Start Sail

Commencing Start Sail

Learning to Sail - the Start Sail Course
Sailing the boat on the Land. The Land drill learning which way to face and how to move in the boat.

• Start Sail commencing with the Land Drill.

• First Rig the boat, put up the mast, put in the boom and sort out the sail on one of the Clubs five Zests.
• How to move around the boat and how to turn as the Helm.
• Look
• Turn the Rudder away as the Boom moves stand and move to the other side.
• Keep hold of the tiller
• Sit down then sort out the swapping of hands holding at all times to the tiller.

Mark, our instructor, demonstrated how to do this with Paul, moving the boat through the wind so that the boom would move. As he did this his son mirrored the operation with the younger students.

My first Helm

That was the theory now to put it into practice​

Learning to Capsize and Recover the Boat

It's June as I write this, and the River isn't probably going to get any warmer than this, so let's have a go. My wife had a go near the pontoon, and the crew just had to roll into the boat. My job as helm was to swim around the stern of the boat (less ropes and wires) and grab hold of the centreboard. Eventually, using my chin on the board and my legs wrapped around it, the boat came up.