Underway... under sail! ... on the Neuse River

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The Spring 2018 sailing class has now completed some classroom time, some parking lot time with a boat on a trailer (good training for newbies), and capsize drill at the "Y" pool (Thank you, Twin Rivers YMCA!!).


Today we got underway for real. The Navy saying for ships is "Haze Gray and Under Way" but our boats are white and yellow fiberglass. It was a gray day, overcast and chilly, but all we need is wind!




The first step is rigging the boats. That's why we studied all the terminology (funny boat words, including the names of important parts) and practiced rigging a Javelin in the school parking lot. Now we're doing it for real! The class did relatively well, the beginners had coaches help.





Now we're out sailing for real! Although it looks windy, and there were some gusts, the weather really was almost perfect.



The boat on the left in this photo is being sailed by experienced cadet sailors with no coach aboard. This is one of the "perks" of being a qualified skipper!







Here's another link to our Sailing Lessons contents page. At this point in the class, you should be able to breeze through the first 8 of them.... terminology, Boat Parts, Points of Sail, Ropes & Knots, the Capsize Drill, etc etc....
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A couple of beginner sailors with Coach Murphy. As you can see, there was enough wind to get the boats really moving.

Later on, both of these beginners took turns steering the boat. This is actually one of the easiest jobs but it does take some practice to do well.



One of the basic sailing lessons is about JOBS on the boat: to be a sailor, a person must not be a passenger. Sailors have jobs! One job is to be a lookout, alertness to everything around you..... for example, a log floating in the water..... is critical to success. Another job is to handle the sheets (what is the difference between a SHEET and a HLYARD?). In these boats, the crew handles the jib sheet and often the skipper will both steer and handle the main sheet.



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Here are two more beginner sailors, with Coach Mark Hittner (sitting in the middle). You can see that one of them is already taking on the task of steering, and doing a good job too! The other student is looking up at the sails which is also a good thing to do.











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Did I mention that one of the perks of being a qualified sailor in New Bern NJROTC's program is that you can sail a boat on your own?


Looks like fun, doesn't it?

As a sailing coach, I wonder who is doing the job of LOOKOUT at the moment this photo was taken, but overall the sailing cadets do quite well







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Here is another beginner on the tiller, steering. Actually he is steering with the hiking stick / tiller extension, which is a very good action to practice. He is holding it a bit awkwardly but will surely improve with experience....

... the hiking stick should be held cross-ways to the boat, either like a microphone or a frying pan, but always so you can steer with either a push or pull.

Here's another beginner, steering with the hiking stick.... this great to see! It is less important in a heavy, stable boat like the Javelin, but it still helps one keep control of the boat properly. In a lighter, sportier boat like the FJ, it is impossible to steer properly without using the hiking stick, so this is why we like to see students learning it early on.

This young lady sailor is holding the tiller extension cross-ways, and she appears to be doing a fine job steering.















Did we mention that sailing is actually fun? It's a lot of work, of course, but the reward is wonderful.

And looking at this photo, we see yet another student steering with the hiking stick! Well, to be fair, this particular young skipper has a couple of semesters of experience and should be doing it properly after all (which he is).

You can see by the wake that the boat is moving right along too.







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What goes up must come down, and boats that go out sailing must come back in.

Here are the NJROTC sailors unrigging their boats and putting everything away, "squared away."

We are looking forward to next time.... maybe it will be just a little warmer?







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

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