ard Flying Juniors, and we were also given a Thistle..
Our active fleet is now 7 Flying Juniors. Here is a picture of the "new" FJs shortly after their arrival, on the triple-stack trailer. These boats were equipped with travelers, halyard tensioners, mast rams adjustable everything with split controls... the coaches have put in a lot of work re-rigging them to match the simpler Club FJs, so that returning New Bern NJROTC sailors can enjoying the expanded fleet!
It's a long way from where we picked up these three Flying Juniors to New Bern, NC; and it has seemed like an even longer journey from the trailer at the school to have them ready to sail. These are "one-design" boats meaning that the hull shape and the sail plan are all identical, and since they were built in the same factory within a year of each other, you'd think they were pretty close to identical in many respects... not so! This is certainly not to be taken as looking a gift horse in the mouth, but there is no way to tally the work and the ingenuity that went into getting these boats commissioned. The volunteer coaches have done an excellent job, and we hope that the donors will be proud of their boats' new careers!..
Here is our red Thistle, built in 1964 and donated to our program in December 2009. It has the best sails of any of our boats, thanks to the generosity of Thistle class members, but this boat is currently in a state of major disassembly. We hope to have it sailing by the summer.The swim test (mandatory for joining the Sailing Squadron) is scheduled for Feb 22
Sailing sessions will begin on March 1st, weather permitting, and will continue every Monday after school until May 10. Obviously, the sailing sessions will be dependent on weather.
We are planning an invitational regatta on May 15.
Further details on this regatta, and a formal NOR (Notice of Race document) will posted here when complete.
Assistant Coach Doug King
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