Dinghy Lessons Late Start Saturday, August 1
jjb...@mindspring.com
[We’ve got a shiny new Saturday morning lessons email, please read!]
On-the-water lessons are from *10:30 AM* to 1:00 PM (30 min later start due to tide)
Club still opens at 9am and you can sign up and help drop boats/learn how to drop boats to get on the water sooner! If you’ve passed your rigging test or are very close, please lead rigging a boat. Note that on-the-water lessons will start 30 mins later than usual at 10:30.
Owen will be lessons coordinator. Thanks, Owen. Students: look for the person holding the Tablet
John B will be the second coordinator, helping ensure boats get in the water efficiently and running the yard. They help with everything around pairing instructors and students.
When you come for lessons, sign up on the tablet in the clubhouse using your member ID. It can take over two hours on a busy day to get a lesson, so please come early and be prepared to wait. There’s lots to do while you wait:
Students are expected to help rig boats between 9:30am - 11 as we need to get 15+ boats in the water for an on-time 10:30am start!
If you don’t know how to rig, assist someone who does or join a rigging lesson (look for boats with clusters of students bringing up the rear of the boat rigging queue).
There’s almost always at least one boat teaching land school–join this to learn more about sailing and practice maneuvers in a simulated environment. Look for clusters of students and join in!
See the end of this announcement for wind, tides, and the FAQ.
Instructors: How to make the most of your time!
When you arrive, please check in with the lesson coordinator about what kind of boat you want, how many students, and when you’ll be dressed & ready to teach. We’ll help you get a rigged boat and students so you can just get dressed, meet your students & get on the water.
Please avoid extensive land-based lessons, that’s what land school is for. If you came to teach on-the-water lessons, please do!
We have 80+ students on peak Saturdays, so please give each student 20-30 minutes of instruction time then return to dock for your next load or hand off your boat to a waiting instructor. Let’s help everyone we can get on the water and have fun! When you're heading back for your next load of students, remind your crew that they should check out land lessons once they're dry!
If you need something to help you get on the water, please check in with one of the coordinators! We’re here to help you do what you do best–sail!
Please mark yourself (or tell the coordinator) when you’re ‘done for day’ to have an accurate record in the tablet!
Land School: If we’re out of boats or you prefer land-based, we need you! Ideas:
Provide orientation to first day students!
Teach how to rig a boat end to end (please do this at the back of the rigging queue so we’re not slowing down the drops)
Discuss wind direction and safety and knots and field questions.
Set up a boat with the broken rudder to simulate tacking/gybing
Reminder for Skippers about boat breakages: Please be diligent in getting any issues you discover or happen while you sail your boat taken care of. Check in with the second coordinator for help if you don’t know how to fix or it’s going to delay your water lessons. Be sure to log!
Skippers, we need instructors as early as 10am this week to get a 10am start–please arrive a half hour before lessons start to get students going!
Volunteers are always appreciated, and there is always something to do at CSC!!!
Steph
Rear Commodore of Sailing Instruction
SUMMER VERSION/PEAK DEMAND. Likely wind down in/after September
[We’ve got a shiny new Saturday morning lessons email, please read!]
On-the-water lessons are from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Club opens at 9am and you can sign up and help drop boats/learn how to drop boats to get on the water sooner! If you’ve passed your rigging test or are very close, please lead rigging a boat.
X will be lessons coordinator. Thanks, X. Students: look for the person holding the Tablet
Y will be the second coordinator, helping ensure boats get in the water efficiently and running the yard. They help with everything around pairing instructors and students.
When you come for lessons, sign up on the tablet in the clubhouse using your member ID. It can take over two hours on a busy day to get a lesson, so please come early and be prepared to wait. There’s lots to do while you wait:
Students are expected to help rig boats between 9am - 11 as we need to get 15+ boats in the water for an on-time 10am start!
If you don’t know how to rig, assist someone who does or join a rigging lesson (look for boats with clusters of students bringing up the rear of the boat rigging queue).
There’s almost always at least one boat teaching land school–join this to learn more about sailing and practice maneuvers in a simulated environment. Look for clusters of students and join in!
See the end of this announcement for wind, tides, and the FAQ.
Instructors: How to make the most of your time!
