarters maneuvering; and at keeping the boats in close order to begin with. However the basics were all in place, and that is most important. We could have used more wind too, but that must be accomplished at a higher level.

Destination: Downtown New Bern! But wait... don't we have 3 boats? Where is the third boat?!? And aren't these 2 kinda far apart to be a "fleet?" Hey don't complain... we're working on the basics here. Can you see the Ferris Wheel?


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Our mission was to sail up close enough to the waterfront that spectators on shore could see the activity, and perform maneuvers in unison so it would look like more than just some random boats sailing by. But we don't want to get TOO close, especially at parts of Union Point where there are underwater remains of New Bern's industrial past just waiting to crunch & munch our nice fiberglass.

Speaking of crunch... here is a tour boat waiting to pass our fleet. Those of you who were HERE will remember it as much closer than it looks... which is true, photos never quite capture the actual distance between objects...

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All the boats were well sailed on a basic level...  points of sail were accurately followed, helm steady & sails trimmed... maneuvers were done relatively smoothly... very rarely did one of our boats get stuck "in irons" during this exercise. We've made good progress this semester, we now know a lot of terminology, we can rig & unrig the boats, and we can really sail! Are we done? Umm, no. We still have some more skills to learn & demonstrate including CAPSIZE (link) and man-overboard recovery, and we need to learn the Right-Of-Way rules (link).


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Look Ma! We're all CLOSE TOGETHER just like da Coach keeps tellin' us !!!




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This is as close as we got to close-order drill... tacking in unison? Hmmmmm. Let's work on this, it's not that difficult!


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Time for a lunch break! The cadets had a chance to enjoy Mumfest for themselves, after demonstrating how to dock a sailboat (this entails "how to stop" link).  Notice how easy it is to keep the boats nice & close together... when tied to the dock...

Meanwhile, New Bern's historic vessel the skipjack Ada Mae (link) sails by


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Great! Here's a photo of all our MUMfest fleet... can you tell what Point of Sail they're on? The wind is light but the boats are still moving. Accurate sail trim is the key to making a sailboat go!!

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Here's two of our fleet (ahem) sailing past New Bern landmark Persimmons Restaurant. At one point we had a crowd waving & cheering for us sailing past, or maybe they were rooting for the tour boat.

Anyway, after this, it's time to sail back to our base at Bridgeton Harbor.






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 Waterfront pastime... skipping stones
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Maybe some time we will go into the physics of how a stone can skip instead of just sinking like a... umm...  rock





The basic sailors today doubled their experience... after all this is only the 5th sailing session for this semester. How many more will we have? Well, we hope to have another tomorrow! R U ready?

... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

New (well, new to us) Boat ! ! !

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A sincere THANK YOU to our latest supporter

Mr. W.A. is a Navy veteran, serving in the SeaBees and deploying to Korea and the P.I.

He donated his 14 ft "Tern" sailboat & trailer, along with lots of fittings & gear, to our program. You can see this boat is very similar to the Flying Juniors we have, and we will put it good use.

Getting More Experience...

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Light easterly wind, gloomy overcast skies, high school student sailors, some boats... put 'em all together!

We had more boats sailing... 2 of the FJs and all 3 Javelins. The FJ sailors had a pretty good game for awhile, plus we had 2 new sailors take the helm of these responsive little boats.

Meanwhile, practice continues in the Javelins with coaches assistance.







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Here's an example of what we're learning-
Two boats on 2 different Points Of Sail, looks like there might be some risk of a collision coming up! However, the yellow-hulled boat (on right) is to leeward of the red striped Javelin and thus has Right-Of-Way. The red striped boat turned to starboard and passed safely astern of the yellow boat.





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Another demonstration, if any is needed at all, of how the Flying Juniors are the sports cars. FJ#9 goes swooping past a Javelin

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And here's something we're apparently NOT learning: sitting in the far back of the boat is a poor way to steer... ... come to think of it, those FJ sailors would do better to move their weight a little forward, too.



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Congrats to our newest FJ skipper!









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Javelin sailors with Coach Murphy. The sails are set properly and as you can see by the bow wave, the boat is moving pretty well for light wind.

This boat is on a CLOSE REACH on Starboard Tack. They could go CLOSE-HAULED by turning slightly upwind (toward the camera) and pulling the sails in tighter.






