Class This Spring... we sail on!

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There an old old expression, "the prudent mariner." It similar to the one about flyers, " there are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots." 

This past year, our country and our own local area has been swept by potentially deadly disease, and it's halted many things and changed everything. Our sailing class was cancelled last spring before it was half way thru.

We really regret the loss of this opportunity and the experience for our students. But it was by far the best choice. The prudent mariner will not expose himself to danger more than necessary, because there is far more danger at sea... and in life... than we will be able to overcome by rushing into it.

But let's not dwell on gloomy thoughts!

Sailing class will go on, this spring! For the first few weeks, we'll carry out classes via the Google Meet app. We'll have exposure to real boats and eventually, real sailing, via this form of communication.

First step, learning all those funny "boat words" 

Here are the sailing lessons (link)

This is a real class, in order to pass, students need to rig up their boats, hoist the sails, get underway and carry out all tasks such as steering and handling lines (ropes), sail their boat under control including stopping, and then return to the dock and unrig & stow everything. Every step of the way involves doing potentially dangerous things safely, the prudent mariner knows that these lessons carry over into real life.

It's work. It takes study. But it's a heck of a lot of fun, too.

 

.... posted by Assistant Sail Coach Doug King

 

 

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Continuing Boat Work, Test Sail

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We'd like to thank the generous people that have supported our program over the years, especially the coaches who have done all the work necessary to keep our boats in good sailing order.





All of our boats have been donated by sailors in support of giving young students this experience. We are literally broadening their horizons! However, all of our boats have been differently equipped and rigged over the years, so part of the coaches work is to try and make them as much "all the same" as we can. Sheet ratchet blocks, halyard and outhaul, cleat location... it amazing how much variety there is in a fleet of small simple boats.


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 Boat Work Today: we improved the main sheet rigging & blocks, added a boom vang, adjusted the standing rigging and measured the mast settings & rake, rebuilt parts of the trailer.



These sails are brand new, first time hoisted. Our long time instructor Doug King did the preliminary design, as they are very far advanced from the original Oday Javelin sails.

The mainsail can be reefed for stronger winds, a feature we had built into our new Javelin sails in 2012.

One change in these 2020 sails is that the foot of the mainsail is "loose" which means it is only attached at the tack and clew.


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Long time coach Jerry Rezab is skippering the boar, combining training for a new coach and checking out the new sail design. They seem to provide a bt more power lighter winds, which is good, and accelerate the boat smartly without much heeling force.


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Sailing around in shifty winds in a small basin, it's difficult to really get a complete test of the sails performance characteristics.

It's fun to go for a sail anyway!

The weather was great this afternoon, there was a lot of traffic at the boat ramp. Sunny, with some clouds, and definite wind although so many trees and houses close by make it shifty. Out on the open river, it was blowing 12 ~15 kt.

 This is a good look at our new sail insignia, the New Bern bear!


...DSK


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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

Another beautiful day sailing... practice tacking!

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OK, it's only our 2nd day of real sailing. But it really was a great time out on the water.

Now, how many different kinds of TACKs are there? The harness, straps & buckles, put on horses... the pointy kind used to stick notes to a bulletin board and often used in practical jokes... the amount of stickyness of adhesives... then there are three kinds on/around sailboats.

Wait, big keelboats can have tillers? But all the others have steering wheels! We need to practice steering with the hiking stick (tiller extension) too

The lower forward corner of the sail is the TACK of the sail (makes sure you know the names of the other corners, and the edges)... then there is whether the wind is hitting the boat on the port or starboard side, such that the boat is ON one or the other "tack"... then there is the action of turning the boat so that the bow passes thru the wind and the sails change sides... in other words TACKING (link).




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 'Dutch Wind' sailing down wind (Point Of Sail = Running) with a student at the wheel, and the sails adjusted correctly


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 We practiced tacking today, and changing from one point of sail to another without tacking, and of course sailing on a steady course.


Sailing a steady course is more difficult than many beginners realize. Sailboats have little or no tendency to go straight. It is the skill of the sailor the keeps it going properly.


