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Sailing Course Materials Overview SAILING COURSE MATERIALS OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION The NCSC has an unusual ownership arrangement -- almost unique in the USA. You sail a boat jointly owned by all members of the club. The club thus has an interest in how you sail. We don't want you to crack up our boats. The club is also concerned about your safety. We have a good reputation as competent, safe sailors. We don't want you to spoil that record. Before we started this training course we had many incidents. Some examples: Ran aground in New Jersey. Stuck in the mud. Another grounding; broke the tiller. Two boats collided under the bridge. One demasted. Boats often stalled in foul current, and had to be towed in. Since we started the course the number of incidents has been significantly reduced. SAILING COURSE ARRANGEMENT This is only an elementary course in sailing. There is much to learn. We give you enough so that you can sail safely near New Castle. Sailing instruction is also provided during the sailing season on Saturdays and Sundays without appointment and in the week by appointment. This instruction is done by skippers who have agreed to be available at these times to instruct any unkeyed member who desires instruction. CHECK-OUT PROCEDURE When you "check-out" we give you a key to the sail house, and you are then free to sail at any time. No reservation is needed. But you must know how to sail before you get that key. We start with a written examination, open book, that you take at home. When you have submitted an acceptable paper, you may check-out on the river with a member of the Sailing Committee. The open-book exam should be easy -- if you have attended classes, studied the lessons, covered the reading assignments and sailed enough. NOMENCLATURE We have a new vocabulary that you have to learn. You must at least talk like a sailor: Parts of the boat -- see model sloop, Maneuvers, and Commands needed -- so the skipper can explain what he intends to do, and the crew will know what is expected of them. Chapters 2-5 give some vocabulary. See also the glossary at the end of the book. STOWAGE Everything must be in its place if the boat is to be orderly and safe. You cannot meet an emergency if your boat is cluttered with gear, lines, pop bottles, life jackets, etc... When you finish with something, e.g., the whisker pole, put it away in its place. Keep everything in its place, always the same place so that you can find it in a hurry. Note where you find things, and remember to return gear to those same places. The handbook includes a stowage chart (Page 5.1). Copyright New Castle Sailing Club 2010 TIDE AND CURRENT TABLES New Castle is an excellent place to sail, except for one element -- a strong current. You must learn to cope with it. It can be done. Tide is the vertical rise and fall of the water level caused by changes in gravitational attraction between the earth, moon and sun. The term is frequently misused. The tidal current is the horizontal flow of water from one point to another, resulting from different tidal heights (or depths). Both tide and current are important to us. The depth of water, or movement of tide, varies about five feet at New Castle. The current ranges from zero to about 3 mph. A small boat sometimes cannot sail at 3 mph. When that happens, you must avoid having the current carry you away from the mooring. It is imperative that in light airs you first try to sail against the current to see whether you can make headway against it. If you cannot, go back to the mooring immediately. Paddle or sail back close to shore, where the current is weakest. There is an exception: Sometimes you can sail with the current in anticipation of an early turn in the current, which will then return you to the mooring. Otherwise, unless you are quite confident that you have enough wind to sail against the current, you should invariably sail upstream on the ebb tide, and downstream on the flood. That is, against the current in each instance. Then if the wind drops, the current will bring you home. HOW TO USE TIDE TABLES You will find a tide table on the notice board in the sail house, and in a cutty on each boat. A copy is sent out each spring to be inserted in Section 1 of your handbook. Tide tables give the times of high and low tides at New Castle. USE OF CURRENT TABLES The current tables give the current in knots abreast of New Castle. Positive values indicate flood (current flowing north) and negative values indicate ebb (current flowing south). Note that the times of high and low tide do not coincide with slack current. Slack current is usually about an hour behind the tide change. Note also that, for about half an hour before slack current to about half an hour after, there will be practically no current. Copyright New Castle Sailing Club 2010 CHARTS A chart is a map for navigators and other mariners. It is very different from your usual land map or road map. Note the following: 1. The ship channel is indicated by dashed lines, between which there is deep water for deep- draft vessels. 2. The small figures are soundings (depths) in feet at mean low water -- about as shallow as it ever gets at that point. High tide will add about 5 ft. to these soundings. 3. Buoys are indicated by a dot and a diamond. A larger purple dot with a diamond indicates a lighted buoy. 4. The three R's: Red, Right, Returning. 5. Ships returning to port are favored on charts and by navigation aids. 6. Ranges enable pilots to know when they are in the channel. Most ranges are for incoming ships: Deepwater New Castle Bulkhead Bar Reedy Island Baker Liston --Liston point is where the river legally becomes the bay. 7. Landmarks on shore are indicated, e.g., belfry, tank. 8. Distinguishing characteristics of lights are shown: R"2D" This marks a red buoy, identified Qk.Fl. Red as 2D, meaning the second buoy on Bell that range (Deepwater). It has a light and a bell. The light flashes quickly. The bell sounds when waves from a passing vessel rock the buoy. 9. Fathom lines, similar to contour lines. A fathom is 6 feet. The one-fathom line has "6" at intervals, the two-fathom line has "12", and so on. Inside the one-fathom line near the time of low tide, be wary of running aground. The chart should be useful to you in telling you where you are on the river, how deep the water is ahead, where the channel is, and where the ocean- going vessels (the big ships) will pass. Each of our boats has a section of the chart rolled up in a tube along with the tide tables. TACKING, REACHING, RUNNING AND JIBING Now, finally, we come to the technique of sailing. How do we make the boat go? The way the boat goes to windward, i.e. sails up-wind, is the ultimate test of the skipper and the boat. We will discuss the technique of sailing, and how the skipper and crew maneuver the boat, rudder, and sails in the several points of sailing -- tacking, reaching, running, coming about and jibing. Tacking Tacking is sailing up-wind, zigzagging on alternate tacks. Port tack -- wind comes over the port side. Starboard tack -- wind comes over the starboard side. Tacking involves a common technique. All sloops from the tiny sailing dinghy to the magnificent craft that race for the America's Cup follow the same procedure. Sail as close to the wind as you can -- that is where you want to go. The sails will flutter when you sail too close. Since this flutter begins at the luff -the forward edge of the sail this is called luffing the sail or pinching. The Jib luffs first. When too far off the wind you lose ground, and do not advance rapidly to windward. Seek the point between too far off the wind, and luffing too close to the wind. Then you will gain most forward motion, without being retarded by sailing too close to the wind, or luffing. Usually the wind shifts direction frequently. Watch the tell-tales, the strips of yarn tied to the shrouds, that fly in the wind and show its direction. The mast-head fly also helps. A good sailor will take advantage of every shift. Luffing Any time you turn the boat into the wind you are luffing. This term causes confusion since it is also used to describe the situation where the front portion of a sail is fluttering as a result of sailing too tight on the wind for the current trim of the sail. Coming about The change from one tack to the other is called coming about -- port tack to starboard, or vice versa. Since your boat will lose speed as it comes into the wind, be sure you have momentum ("way"), but in a high wind, wait for a lull. Then command “Ready about.” Probably short for “Are you read to come about?” or the directive “Make ready to come about.” Every member of the crew should reply; “Ready about,” 1. to tell the skipper that he heard and understood the command, and 2.
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