What do we do when there is NO WIND??

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Hurricane Matthew came thru our area a week ago. We were fortunate to have little damage, the boats were unrigged and stored. Now, the coaches have re-rigged the boats.






Beautiful weather, not a breath of wind.





The plan is to launch the Javelins and move them to their regular slips. Not only is there no wind, but the hurricane rains inland have flooded some areas and the river current is MUCH stronger than usual.


The cadets had to paddle against the current. It was a workout but it was also a success.


At this point in the class, we should be beginning sailing drill. Everyone should know the ropes & knots (link). We should be familiar with steering with a tiller, and Points of Sail. Everyone has TACKED (link) several times in our two previous sailing sessions.



Approaching a dock under (arm) power is different than under sail; however some things never change.

It is more difficult to steer a boat moving slowly, yet it is obviously a bad idea to approach the dock too fast. The crew must be prepared with dock lines (in this case, the boat's bow line).






When handling boats around docks, one of the precautions is to NEVER get a body part (particularly hands or feet) get caught between the boat & the dock. Yet we must also take care to not let the boats be damaged against the dock.






There is always more to learn. The class is making good progress, today we also reviewed Points of Sail, Tacking, and Stopping. The whole course is available in our on-line lessons (link). In our next session, we should begin sailing drills and students should be able to sail the boats without coaches assistance. That's what this is all about!







... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King


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