When you arrive, please check in with the lesson coordinator about what kind of boat you want, how many students, and when you’ll be dressed & ready to teach. We’ll help you get a rigged boat and students so you can just get dressed, meet your students & get on the water.
Please avoid extensive land-based lessons, that’s what land school is for. If you came to teach on-the-water lessons, please do!
We have 80+ students on peak Saturdays, so please give each student 20-30 minutes of instruction time then return to dock for your next load or hand off your boat to a waiting instructor. Let’s help everyone we can get on the water and have fun! When you're heading back for your next load of students, remind your crew that they should check out land lessons once they're dry!
If you need something to help you get on the water, please check in with one of the coordinators! We’re here to help you do what you do best–sail!
Please mark yourself (or tell the coordinator) when you’re ‘done for day’ to have an accurate record in the tablet!
Land School: If we’re out of boats or you prefer land-based, we need you! Ideas:
Provide orientation to first day students!
Teach how to rig a boat end to end (please do this at the back of the rigging queue so we’re not slowing down the drops)
Discuss wind direction and safety and knots and field questions.
Set up a boat with the broken rudder to simulate tacking/gybing
Reminder for Skippers about boat breakages: Please be diligent in getting any issues you discover or happen while you sail your boat taken care of. Check in with the second coordinator for help if you don’t know how to fix or it’s going to delay your water lessons. Be sure to log!
Skippers, we need instructors as early as 930 to get a 10am start–please arrive a half hour before lessons start to get students going!
Volunteers are always appreciated, and there is always something to do at CSC!!!
Steph
Rear Commodore of Sailing Instruction
Tide Information (No Low Water Problems)
Sunrise 06:14
Low tide 1.0 at 09:20
High tide 5.9 at 16:00
Sunset 20:16
Current XWeather Forecast for Friday July 31Today
High temperature 68°
Mostly Sunny from 7 AM until 8 AM.
Partly Cloudy from 8 AM until 9 AM.
Mostly Sunny from 9 AM until 3 PM.
Sunny from 3 PM until 8 PM.
Mostly Sunny from 8 PM until 9 PM.
Mostly Clear from 9 PM until 10 PM.
Partly Cloudy after 10 PM.
Morning: Wind 5 kt S gusting to 9 kt
Afternoon: Wind 7 kt SSW gusting to 13 kt
Tomorrow
High temperature 71°
Partly Cloudy until 2 PM.
Mostly Sunny from 2 PM until 5 PM.
Sunny from 5 PM until 9 PM.
Morning: Wind 5 kt SSE gusting to 9 kt
Afternoon: Wind 7 kt SSW gusting to 11 kt
You can also monitor the South Basin web cam, with current wind conditions and weather and tide forecasts at: the Club status page
Lessons on Demand
If you can't make the normal lessons time or if you want additional instruction, you may be able to take advantage of our Lessons on Demand program, where a small number of instructors make themselves available outside of normal lessons. Get on slack and join #dinghy-lessons-on-demand. Email announce/slack info here.
Questions and Answers:
Q: How do I get a sailing lesson?
A: If you are a member, go to Cal-Sailing during lessons time, go in the clubhouse and sign in on the tablet using your Member ID. If you are not yet a member, talk with the dayleader on duty about signing up. Lessons are Saturday mornings 10am to 1pm, Monday and Thursday afternoons 1pm - 5pm. Arrive up to an hour early as it’s first-come-first serve!
Q: Can I bring my cell phone with me when I go sailing?
A: No, because your cell phone gets very, very nervous at the thought of getting wet – especially with salt water. It’s best to leave your cell phone and other electronics in your car or in the clubhouse (but, be kind and make sure your phone is on silent mode if you leave it in the clubhouse).
Q: What should I wear?
A: Wear clothes that can get wet as capsize is a very real possibility– so wear synthetic gym clothes and try not to wear cotton. Most dinghy sailors like to wear wetsuits and we strongly recommend you wear one (put the wetsuit on over a swimsuit). Other sailors like to put on foul weather gear (it’s kinda like rain gear) over their clothing. Cal Sailing has wetsuits and foul weather gear for you to wear.
Q: What about a life jacket?
