Christopher already has a basic knowledge of sailing, because he has helped us in the large sailboat, but we wanted him to get a better 'feel' for how different-sized crafts respond to the wind and water. So, everyday from 10:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m, during the week of June 20-24, Christopher had lessons which covered all the basics of sailing. Here's what his week looked like: Day 1: He learned how to rig the boat, how to sail away from and back into the dock, and how to trim the sails. Day 2: Was filled with tacking and gybing and learning how to get to the place he wanted to go. Day 3: Included lots of practice of the skills previously learned. Day 4: Included solo flights...AND the students purposely capsized the boats and learned how to recover from the mistakes. Chris was pretty excited to text me about tipping the boats over on purpose!! Although the pictures aren't very clear (they were taken with a cell phone), here's what THAT day looked like: | |
On Day 5: The bigger boats (in the 18'-20' range) were brought out and sailed by the students in pairs.
It was a great week!! When we asked him about which boats he likes to sail best, he said the smaller boats are WAY MORE FUN, because they go faster!!
Next up:
He's decided to try his Mom's sport of Windsurfing!!
FYI:
The teachers at Western Washington University's Youth Program were fantastic!! Here is the link to their program. They offer a variety of courses to choose from.
s/v NP
2 comments:
This looks like it was so much fun. I wish I had been exposed to sailing when I was younger ... Took the Coast Guard to make me fall in love with the sea.
Good job!
~Adam
Thank you, Adam!! Cool...you were in the Coast Guard!! I've been thinking, with our children's sailing backgrounds, that we'd have AT LEAST one child interested in joining the Coast Guard :)
Post a Comment