Sailing Today!

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We had a nearly perfect day of sailing this afternoon, it's not all bad having a hurricane fly by the coast (H. Jose). There was a nice breeze from the North East, which brought the water level up a bit and does not raise choppy waves.



Beginner sailors with Coach Hallquist. This is their first time sailing, and this was a great day to practice steering with a tiller, following a Point of Sail, and Tacking (link). They both got a turn, and both showed good proficiency.




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Our advanced sailors had a chance to show what they could do. Handling the Javelins after taking a summer off.... well, some did sail with other youth programs including the NJROTC... they needed a bit of a warm-up before pushing off in the FJs.

For example, here we see two advanced sailors sitting too far back in the boat, and letting the jib flap for a really long time after a tack. The Javelins are very stable & forgiving, the FJs will punish you for these kinds of mistakes.






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It wasn't all bad. Here we see two boats passing each other in accordance with the Right-Of-Way Rules (link).


Most of the sailing skills were on good display. We need to do some practice in tacking, and stopping (link). Some of the gybes were good, some of the gybes were sloppy. 







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Here we see Coach Jackson and Coach Robinson, chasing down our sailing cadets to help them tighten up a little. We had two buoys to provide goals for sailing upwind and downwind (now think of the Points of Sail).

This was an excellent day of practice. We reviewed Terminology and parts of the boat, rigging the boats, and got started on Points of Sail and Tacking... the advanced cadets should also be familiar with how to stop.

As always, we also practice safety. On the water, ones' own knowledge and skill and attentiveness are the keys to staying safe.

.... Assistant Coach Douglas King




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