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
our 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
What to Expect:
- Those continuing from the Sailing in Portland Meetup
Introduction to Sailing class: There will be some
overlap, but more material, depth, and OTW practice.
- Variety of people participating and making comments
- Readings and questions to study, questions to go over in
class
- Opportunities to sail after class sessions
- Exam at end of course
Introductions
1) What is your boating background?
2) What USPS courses have you taken/taught?
3) What do you want from this class?
• Leslie, Myself
• Other Captains, People Assisting
• People enrolled in Course
Other Preliminaries
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Your information in our records – check!
Pay for course, membership, if needed
Fill out membership application, if needed
Get your copy of USPS textbook (if paid)
Basic Keelboat book
Leslie’s house
Boater’s one-minute IQ test
Yacht Club Bar Song
Lin and Larry Pardey singing their song, “Yacht
Club Bar”, from their “Storm Tactics” DVD.
Yacht Club Bar Song, Chorus
I 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, Chorus
I 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
- OTW training
Learn Deeper Sailing Knowledge and Terminology
- USPS Sail book
FVSPS Sail class, Spring, 2015, Schedule
Class Meeting Structure
10:00-12:00 Classroom (Order will vary.)
- Cover material from the Sail book, go over questions.
- Present sailing material oriented towards the OTW training
- Brief on OTW training for that day.
12:00 Lunch
12:30/1:00 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 scared, esp. heeling, in higher winds.
– Conditions on a particular day (e.g. weather, winds)
• To decide if you want to do OTW, consider the daily
conditions and you.
– Show video of contrasting reactions – sailing off of Newport.
OTW Training: Possible Topics
OTW 1 (On-dock only): Practice on, Inspect, Boats at
the Dock
Following OTW’s:
Basic Skills in all Crew Positions
Basic Skills Refinements
Shortening Sail, Sailing with only Jib or Main
Sail Balance, Heaving To
Helm Tied-Off when Sailing to Weather and Tacking
MOB Patterns
Spinnakers
Is Sailing Dangerous?
USPS has a big focus on safety, promoting safety. How
dangerous is sailing?
Keelboats have thousands of pounds of lead ballast.
- Monohull sailboats are designed to heel; no need to be scared.
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, continued?
• I know lots of sailors but 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 - that the CG
forced the captain to abandon - never did sink.
Our Main Safety Concerns
When Sailing on the Columbia in Portland
1) Falling Overboard
2) Tugs, Tows, Ships (down-river)
3) Rarely - Fast Powerboats
4) Inadvertent Jibes
My advice – Be wary of the big 4 above, but stop
worrying too much about everything else!
Training OTW – What Might Happen
• Some captains might let you make lots of mistakes;
other captains might micro-manage more.
• Some captains might focus more on instruction; other
captains might be more casual.
• 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.
Different Captain/Crew Attitudes
• Captains: Micro-Managers vs. Expect Crew
to Think
• Crew: Just-Tell-Me-What-To-Do vs.
Trying-Hard-to-be-Independent
Expectations for Crew during OTW Training
on S/V Ubiquity and S/V June Bug
- Wear non-marking shoes. No dark rubber soles.
- Wear no clothes with hardware (buckles, zippers),
especially on the back, 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
during OTW tell the captain. Only liquids in head!
END OF
General 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
• Sail, p. 33; 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 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
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Basic Keelboat, p. 15
Sail, 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 Sail, 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. 79, par. 37, last sentence
- Illustrate “Pull Mode”: Do Bernoulli Effect exercise
with spoon under faucet.
Sec. 1-2: Sailing Rigs/Plans
• What are the ways that sailing rigs, sail
plans, can differ?
Sec. 1-2: Sailing Rigs, cont.
• Variations in:
– Spars
– Sails
• Look at pictures in Sections 1-2, Sail book
Sec. 1-2: Terms
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Catboat
Sloop – masthead, fractional
Cutter
Ketch
Yawl
Schooner
Spars, gaff-rigged
Sec. 6: Running Rigging
• Running Rigging vs. _______? Rigging
Sec. 6: Running Rigging, cont.
• What are the two most important types of
lines in the running rigging, and what are
their purposes?
Sec. 6: Running Rigging, cont.
• What are some other lines, equipment, that
are part of the running rigging?
• Give some names.
Sec. 6: Running Rigging, cont.
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Mainsheet traveler
Genoa blocks/cars
Boom vang
Main outhaul
Lazy jacks
Topping lift
Whisker, spinnaker poles
Cleats, line-stopper/clutches, winches
• Start by wrapping the line clockwise
• Pile the wraps up from the bottom to the top
• Make more turns for a heaver load
The correct way to
wrap a line around a
winch.
This will not jam.
This is the
incorrect
way to lead a
line to a
winch.
This will jam.
Sail Section Questions,
Assignments for Next Week
• Section 1
• Section 2
• Section 6
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.
*In “FVSPS Sail Class 1 OTW.doc” which you should have printed prior to class.