FVSPS Sail Course, Class 1

Welcome to This Course!FVSPS Sail Course with OTW Training

We are Bringing Together:

- Old FVSPS members and soon-to-be new members from

my introduction to sailing meetup class

- Sailors and power-boaters, people with substantial

sailing experience and those with none

- Traditional USPS bookish instruction combined with

OTW training

Welcome to This Course!FVSPS Sail Course with OTW Training

What to Expect:

- Those of you continuing from the meetup sailing class:

There will be some overlap, but more material, depth,

and OTW practice.

- Variety of instructors and teaching styles

- There will be some rough edges in this class, but let’s

help each other and make it the best class that we can!

Introductions

1) What is your boating background?

2) What USPS have you taken/taught?

3) What do you want from this class?

• Me• Leslie• Steve• Other FVSPS Instructors• Everyone else

Other Preliminaries

• Your information in our records

• Leslie’s house

• Lunch

• Boater’s one-minute IQ test

• My sailing DVD – copies available, $1 to help cover the material costs

A Musical Interlude

Lin and Larry Pardey singing their song, “Yacht

Club Bar”, from their “Storm Tactics” DVD.

Yacht Club Bar Song, ChorusI love to sit around the yacht club bar

and talk about the things we’re going to do.

I love to sit around the yacht club bar

because it doesn’t move.

The swells are big and the winds are high

but that don’t bother me.

Cause I never get lost and my tummy doesn’t toss

It’s a wonderful life on the sea.

Yacht Club Bar Song, Verse 1

My boat it is a big one boys.

My crew it is the best.

We race around the entrance buoy,

beating all the rest.

We’re the first ones home with a bent elbow

and a powerful salt spray thirst.

We sit around and drink all night

and see who comes in first.

Yacht Club Bar Song, ChorusI love to sit around the yacht club bar

and talk about the things we’re going to do.

I love to sit around the yacht club bar

because it doesn’t move.

The swells are big and the winds are high

but that don’t bother me.

Cause I never get lost and my tummy doesn’t toss

It’s a wonderful life on the sea.

Course Approach

Combine:- Concepts, from the classroom- Practice sailing, OTW training

Rationale for this approach:- OTW without background from study does not

work well.- Show video, new sailor confused at the helm.

Note: OTW training is in the Sail course is optional. You can take the Sail course and exam without doing OTW Training.)

Specific Course Goals

Learn Basic Sailing Knowledge and Skills- Basic Keelboat book- Brian’s instruction- OTW training

Learn Deeper Sailing Knowledge and Terminology- Sail book

- Leslie/Steve’s instruction

Result: You know what to do on a sailboat and can serve as useful crew.

Class Meeting Structure

10:00-12:00 Classroom (Order will vary.)

- 10:00-11:00 Leslie-Steve cover material from the Sail book.

- 11:00-12:00 Brian presents sailing material oriented towards the

OTW training, Briefs on OTW training for that day.

12:00 Lunch

12:45/1:00 Leave for OTW Training

OTW Training: General Issues and Safety Issues

Should You Do the OTW Training?

• Your decision – Can make each day.

• Reasons not to:

– Takes time, your Saturday afternoon.

– You may not like sailing.

– You may get scarred, esp. heeling, in higher winds.

– Conditions on a particular day (e.g. high winds)

• If you want to do OTW, consider the daily conditions and you.

– Show video of contrasting reactions – sailing off of Newport.

OTW Training: Possible Themes

- OTW 1: Basic Skills in all Crew Positions

- OTW 2: Basic Skills in all Crew Positions

- OTW 3: Basic Skills Refinements, Follow the Leader

- OTW 4: Shortening Sail, Sailing with only Jib or Main

- OTW 5: Heaving To, Helm Tied-Off when Sailing to Weather and Tacking

- OTW 6: MOB Patterns

- May also include asymmetric spinnaker use, on a light-wind day.

Is Sailing Dangerous, Part 1?(I’m scarred when the boat Heels!)

- Keelboats have thousands of pounds of lead ballast.

- Monohull sailboats are designed to heel.

- Compare sailing and powerboat death/injury rates.

- Compare sailing and powerboat liability insurance rates.

- Hull speed on these boats is about 7 knots.

Is Sailing Dangerous, Part 2?• I know lots of sailors and do not know anyone

who has been killed or even injured. My own

injuries have been in other sports.

• In the Perfect Storm, the sailboat the CG forced

a captain to abandon never did sink.

• It would be very hard to kill yourself in a

sailboat on the Columbia River in Portland!

- What are the ways?

My Three Safety ConcernsWhen Sailing on the Columbia in Portland

1) Falling Overboard

2) Tugs / Tows

3) Inadvertent Jibes

My advice - Don’t worry so much about everything else!

Training OTW – What Might Happen

• On S/V Ubiquity I will let you make lots of

mistakes.

• Other captains might micro-manage more.

• We will rotate through different crew positions.

• We will use points of sail all the time when sailing.

• We will take fewer people in stronger winds.

Expectations for Crew during OTW Trainingon S/V Ubiquity and S/V June Bug

- Wear non-marking shoes. No dark rubber soles.

- Wear no clothes with hardware that could scratch the boats.

- You will have a life jacket.

- Bring enough warm clothes, wind/rain parka.

- No smoking, no alcohol during OTW.

- Use bathroom just before leaving the dock. Wait if possible for return to use again. If head use needed OTW tell the captain. Only liquids in head!

END OFGeneral Issues About

the OTW Training

Why Sailing?• Why not do only power-boating instead?

• “Life is too short for sailing” – a power-boating friend of mine.

• How do power-boating and sailing differ?

• Why do sailing?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of sailboats compared to powerboats?

Basic Terminology:Parts of a Sailboat

• Basic Keelboat, pp. 6-7

• Go to look at the boats

Basic Terminology:Sails and Major Control Lines

• Most sails have:• 3 corners, each with a name

• 3 sides, each with a name

• Basic Keelboat, pp. 28-29

• Halyards – To hoist sails• Sheets – To trim sails• Inspect the boats to identify halyards, sheets

Core Concept in Sailing

How the Boat is Oriented to the WindHow the Boat is Oriented to the Wind

Implications:- Must keep track of wind direction.

- We need terminology to describe boat’s orientation to wind.

- Orientation of boat to the wind determines how we adjust (trim) the sails.

Orientation to the Wind

• Basic Keelboat, p. 15• Sails, p. 115• Can we sail in all directions?• General Terms:

• Beating• Reaching• Running

• Points of Sail gives us more specific terms.

Points of Sail See Basic Keelboat, p. 15 See Sails, p. 115

Terminology for Changing our Heading

Always relative to the direction of the wind:

- “Head up”, “Heading up”, “Come up”, “Bring it up”, “Sail

closer”, “A little tighter”

- “Head down”, “Head off”, “Back off”, “Bear off”, “Bear away”, “Fall off”, “Not so close”

- Basic Keelboat, pp. 16-17- Sail, Glossary

Even the Sails Act Differently Depending on the Point of Sail

- “Pull Mode” vs. “Push Mode”

- Basic Keelboat, pp. 8-9

- Sail, p. 89

- Illustrate “Pull Mode”: Do Bernoulli Effect exercise

with spoon under faucet.

OTW Briefing

• We have two boats available today for inspection and practice of sailing skills.

• If you already know about what we are going over today, please try to help others who need help.

Boat Inspections

• Boat Inspections: See “Boat Inspection Guide” handout for items to inspect on both boats.

• Sailing Skills: See “Sailing Skills” handout for skills to practice on the boat or on the dock.

Sail Book Material

Next Instructors Take Over!