Wednesday was a great day! In the morning all of the groups met upstairs in the classroom and played games with their new friends. It was bright and sunny, and we decided to jump right into our day after our morning meetings.
Mercury Mentors started the day off with a fun boat-part naming game, in which they racked up points- and even won some candy! After their review of how the boat works, and how all of the parts of the boat work together, they hit the water to put their knowledge to good use. There were many laughs and smiles as the kids sailed around the sandbar with Coach Dae!
Beginner Optis began their day by splitting into two groups. One stayed on land with Coach Parker and I, and the other half went out onto the water with Coach Chase and Coach John. The ones who stayed on land played an exciting sailing trivia game- one that involved filling up two Optis with ice water. The kids were beating the heat on the dock while the rest were practicing towing and steering in the sandbar, playing a game including throwing tennis balls from boat to boat! Once each group were finished with their activity, the two groups switched- so every kid got their share of trivia, and practice.
Green Fleet were flying around their course today! Coach Anna set up marks in the water the kids sailed around, practicing different points of sail. This allowed them to recognize wind direction and sail trim, and then practice fixing their boat to the right settings. This is usually one of the more difficult tasks to learn, but the kids were doing amazing, even doing a little bit of playful racing!
Club 420s were on the same mission as the Green Fleet, learning and understanding points of sail and sail adjustments. Coach Callie and Coach Jack made learning fun as the kids independently sailed around the sandbar, doing great in their learning process. They made new friends through the partners that were given, with everyone using teamwork to contribute to a fun learning environment and an overall great day!
Unfortunately, in the afternoon we had some bad weather and had to stay inside, but our wonderful counselors gave a great lesson to the kids about finding wind direction, and velocity using palm fronds, flags, and waves. Coach John showed them some awesome videos of high wind sailing, which got them really excited to sail tomorrow! We’re hoping for some sunny-breezy weather tomorrow!