A: Cal Sailing provides Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) for you to wear. In fact, you are required to wear a PFD before boarding any boat. Make sure it is super snug, can’t be pulled ‘up’ over your ears when lifted by shoulders.
Q: I wear glasses. What should I do?
A: When you’re sailing, it can get windy and you can be splashed with water. Sometimes, your glasses can get knocked off your face. If you have to wear prescription glasses, please get Croakies (available at Big 5 Sporting Goods) or at least some sort of tether to keep the glasses safely on your face. Please note: cheap sunglasses never fall off your face.
Q: How long is each lesson?
A: During the hour lesson, the instructor tries to give each student a turn at steering the boat for about 20 minutes. When you're steering the boat, the instruction is focused on what you, individually, need to advance in your sailing. But you'll learn even when you're not steering. There are things the non-steering crew needs to do, and you'll find that you learn from watching others sail. Depending on boat, you may be with 1 to 3 other students, so the on-the-water time in total can be 60 to 90ish minutes.
Q: How do I get the most out of the sailing lessons?
A: If you’re new to sailing, make sure to let your instructor know that you’re not familiar with boats. If you get a bit nervous, make sure to tell your instructor so that he or she can arrange the lesson to your level. If you’ve been on a few lessons and are feeling more confident, let your instructor know what you’ve been working on and they’ll help you identify what to keep working on or try a new one! Let your instructor know what your goals are.
Q: What are some of the basic sailing skills I need to know to earn my Junior Skipper rating?
A: You’ll need to know wind direction (which way is the wind blowing?), rigging, knots (figure 8, bowline, half hitches, and some others), steering a straight course, leaving the dock, slow sailing, tacking, sail trim, heave to, points of sail, jibing, capsize recovery, man overboard recovery, sailing in circles, docking, balance, unrigging, right-of-way rules. There's a lot of detail on the web site. We’re piloting a ‘levels’ curriculum you can check out!
Q: What can I do if I arrive at the Club and there is no wind?
A: There are plenty of things you can do besides hanging out around the club house. You can take the written test if you haven’t passed it yet. You can have a skipper help you practice rigging a boat, with or without putting it in the water. You can look at whether you can fix issues on the boats with a skipper who knows how to do that. If you don’t feel handy for boat repairs, you can ask the dayleader to assign you a task around the club grounds and you get volunteer hours. Low wind is also a good time to learn capsize recovery at the dock or anchoring on shore!
Q: What should I bring when I come to Cal Sailing?
A: A complete change of clothes, extra shoes, a towel, sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, snacks, drink, money for food (they sell lunch and snacks at the bait shop across the street).
Q: What about shoes? A: Please wear water shoes or other shoes that won't be damaged by water. Your shoes are going to get wet. Please do not wear flip flops because you need to be able to have a good foothold. It’s best to wear shoes that have a non-slip sole.
Q: What if I have specific concerns or specific goals I’m trying to achieve? A: Every Saturday morning, there’s a sailing lesson coordinator. If you have any concerns, questions, or want to provide feedback, please let the lesson coordinator know. The coordinator is familiar with the sailing instructors and can help match you with the instructor best suited to your situation. On other days, tell your instructor.
Q: What else would help me make progress as a sailor?
A: Crew for Sunday morning or Thursday evening races! It’s great fun! Check the website for upcoming cruises and go on a cruise. Help out with Open Houses. Help skippers rig boats for lessons. Chat with other CSC folks Saturday or weekday afternoons and get invited to go out sailing. Join slack and jump into the discussions! The more you put into CSC, the more you'll get out of it.
Q: Anything else?
A: Have fun, be safe, pay it forward!
Q: How do I unsubscribe from this list?
A: Easy. Refer to the info at the bottom of this message.
SATURDAY MORNING CURRENT/ORIGINAL
Lessons are from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Viv will be lessons coordinator. Thanks, Viv.
When you come for lessons, sign up on the sheet in the clubhouse. It can take up to two hours on a busy day to get a lesson, so please come early and be prepared to wait. You could complete volunteer hours while you wait, participate in a shore lesson, or just hang out and enjoy the view.
See the end of this announcement for wind, tides, and the FAQ.
