Last Sailing Day of Spring 2013... Javelins + Wind + Qualified Sailors = FUN!!!

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Another windy day... the Neuse River Live Weather Buoy (link) says we had winds in the 15~20 knot range... and we reefed the Javelin mainsails for the first time.

 "Reef" means a shallow spot in the water but it also means to make a sail smaller. Here you can see how, along the boom of this Javelin. You can also see that this nervous beginner skipper is not comfortable with the tiller extension just yet!






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Reefing the mainsails was partly to see how the boats would perform, and partly because we still have 2 basic sailors who need to finish their qualifications. The advanced sailors normally turn their nose up at the Javelins since they are so much heavier than the FJs -but- when the wind and chop kick up like this, the Javelins are fun too!







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 Playing Baby Ducks (link) again

Who has the Right-Of-Way here?

answer- the white boat has Right-Of-Way over the yellow (gold) boat, which is why the yellow boat is turning to miss them.







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 Another of the drills today was practice starts. The coach/rescue boat gave a 1-minute signal by flag & sound, then gave time at 10 second intervals (50, 40, 30, etc) and a final 5-4-3-2-1 until GO!

Here we see 'Boats' (the new sailing squad commander) a few seconds late but definitely hauling the mail... I'd call this a good start!




CONGRATULATIONS and 'Bravo Zulu' (that's Navy talk for "well done") to the cadets who completed their Basic Sailing Qualification today.


... ... ... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

Excellent excellent day for sailing... not bad sailing either

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NOTICE- our next sailing day will be next Tuesday May 21, not Monday!

After several Mondays of bad weather, we had an absolutely beautiful day with some real wind. The average wind strength was around 10 kt (what is the difference between a knot and a mile per hour? (link)) but we had gusts up to 18, which is enough to more than get your attention.


The Javelins do not have hiking straps! However these cadets are getting more power by getting their weight up & out as far as safely possible.



Today we sailed all 3 Javelins, plus Coach Murphy generously used his own boat again. The advanced cadets (did anybody bring their blue book?!?) were not enthusiastic at first, but in the strong winds that kicked up for much of the days sailing, they did manage to get some thrills anyway.







Here is one of our beginner skippers, learning how to hold the tiller extension. This photo shows one of the good ways to NOT hold it! This cadet did quite well for most of the day's sailing, however.







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Right-Of-Way situation! Here is Coach Murphy's personal boat, a Montgomery 15, with a Javelin headed right at it.

Which boat has the Right-Of-Way? The yellow Javelin has the wind coming over it's port side, the Montgomery 15 is on the opposite tack.

Both cadets in the yellow Javelin are advanced sailors, and the skipper is doing the right thing by letting his mainsail luff. This slows the boat down and makes it easier to bear away and pass safely astern of the Montgomery 15.







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Which is exactly what he is doing! We teach 'when in doubt, pass the other vessel's stern' and that is what happened here. A nice safe interaction between two boats in close quarters, despite the gusty winds.



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Baby Duck Drill!

Everybody GO!!!

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more Baby Duck Drill

Everybody STOP!

This was well done, even by our two beginner skippers in the two Javelins behind.







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Here is another of our beginner skippers, learning to work the mainsheet & steer at the same time. He is doing well at holding the hiking stick and steering on course, although his crew has the jib pulled in too tight (as shown by the "telltale" ribbons near the leading edge of the jib).







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Time to go in... sailing is over for today.

In the lee of the dock, it is deceptively calm. There is also a strong current running down the river (left to right in this photo) which makes it easy to stop short of the dock.


Next Tuesday will be our last scheduled sailing day this semester. Several beginner sailors missed todays session, and several beginner sailors HAVE NOT completed the qualification they need to become Basic Skippers. However we sailing coaches understand that exams are coming up and STUDYING takes priority. Generally our sailors do very well academically and we encourage that.

...posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

UPDATE- Sailing & Workday this Saturday

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Yesterday was another episode of weather blues. Gusts up to 25kt kept -most- of our sailors ashore since the beginners are not ready for this kind of stress.

However we had workday on the boats. Unfortunately, we did not get ALL the boats cleaned and waxed, but we did get 5 of the 7 FJs spiffed up, they look much better now. Wax?!? Yes, preventative maintenance is an important lesson... it applies not just to sailing but to pretty much everything. With sailboats, a coat of wax helps the hulls resist water incursion, and it keeps them looking cleaner. The effort of compounding & waxing is repaid more than double!

Okay, gotta have at least one picture. This is from eariler in the spring:  two of the advanced cadets sailing an FJ in good breeze and showing how to do it right.



Some of the advanced sailors did get out on the river in rough conditions. Coach Murphy, who is not intimidated by wind, sailed his boat over to Bridgeton and several cadets sailed his boat. The advanced sailors learn about REEFING  (basically, making the sail smaller for strong wind) and other ways of coping. The beginners practiced a sailing drill on the lawn (easy to tell which way the wind is blowing) and also attempted to practice TACKING in a tethered Javelin.

...posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King