All Hands "Turn To" ... sailing class complete for 2013

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Turn To is a traditional Navy way of saying "get to work!" Yesterday was a working day for the sailing cadets. Unfortunately our sailing semester is over, partly due to weather and partly due to the time... when sunset comes earlier than 1700 (that's 5pm to civilians) and we cannot get underway until 1545 at the earliest, there is no way to hold sailing class. It's a shame because we had a nice breeze!


The coaches worked earlier to get the Javelin fleet out of the water and unrigged for winter; but we have the FJ fleet to secure.





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The gang's all here! Our "boss sailor" Coach Rezab divides the beginners into crews for each boat. They will have to unrig the lines, take off the standing rigging (we all know what that is, right?), and take the masts down. Then the spars & lines get put away in the storage shed.


Of course, all these boats will get rigged up in the spring, but it's not "extra work" believe me. The winter is very harsh on exposed gear and our boats would quickly become unfit to sail if left rigged all the time.



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Here are the advanced sailors, their task is to get the 5-O-5 unrigged & ready to go to it's winter home in Fairfield Harbour. It is a bit more complex than an FJ and part of what the advanced sailors learn is how to control a more powerful & more sophisticated boat.


The 5-O-5 is a real "sports car" among sailboats, and it is also a great teaching platform because of the visible structural parts and controls for sail shape. And because it is more demanding and much much faster than the FJs, it helps keep the students interested and motivated!


Unfortunately, not everyone in the class completed the sailing qualification. However our advanced sailors have made significant progress on their "Blue Books" (which is the official Navy PQS standard for sailing up thru offshore racing); and most of the beginners who stuck with the class have achieved the basic sailing award.

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So, here they are!

Fall Sailing Class, 2013







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posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

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No more Daylight Savings , means sail until sunset

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We've been squeezed for time the whole semester... one might say, our whole lives... but now with the shifting of clocks back for autumn the sun sets about the time we usually return from the day's sailing.




Our sailing exercise today was three-fold...  1- rather straightforward Clock Drill (link) an excellent way to work on basic skills;  2- demonstrate STOPPING which we've worked on for the past few sessions; and  3- demonstrate & practice the Right-Of-Way rules (link) which is our new material for the next few sessions.




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In the Clock Drill, the buoys are set in a circle, so the students must sail on every point of sail, and they must tack & gybe successfully. It also offers many opportunities to demonstrate how to stop a sailboat properly, from any approach angle... although we keep it simple for the beginners.

Fun?!? (photo by Fred Cornford)





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Okay, which of these two boats has the Right-Of-Way? It's one thing to remember the rules, it's another to think ahead and apply them to a developing situation... especially when you are not too good at keeping the boat from getting stuck in irons...





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It takes TEAMWORK to make the boat sail. Everybody has a job, although the skipper gets all the glory (or the blame).

(photo by Fred Cornford)










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 Meanwhile, the advanced sailing cadets had some pretty exciting racing... the Clock Drill is good for practicing close-quarters maneuvering, encourages tight tacking and learning to accelerate the boat on any point of sail... it looks here like FJ#3 is locked out of the lead, but they ended up way ahead by the time they went around the circle.







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 Approaching sunset tinges the sails, these cadets have finished their sailing exercise and are taking it easy...

(photo by Fred Cornford)

We had to combine several lessons into one this afternoon, because we have fallen further behind as the semester went on. Most of the beginner sailors did not really have the level of skill they should, and fumbled badly trying to maneuver their boats... although they did pick up the simple right of way rules, there were a couple of collisions and lack of control was obvious. We have more to learn, and we're fortunate that the coaches are patient and willing to continue teaching!

... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King