The Sailing Club - OWT 2004

Tri-Events Forum:
Land Class, On-Water Training, Sailing and Navigation Rally

by Steve Krakauer

This year the Club offered up a training trifecta, linking the land class and the On-Water Training as a series, in conjunction with a predicted log rally on the Memorial Day trip. The material in the classroom would be based on the sailing area for the predicted log rally, where crews would predict their time over a set course and compare their actual time to their predicted time.

The seamanship and navigation class on April 17, 2004 at the Raritan Yacht Club filled the room. Members of various skill levels participated and the event was very successful. Organized by Rob Chichester, the class was taught by Joe Brozek and Julio Menendez. After reviewing the rules for the exercise, eight teams, began plotting courses, determining the distance to be sailed and estimating the time required for the trip. Four legs were plotted. During each leg an "actual" fix was supplied and the teams were asked to revise their estimated time of arrival at the next mark and at the end of the course.

The On The Water Training weekend was held from April 30-May 2, 2004. The winds for the weekend were generally over 20 knots and we got in some really good sailing as well as practice under power. As the four boats to be used were chartered out of Rock Hall, the group had a four-hour sail on Friday to Fairlee Creek in order to be ready for the weekend warriors. As usual, the crews were grouped according to their experience. Two boats primarily concentrated on basic skills and two boats went through the basic skill routines before heading out into the Chesapeake to practice more advanced skills, particularly in MOB recovery and heaving to, both of which would be required events in the forthcoming rally.

Over the Memorial Day Weekend the seamanship and navigation rally was held out of Annapolis. Three boats chartered from Let's Go Cruising participated in a land class and practice sail for the first day, then left port for a 30 mile predicted log course, without the use of electronic navigation devices. When the course was set it was assumed that the wind would come from the northwest, but it ended up coming strong from the south, requiring a long beat to windward on the first leg. Although the first waypoint was announced at the dock, the second wasn't revealed until after a timed MOB pick up after the first waypoint was achieved. After the second waypoint was achieved the boats participated in a timed anchoring under sail exercise. Following that was a raft-up in a beautiful cove with an extensive debriefing and a great party.

Monday, Memorial Day, was rainy and foggy with predictions of high wind gusts and hail. In light of this, it was decided to end the trip that morning.

All in all the members had a lot of fun, many members got to do things they had not done before when on Club trips. There was general consensus that "we should do it again".