Corpus Christi, TX Sailing 101
November 5-6, 2005
Corpus Christi, Texas
27º 49.28 N
97º 23.20 W
By: Scott Stillman
After years of harboring a silent wanderlust I asked Jennifer is she would like to sail around the world. To my surprise she thought is was a great idea, and we started naming places that we would like to visit. For months we talked, well I talked about our trip and Jennifer listened and one day we realized that we were talking about retirement. Being the financial geeks that we are, we put pen to paper. Well, I started an excel spreadsheet. It's got all kinds of numbers on it. Real spiffy. What we realized was that we were on track If we wanted to leave now and spend a few years out but if we wanted to change speeds and sail off into the sunset we were still several years away from actually leaving.
What do you do when you have hopes and dreams but realize you are several years away? Well, most people wait on some day. What we decided to do is compromise. Pretend :) We have started making decisions like: will that go on the boat? Will that get us closer to our goal? Living in delusion will keep me happy until the day comes.
If were going to sail around the world, we decided on of the most important things we need to know is how to sail. I've been out before but never in any capacity and Jennifer's largest boating experience was the ferry at Disney World.
We signed up for ASA Keelboat 101. I searched the internet and found The Corpus Christi Yachting Center. Jennifer's parents have a house in Port Aransas, TX which is about 30 miles across Corpus Christi Bay. It is a great waypoint for our classes.
Right after work Jennifer, Coach, and I headed down to the coast. Grandma is tasked with babysitting our puppy dog during our class. Everything is set so off to bed we go. Bright eyed and bushy tailed I jump out of bed, did morning stuff, and grab my first cup of coffee. Glancing over at the clock I suddenly realize it's 4 am. Don't you hate it when you get ready in the morning and realize that you still have 3 more hours to sleep? What do you do when you have 3 hours to kill, already awake, your at the coast, and everyone else is still asleep? Take the dog and go play in the water and watch the sunrise.
Coach is an eight year old black lab. He is "The" water dog. A few years ago I realized that Coach had learned how to body surf. I throw the ball he swims out, gets it and starts to swim back. Most dog get pounded by the waves on their way back in. Not our puppy. Listen to me. I sound like a yuppie talking about their perfect kids. Anyway, Coach looks over his shoulder, gages the wave, then swims into the sweet spot and actually body surfs back. It's really fun to watch. Eventually I'll take a movie and post it here.
I dropped off Coach with grandma and picked up Jennifer. We drove over to Corpus ready to go sailing. I didn't realize that the first class is half classroom and half hands on. Sitting in class with the "hardly waits" is difficult, but we suffered through.
Keelboat 101 is the basics. Parts of the boat, knots, nautical signs, how to sail where you want to sail, all the "fun" stuff.
Our instructor was Capt. Bob. Capt. Bob is a sailor, a salty dog, and very good at seamanship. We are slow and stupid. We tried Capt. Bob's patience. He did a good job holding his cool while we fumbled along. That being said we were the best in the class. There was another couple and a single guy, names will not be revealed to protect the inept.
The boat we were on was the Linda Lee. The Linda Lee was a piece, which is what you want when you are learning. She has since been refurbished, but when we went out, oh man. The sails were held together with duct tape. The rigging had dry rot.
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Specifications Year: 1984 /Rig: Sloop LOA: 34'5" / LWL: 28'3" Beam: 11'7" / Draft: 5'6" Mast Height: 51'6" Displ.: 11,800 lbs. / Ballast: 5,000 lbs. Sail Area: 557 sq.ft. Fuel: 25 gal. / Water: 65 gal. |
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"LINDA LEE"
(Hunter 34) |
Equipment Wheel Steering, Diesel inboard, Roller furling jib, VHF, Stereo/CD player Knot & Depth meters, Bimini top, Air conditioning |
The Corpus Christi Yachting Center has recently changed hands and Linda Lee looks like a brand new boat. I want it known we are very happy with The Corpus Christi Yachting Center. We have had excellent service.
Both days we spent from 9 till noon going over stuff, and taking exams. From 1 till 5 we went out. Below is the approximate route we took both days. We practiced man over board drills. What is a man over board drill? A man over board drill is a drill on what to do when you have someone fall over board. I would have hoped that you could have figured that out from the description of the drill, but I guess some people are slower that others. Most of you figured it out right away. Some one in our class took 3 explanations, and a demonstration, no not us. I feel confident that if I ever fall over board Jennifer can pick me up, I hope she will. :) We took turns practicing points of sail, sailing at different directions to the wind.
Explanation of Man Over board and Points of Sail are interesting if you want to learn about sailing boring otherwise...
The purpose of the man overboard drill is to help you and your crew practice the maneuvers that you will need to do in the event of a real man overboard situation. With practice, you will be able react quickly and do the right things the first time. This can make the difference between a successful rescue and an unsuccessful one.
