Week 1 Wrap-Up
Our first week of sailing is officially over! We kicked off the season with some awesome
wind and weather for the majority of the week.
All of the classes got right out on the water for some sailing after a
long, cold winter (after swim and capsize tests, of course). And, despite the slightly less cooperative
conditions on Thursday and Friday, we stayed on track with some chalk talks
focused on getting back into the boats as well as some higher level sail trim
tips. We ended the week with a
program-wide game of ‘Sailing Jeopardy’ quizzing the sailors’ knowledge of
knots, parts of the boat, points of sail, and even some molecular biology. The most fun was had during the endurance
competitions on the hiking bench in the Junior Club – we even saw some
instructors and parents jump on to give it a try! For a more detailed review of what each class
learned this week, see below.
Beginner Opti Class
This week we introduced all beginner Opti sailors to
sailing. We first worked on getting everyone
familiar with the Optimist by having several rigging and knot tying
sessions. To add a little fun, we had
several relay races, in which sailors utilized these skills. On the days where it was fairly windy, all
sailors were able to successfully round a mark positioned off the dock and sail
back to the dock. Finally, one day we
made it out of the mooring field and sailors were able to perform a reaching
oval drill, which included tacking and gybing around two marks. Overall, we are off to a good start and by
the end of the summer, we would love all of the beginner Opti sailors to have
the ability to sail upwind and around a race course.
Intermediate Opti Class
The week started with some moderate to heavy breeze. The group did struggle to begin with and were
quite scared by the wind, but no one was upset at any stage. When the lighter winds came later, we settles
into some basic upwind and downwind sailing with a focus on five “essentials” to
consider when trying to sail fast. We
also incorporated tacking and gybing exercises to work on boat handling. This was mixed in with some sailing
games. When there was no breeze, we went
swimming, visited the creek, and touched up on some theory.
Club 420/Pixel Class
This week the 420s got in some breezy spinnaker and trapeze
work, as well as some light air sailing.
We also tuned our boats and learned about sail controls. In breeze, the crews gained confidence in their
trapezing ability and the skippers focused on keeping the spinnakers flying
through gybes. In light air, we worked
on rolling the boats through gybes and weather sheeting.
Laser Class
First week down, 7 more to go! At the start of the week, we focused on
upwind and downwind in moderate to heavy winds.
We also worked on analyzing the course, as well as judging the wind and
the current. For the second half of the
week, we worked on light wind sailing and practicing roll tacks and roll
gybes. Throughout the week, we worked on
boat control and sail controls in both light and strong winds.
We are proudly introducing, for the first time ever, The Corinthian Times, a "news" letter on the daily goings on at the Junior Club. Enjoy!