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Back at the dock, unrigging the boat. Just a brief review, looking at this picture- the main halyard has been uncleated, the mainsail has been lowered, and the crew is loosening the outhaul so they can take the mainsail off the boom. They will also remove the rudder, lower the jib, coil & hang up all the lines, and stow the sails properly.


(photo by Jerry Rezab)


See the blue sky in this last photo? At the end of the day, the sun came out! Maybe somebody up there likes for us to go sailing!!

... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

3rd session, 2nd sail for most

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Another beautiful day on the river, not as much wind as last time. Today we sailed all 3 Javelins (again with the coaches aboard) and 3 of our FJs. Come on you Javelin sailors, get it in gear!! You should be motivated to learn to sail well enough to not need hints and reminders and a coach sitting right next to you!


This picture is not a good example to follow for sail setting in light wind. As you can see on the water's surface, there -IS- wind. These cadets had a bit of a distraction from working on perfect sailing, though.

One of the privileges of being an advanced sailor is getting to sail the FJs which are much sportier than the Javelins, and picking your crew!



Today's on-water exercise was to demonstrate skipper & crew tasks on all points of sail, tacking, and bringing the boat to a stop. Most sailors also had a chance to experience a GYBE (maneuver) and see the difference between gybing and tacking.

Sailing students need to learn many things. They need to learn the terminology (link to lesson), to begin speaking the "language of the sea." They need to know the major parts of the boat, and how these parts work. They need to know the points of sail (link to lesson) and the basic maneuvers, starting with TACKING.

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Some things just naturally irritate all the sailing coaches. One is the mistaken idea that pulling the sails in tight will make the boat go fast.


Coach Murphy has obviously gotten these cadets over that mistake. What point of sail are they on?




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One of the lessons we learned today is DON'T LET THE MAIN HALYARD GO UP THE MAST !!!


Every sailing cadet should get their sailing textbook, available from LCDR Tyson. Every sailing cadet should also work on completing their written assignments, due before next Monday. Some hard-working cadets have earned extra credit by turning theirs in early!


And think about Mumfest... we have a sailing event to plan and execute in  just a few more weeks. (link to last years Mumfest) This is the task of the Sailing Squad Commander, and the advanced sailors. Those motivated to 1- get more on-water experience, and 2- demonstrate strong potential to become advanced sailors, should be part of the planning and the event itself.

...posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

Really sailing... and yeah we mean SAILING

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Yesterday the weather was cloudy and a bit windy... we are lucky to have a 'weather data buoy' in the open Neuse River (link) to report & record what we've got out there... the wind direction brought in choppy waves, too.

This is still the BEGINNING of our sailing course, in fact it was the first day of really sailing for most of the cadets. So we focus on terminology, parts of the boat, and basic actions or evolutions. Safety is a part of every action!

... Photos curtesy of Fred Cornford ...

We are learning how to handle a boat around the dock, how to get in a boat properly (ie don't just leap casually), how to "bend on" the sails and make sure the rigging is correct, and finally, how to make a sailboat do what it do... just a little bit...


... Photos curtesy of Fred Cornford ...









Hey is this rudder on correctly? Let's make sure before it falls off in the middle of the river... lean out just a little further Coach, just a little further...
Not gonna happen, y'all !!

Thanks to the NEW SAILS and all the work that our coaches have put into the boats so that they are properly & strongly fitted out, we can sail on days like this... winds 12~15 MPH (what is that in KNOTS) and enough wave action to be a challenge. Isn't this a lot better than having classroom lessons??

... Photos curtesy of Fred Cornford ...

... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

First Day, Fall 2012... some of us got to SAIL !!!

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We had a very good first day, although some things are still not TOTALLY READY we made a lot of good progress ... ... ... and some of the cadets got to actually got sailing. Two of the advanced skippers had the chance to pick a crew and when their boats were rigged, got underway!

First there was WORK to do! For example, the Flying Juniors (FJs) have not been moved for the lawn mowers in several months. Fortunately, the boats were not damaged nor were they inhabited by wildlife. Here we see our sailing cades moving an FJ from it's nest of grass over to a clear area where it can be cleaned & rigged.

Let's review some of the basics of the sailing program- you have to get a consent form, you have to get on the roster, you have to give the on-water coaches a valid emergency contact phone number, you have to wear shoes that will both protect your feet and not damage the boats (ie no flip-flops, no hiking boots or cleats), you have to show up. Everybody works as a team and that part has gone very smoothly for a first outing.