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PB's 'Wicked Good' with mainsail furled and students relaxing from the strain of their sailing lesson

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So, once we know all the Points Of Sail, and how to go from one to the other effectively, we can sail the boat to any destination. Well, any destination with water that's deep enough, but we will get into other aspects of navigation and reading charts later.

Think about how we would get to a location that was directly upwind. The boat cannot sail straight there, but how can we sail to get there?

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 Sailing in close proximity to other boats, it is important to be able to steer effectively AND to know the Right-Of-Way rules. The two boats are on a broad reach on starboard tack. If you're looking straight at the photo, the wind would be coming from an angle behind you, over your left shoulder. Who has Right-Of-Way?







These big boats have engines, our little Javelins and Lasers do not. We've said we can get anywhere, and of course once we get there, we need to stop... that will be the next skill.



Engines introduce a new level of complexity, although they make it easy to go when the wind is light or the channel is too narrow to tack back & forth.

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Coach John Jackson's Georgie Girl tows another training vessel into port.

Could anything go wrong when towing a boat?


Of course stuff can go wrong when towing, we all know there are millions mistakes to make, most of them leading to damage or injury. For one thing, both vessels may steer with difficulty, and inattention to the tow rope can get it wrapped in the propellor.


One of the nice things about boating is that there is always more to learn!



These next two photos are actually from last week


Sailing downwind, Point Of Sail = "running." Something else is going on in this photo, too. This boat is going down a narrow channel, note the posts on each side with the green square and red triangle.








So, you can see at this point, we are sailing in...
The day's sailing, and learning, and practice... is over.


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(photo curtesy of Kim T.) We keep out lifejackets on until all the way ashore. We will have a brief meeting and talk about what we learned, then back to the world of home and school.

And be back next week for more, and better, sailing!

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... posted by Assistant Sail Coach Douglas King

Class Work

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As I keep saying, this is a real class. We are partway thru the 2nd part of the 3 sections. Section 1 is terminology & rigging; Section 2 is practical; Section 3 is Navigation Rules which includes Right-Of-Way. In fact, we've covered a small amount of Sec 3 already.

We've spent 5 weeks covering Section 1; names of parts of the boat, lines & knots, and rigging. There should be little or no confusion between standing rigging and running rigging.

"Standing Rigging"  makes the rig stand up.

"Running Rigging" is what makes the engine... the sails... run.

This semester's class is having a lot of difficulty mastering the terminology, names of boat parts, names of basic actions. If we don't have this clear, it will be impossible to progress with the course.

Assignment Question
 List the basic standing rigging of a SLOOP (four or more terms).
First, what is a SLOOP? It's a sailboat with a single mast, a mainsail, and a smaller jib. The Laser is not a sloop, because it does not have a jib. The Oday Javelin is a sloop, and all the boats we sailed this past Monday are sloops.



Basic standing rigging: Forestay, port shroud, starboard shroud, spreaders, chainplates (the part that attaches the shroud to the hull), and BACKSTAY (the big keelboats all had this). The big keelboats also all had multiple shrouds per side, some (uppers) went over the spreaders and others went to the root or foot of the spreaders.



Assignment Question
 List the basic running rigging of a sloop (six or more): we can organize these by sail or by function.


By function, each sail will have a HALYARD which pulls the sail up (and a cleat that holds it there); and each sail will have at least one SHEET which controls it from side to side.

 Going by sail:
The jib has a halyard and port & starboard sheets, plus the big keelboats all have a jib furling line.


The mainsail has a halyard and a sheet, and a vang, an outhaul; and the big keelboats all had "travellers" with control lines port & starboard.


That is 10 lines in basic running rigging, for those that are paying attention.

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We also need to know about CLEATS and how to tie the Cleat Hitch (upper right, blue rope).


Do we need to review basic parts of the HULL, and all the functions of each part, too?


Probably.


But in the interest of making progress, let's just give a link to the sailing lessons (Table Of Contents) for now and get into what we should already know about the practical side of making boats sail.





 This diagram shows the Points of Sail. There is no short cut, in order to succeed you must simply memorize this.

