Regatta schedule posted

The fall 2018 regatta schedule has been finalized and is found on the right-hand sidebar. Note that most are fleet races but the Thursday regattas in September are team races (3 on 3) as is the Saturday regatta on October 13th. The TCIS championships is a 3 boat/school fleet race on Thursday October 25th. We would have to qualify for the regattas marked with the two asterisks.

Sailing try-outs underway

Below are a few pics from Tuesday's crew try-outs. The breeze was about 6-8 knots on Willoughby Bay off the Naval Station.

Thanks to Jake, Josh, and Charlie for acting as skippers.

Crew tryouts will be Tuesday, August 28th

Students wishing to tryout for the crew position on the sailing team should plan on attending the session Tuesday after school from 3:30-6:30.

So I can plan on numbers, please e-mail me your intentions. We only have slots for 6 students (and a couple will have to be skippers!) If we have more than four folks wanting to be crews we'll schedule a second session on Wednesday the 28th.

So what does crewing on a dinghy entail? It would be useful to watch the video embedded above. The crew is the person in the front. Their job is to trim the jib (the smaller sail) and to help balance the boat with their weight. Here is another video:

Again the crew is controlling the jib and helping to balance the boat (sometimes the skipper will trim the jib when going downwind.) Almost NEVER will the crew be responsible for steering (although if the skipper falls overboard it would be helpful if you could sail back and pick them up!) 

Lastly, note that small boats do tip over and that sailing is often a "wet" sport. Here are two more videos that show dinghies sailing (and capsizing.)

Skipper try-outs will be Wednesday, August 22nd.

We will start sailing tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Naval Base. Since we can only have six students on the water at once I want to restrict this session to skippers only. If you want to try out for a racing skipper slot, and if you have a physical on file with the athletic director, then you should plan on attending. Bring sailing gear (shoes, pfd, extra clothes in case you get wet.) I'll bring helmets and pinnies. The forecast is for winds of about 10 knots:  

https://weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/l/23509:4:US

If thunderstorms are around we'll come in and end early.

Plan on being on the bus by 3:30 (short bus #2) we should return around 6:30.

EMAIL ME if you plan on attending Wednesday's session. Once I finalize the skipper slots we'll open up the crew try-outs (probably Friday or early next week.)

Sailing team try-outs

All:

We are still shore-bound until we get permission to use the Naval Station. Hopefully sometime this week!

I will work with students wanting to skipper on the team first. We have three 420s so I can have 6 folks on the water at once. You'll be paired with another skipper and will demonstrate your sailing ability.

Once the skippers are determined we'll add in the crews (and if you don't make the cut as a skipper you will probably be an excellent crew...)

I expect to have about twelve people on the team with practices every day after school, but with only half the team at a time. My initial planning is that half the team (probably the juniors/seniors) will practice on the M,W, F of one week and then on the Tu/Thurs of the following week. On the off-days the underclassmen will practice. Each practice session will start with a trip to the Naval Station on a mini-bus, leaving school at 3:30. Depending on the weather we'll sail until between 6:00 and 7:00 and then return to school (it's about a 20 minute transit so if practice ends at 6:00 we should be back by 6:30.) Yes, these will be long days (so you should bring an after school snack on your practice days.) Note that on the days you are NOT practicing you need to make an extra effort to keep up (or even get ahead) of school-work.

I've established a googleclass called Sailing Team where I've posted assignments and questions in the Stream. Please accept the g-mailed "invitation" to join the class.