This 2nd photo shows what looks like mayhem, cadets in life jackets running around among the boats. However there is actually a plan and there is both teamwork and leadership. The boats are getting moved (and no backs are getting injured in the lifting/carrying) and we will se the progress being made.



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Is this what we call progress? Actually it is very good, you can see that the masts are being put up but you can't really photograph KNOWLEDGE. This is also happening here, the cadets are learning the basicparts of the boat. Of course, the advanced sailors who are helping to direct the operation already know the terminology (well, mostof it) and are teaching & reviewing with the newbie sailors.


We need to know the DIRECTIONS (port/starboard, forward/aft, windward/leeward) and we need to know the basic parts of the boat (mast & boom, bow & stern, halyards & sheets) and the quicker we learn them, the quicker we can get down to business. We will also need to learn the knots... you can practice these in Top's classroom!

Even the Javelins have to be rigged. These boats are only slightly bigger in length but they are much bigger in overall size. They weigh more than twice what an FJ does, and we keep them in the water at dockside. Remember, these boats have special paint on the bottoms of the hulls so that they don't grow barnacles. What else did we learn about barnacles?

This might look like a bunch of kids just having fun, but actually class is in session! We've learned some terminology, we've practiced some teamwork, and we have also learned some important safety rules.
Lift the FJ with 5 or more people... watch out for hazardous items -before- stepping on them or tripping over them... wear a lifejacket when on the water (this includes the dock)... a whistle is an important piece of safety equipment... don't let the boats crash, but also don't ever get your hand or arm caught between 2 boats or between the boat & the dock... and something about barnacles!

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Today we launched all 3 Javelins and we hoisted our BRAND NEW SAILS for the 1st time.

Now, who is looking forward to more sailing??
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 ... posted by Assisant Coach Douglas King

Schedule for Fall 2012... are you ready?

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Mondays will normally be sailing days until further notice. Our first day at Bridgeton Harbor will be less than a week from today! Bring shoes you can wear in the water & mud.

A HAT would be nice too!



Schedule:
Sep 10 - Launch & Rig, Newbie Day!
TBD - Swim Test, Capsize Practice at YMCA Pool
Sep 17 - Sailing Practice (Probably Baby Ducks)
TBD - First Written Assignment (test) Due
Sep 24 - Sailing Practice (Probably more Baby Ducks)
Oct 1 - Sailing Practice... Basic Drill(s)
MUMFEST! Oct 13 & 14
Oct 15 - Sailing Practice... Basic Drill(s)
Oct 22 - Sailing Practice... Basic Drill(s)
Oct 29 - Sailing Practice... Maybe Advanced Drill
Nov 5 - Sailing Practice... Hopefully Advanced Drill
Nov 19 - Sailing Practice... Advanced Drill By Now, Or Give It Up
Nov 26 - Sailing Practice... Advanced Drill and Sail-Games
Dec 3 - Sailing Practice... Advanced Drill and Sail-Games
Dec 10 - Sailing Practice... Advanced Drill and Hopefully No Rescues!

We have 12 sailing days. This is not a lot... if you miss any, there is no way to get that time & experience back! The sailing coaches take attendence just to make sure we don't lose anybody, we frankly don't care if you attend or not. However, your lack of skill from not having enough time on the water will be obvious! It's likely that some sailing will be cancelled for weather. We will have potential alternate sailing days, but we will also have classroom sessions when we can't sail. Attendance will be taken, and written assignments WILL count for completion. Those who want to pass BASIC SAILING ... and get a pretty ribbon to wear on their uniform... will not skip class 'just because.'

Currently, we have 2 events for the Sailing Squadron... in spring, our Regatta (series of races) which also helps raise money for this program... in the Fall, we have a Sail Demonstration for New Bern's MumFest. Each year these events have gotten better, and we hope this will continue.

NEW SAILORS- Look to the left margin of this web site... you will see "Lessons" and you will be responsible for learning all this stuff... might as well start now! (link to Lessons) We have some sailors coming into our program who are already experienced, or have already taken sailing classes elsewhere... that's great, welcome aboard! Be ready to show what you know!

ADVANCED SAILORS- do not keep forgetting your "Blue Book." Make sure you haven't forgotten major stuff, be ready to help the beginners -AND- perform some Sailing Drills (link)




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