Head To Wind, also called "In Irons," is not really a point of sail but rather a point of not sailing. The boat will not go forward.

It's easy to compare this diagram to an old-fashioned clock. "In Irons" is at 12 o'clock. Beam Reaching on Port Tack is at 3 o'clock.

Assignment Question
 What is the difference between the boat at 3 o'clock and the one at 9 o'clock?

This diagram is not the Points of Sail, but written around the inside of the circle is a powerful hint on how to maneuver from one point of sail to another, and an important piece of terminology that you've heard by now. "Heading Up" is the act of turning the boat toward the wind, "Bearing Away" is the act of turning the boat away or into a wider angle relative to the wind. Each of these always involves 4 things: keeping a lookout before the maneuver, so as to avoid collisions and obstacles; communication with the crew, controlling the tiller or wheel of the boat to turn and then to straighten out on the new course, and adjusting the sails.

Our assignment asks: "What is the difference between the boats at 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock?" First let's identify the Points Of Sail. We have one boat Close Reaching, and the other is Close Hauled.

To go from Close Reaching to Close Hauled is going to involve turning the boat toward the wind... obviously we must first make sure we aren't going to cause a collision doing so, and then inform the crew of our intention (a preparatory command). We then 'head up' while the crew pulls in the sheet of the jib... on a big boat, the crew also will pull in the main, both using winches... and when the sails are pulled in about as far as they can be, we straighten out with the sails still driving the boat forward.


Steering steadily is obviously an important skill!

Assignment Question
Now, what about going from 11 o'clock (more like about 10:30) to about 1:30?

This would be considered "TACKING" and we have a whole lesson it. So yeah, it's kinda important.

 First, just as we discussed above, there are several necessary steps before you even get to the part in the diagram. Are we going to have a collision? Let's not just go blindly! Is the crew ready?

Specifically, to be ready for a tack, the crew has to prepare to cast off the lee (or working) jib sheet, and pull in the windward (or lazy) sheet. They must be prepared to shift sides of the boat.


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Now let's make certain of our terminology. There is a TACK which is part of the sail

The TACK of a sail is the lower, forward, corner.

The TACK of the mainsail is often fastened very close to the GOOSENECK.

Where is the TACK of the jib fastened?

What are the names of the other corners of the sail?






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Now let's go back to our Points of Sail



Assignment Question
What is the maneuver taking a boat from about 8 o'clock on this diagram to about 5 o'clock?

We already discussed 'tacking' so that's probably not it! 'Tacking' swings the bow of the boat towards & thru the wind so that the sails change sides.

When we swing the stern of the boat thru the wind, and the sails change sides, that is called "GYBING," in other words to make a GYBE. When the sails switch sides, the wind will push them across and this can be violent.

We will do the same things as TACKING... keep lookout at all times but especially before a maneuver; communicate with the crew, steer the boat, adjust the sails. When GYBING the adjust ment of the sails has an added importance and must be done with caution, also steering is likely to be affected by the kick of the sails when they swing across. All this is why gybing is usually not practiced in the early days of the basic sailing course.




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We will practice TACKING before we tackle GYBING!!

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Last but not least, because we will be sailing big boats, we need to understand about boats & docks.

One of the knots you must learn is the CLOVE HITCH

Our lesson on ROPES & KNOTS (link)

The main things we must remember are the safety precautions with heavy boats, how we act while on docks, and that the skipper must be able to coordinate the movement of the boat with the dock lines.

When taking a boat's dock line, just put a wrap around a piling or cleat. Do not pull unless given the order. Likewise, when departing the dock, untie the cleat hitch or clove hitch but leave a wrap on, until the order is clearly given to cast off.

Always make sure that lines DO NOT trail in the water. This goes especially for dock lines, because the engine is running ... what could go wrong? A line caught in a propellor is a disaster. But we must also make sure that halyards & sheets & other lines never fall into the water.

Now let's continue with the class, demonstrate all the skills in practice, and get started on learning our next things!

... posted by Assistant Sail Coach Douglas King