Wow, have we been lucky this week! Not only do we have so many well behaved and fun new sailors, the weather has been fantastic to learn to sail! Every day has had perfect learning conditions of 5-10 knots, which is important as the sailors gain confidence prior to sailing in more wind.
After our swim test and capsize drill Monday, all of our classes have been right on point with the LYC sailing curriculum! Mercury Mentors have sailed every morning. The new sailors are learning where the wind is coming from, parts of the boat, port/starboard, and how to steer and trim the sails! There are so many smiles which is why we teach!
Opti Learn to Sail are already starting to sail by themselves in the Optis. Again, the great conditions make it so much easier for them to start sailing singlehanded (one person on the boat). Of course, they have had classroom time where they learn the Mercury Mentor curriculum, but then we start teaching more Opti sailing technique, like switching from one side of the boat to the other while holding the tiller and mainsheet (the line that controls the mainsail- makes sense right!) They have done the ever popular ‘follow the leader’ drill where the sailors follow the coach boat which teaches them how to steer and trim the sail at different angles to the wind. They’ve also done the ‘Collector Drill’ which is a reaching (90 degrees to the wind) drill when they have to round two buoys, which helps teach them how steer a straight line, tack and gybe, avoid boats and stay on a reach. Today, they learned how to sail upwind (against the wind) and they did a Triangle course which teaches them how to sail upwind to a mark! Through learning and progress the kids are having a great time!
We have a very hard working and talented group of Green Fleet sailors! After they took some refresher classes, they broke out into their own group on and off the water. They’re now doing course racing, having a blast and looking really good. One of the drills we did today is the line up drill where they practiced starting, then they started racing!
With the forecast of very light winds tomorrow, we plan to head to Whiskey Creek for an ocean swim and nature walk! During the Whiskey Creek Excursion we head to Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park safely by boat first thing in the morning and enter through Whiskey Creek. Whiskey Creek is right on the other side of Port Everglades Inlet from Lauderdale Yacht Club. Our instructors walk the campers around the park and teach about Fort Lauderdale ecology and how we can help save our precious land and oceans. It a camp favorite! They will go for a quick dip at the beach (with their lifejackets on!) then head back to LYC for lunch then we go for a sail in the afternoon to wrap up the day (and the week :-)!
We plan to have a ‘Parent Watch Party’ from the LYC East Dock next Wednesday at 10-11AM when you can come watch your children sail in the LYC basin!