Procedures
Objective - The primary objective is to get the boat situated so that you can make a final approach towards the victim on a close reach or close hauled. This way you can ease the sails and slow the boat down to a stop in order to get the victim aboard. It will take some practice to get the boat to stop where you want it to stop. Always remain calm and orderly. Confusion will lead to mistakes that can make the difference between success and failure. Also you don't want anyone else to get hurt or go overboard.
Maneuvering into Position - First note the wind direction. Then pick the victim up on the leeward (down wind) side of the boat There are three benefits to doing it this way.
The Final Approach - The Jibe Approach The fastest way to return to the victim when sailing on a close or a beam reach is by Jibing. Continue going your original course for a boat length or so and then bear away into a jibe. After the jibe is completed, keep turning in the same direction until you can approach the victim on a close reach or close hauled. Before you reach your objective, ease the sails so the boat will slow down. By adjusting the sails on the final approach, you can bring the boat to a stop along side the person in the water. You may have to take the sails down so the boat won't try to sail away while you're working at getting the victim aboard. In heavy weather it may be too dangerous to attempt a jibe. If this is the case you may have to use another maneuver such as the figure eight which will be described in this section.
The Tacking Approach - When on a broad reach or a run, the most direct method of returning to the spot where someone falls overboard is the tacking approach. On a broad reach, continue your course for two boat lengths or so and come about. This will leave you lined up for a close reaching approach. On a run you may have to come up to a beam reach before tacking. If you cover about as much distance on a beam reach as you did running, you will be set up for a close reaching approach again.
The Figure Eight or "Q" Turn. In heavy wind conditions or any time it isn't safe to jibe, you can use the figure eight maneuver. This technique is also useful when you are short handed. If necessary you can release the jib sheets so you don't have to bother with the jib. Although this is hard on the Sail and should only be done in an emergency. Bear away to a beam or broad reach until you are across the wind from the victim. Then tack and continue to bear away again until you can line up the boat to approach the victim on a close reach. Pick up the victim as you would in the other maneuvers.
courtesy of Vega sailing school
The points of sail refer to angles that the wind can take coming across a sailboat and going into its sails. Naturally you'd expect that there are lots of variations on this theme, and you would be correct. However, in the interest of shortened communication, sailors have broken things down into four basic points of sail over the years: running, reaching, beating (also known as "close hauled") and the infamous "in irons" or "in stays" (also known as, "Damn, we have ceased moving ...").
To explain each in turn, please have a look at the diagram.
The points of sail
courtesy Ward Esaak
Those miniscule yellow blobs represent sailboats, while the black arrow at the top is meant to show wind direction. The whole thing is somewhat circular, so pretend that you are looking at a clock face.
The wind, then, is blowing at the boats straight down from 12 o'clock.
The boats that appear to be roughly at 25 and 35 minutes after the hour, down there at the bottom, are running. The wind is coming from astern, and the boats are said to be "Running before the wind." Despite what you'd think, running is not the optimum point of sail. It's fast, but can be quite tricky. Running is also the point of sail in which the spinnaker will be out.
If you'll shift your gaze to the boats at 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10 o'clock - all along the sides, that is - you will see the different types of reaching. The 4 and 8 o'clock boats are on a broad reach. They are moving downwind, but also across it.
The boats shown at 3 and 9 o'clock are each on a beam reach, because the wind is coming directly across their beams (sides). It's a right angle, perpendicular thing.
Now, the boats heading upwind at 2 and 10 o'clock - just as your hands are meant to be on a car's steering wheel - those boats are having a blast. They are each on a close reach. The reaches are the fastest points of sail, and the close reach is the fastest of the three.
Turning your attention toward the top, you'll notice two boats on the outer edges of that angry-looking red wedge. Those two boats are beating. They are just as close to the wind as they (or anyone else) can possibly get, beating their ways against it. This point of sail is also known as close hauled due to the sails being hauled in tightly to perform this maneuver.
The angry-looking red wedge? Well, that demarcates the upwind zone in which a boat is going nowhere fast. In other words, any boat that has its bow pointing toward the wind, within these angles, has got to hope hard for even the slightest direction-changing breeze to puff at those limp sails. A boat that's heading dead into the wind is said to be in stays or in irons. (If nothing too urgent is happening on the boat, or if time is not an issue, this can be an opportunity to skip the prisoner references and crack a beverage.)
Four more things, and then we're done.
Pretend, once again, that the diagram is a clock face. Every boat pictured on the right side there, between 12 and 6 o'clock, is on a port tack because the wind is hitting the port (left-hand) sides of the sails.
The boats between 6 and 12 o'clock, on the left, are all on a starboard tack for the exact opposite reason.
Finally, sailors commonly refer to beating as being "on the wind, while reaching and running are "off the wind".
There, now you know everything there is to know about the points of sail. Beat, reach, reach, reach and run. Get out there and have fun experimenting with your sailing knowledge!
Revised: December 29, 2006
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