Ground School rocks: Skippers - think about doing Ground School if there are a lot of students waiting for lessons. If you go out on the water, you help 2 or 3 of them at most. If you do a Ground School, you help all of them. and some things are better learned on land. You could do a rigging lesson, go over knots, points of sail, man-overboard, etc. You can find a Ground School manual here. There is also a binder in the Clubhouse with this information.
Reminder for Skippers about boat breakages: Please be diligent in getting any issues you discover or happen while you sail your boat taken care of. Skippers, you could make repair of problems you get across a teaching opportunity as an integral part of sailing. If you cannot perform the required repair(s) or don’t know how to, at least make sure the first vice-commodores are notified, even if the issue you discover did not happen while you sailed the boat. To do so you can email firstvice AT cal-sailing.org
Please arrive a half hour before lessons start to help launch boats or to help orient new members.
Volunteers are always appreciated, and there is always something to do at CSC!!!
- Owen
Saturday Lessons Coordinator
Tide Information (No Low Water Problems)
Sunrise 06:06
Low tide 0.2 at 04:22
High tide 4.5 at 11:21
Low tide 3.5 at 15:15
High tide 6.3 at 21:35
Sunset 20:24
Current XWeather Forecast for Friday July 24TodayHigh temperature 65°
Partly Cloudy from 7 AM until 9 AM.
Mostly Sunny from 9 AM until 1 PM.
Partly Cloudy from 1 PM until 2 PM.
Mostly Sunny from 2 PM until 9 PM.
Mostly Clear from 9 PM until 10 PM.
Partly Cloudy after 10 PM.
Morning: Wind 7 kt SSW gusting to 13 kt
Afternoon: Wind 10 kt SW gusting to 16 kt
High temperature 65°
Partly Cloudy until 2 PM.
Mostly Sunny from 2 PM until 9 PM.
Morning: Wind 7 kt SW gusting to 14 kt
Afternoon: Wind 9 kt SW gusting to 16 kt
You can also monitor the South Basin web cam, with current wind conditions and weather and tide forecasts at: the Club status page
Lessons on Demand
If you can't make the normal lessons time or if you want additional instruction, you may be able to take advantage of our Lessons on Demand program, where a small number of instructors make themselves available outside of normal lessons. Details are here.
Questions and Answers:
Q: How do I get a sailing lesson?
A: If you are a member, go to Cal-Sailing during lessons time, go in the clubhouse and sign in on the Sailboat Lesson sheet. If you are not yet a member, talk with the dayleader on duty about signing up. Lessons are Saturday mornings 10am to 1pm, Monday and Thursday afternoons beginning at 1pm (ending time depends on sunset).
Q: Can I bring my cell phone with me when I go sailing?
A: No, because your cell phone gets very, very nervous at the thought of getting wet – especially with salt water. It’s best to leave your cell phone and other electronics in your car or in the clubhouse (but, be kind and make sure your phone is on silent mode if you leave it in the clubhouse).
Q: What should I wear?
A: Wear clothes that can get wet – so wear synthetic gym clothes and try not to wear cotton. Some dinghy sailors like to wear wetsuits (put the wetsuit on over a swimsuit). Other sailors like to put on foul weather gear (it’s kinda like rain gear) over their clothing. Cal Sailing has wetsuits and foul weather gear for you to wear.
Q: What about a life jacket?
A: Cal Sailing provides Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) for you to wear. In fact, you are required to wear a PFD before boarding any boat.
Q: I wear glasses. What should I do?
A: When you’re sailing, it can get windy and you can be splashed with water. Sometimes, your glasses can get knocked off your face. If you have to wear prescription glasses, please get Croakies (available at Big 5 Sporting Goods) to keep the glasses safely on your face. Please note: cheap sunglasses never fall off your face.
Q: How long is each lesson?
A: You’ll be out on the water for about an hour. Each boat holds about 4 people – one instructor and 2 or 3 students. During the hour lesson, the instructor tries to give each student a turn at steering the boat for about 20 minutes. When you're steering the boat, the instruction is focused on what you, individually, need to advance in your sailing. But you'll learn even when you're not steering. There are things the non-steering crew needs to do, and you'll find that you learn from watching others sail.
Q: How do I get the most out of the sailing lessons?
A: If you’re new to sailing, make sure to let your instructor know that you’re not familiar with boats. If you get a bit nervous, make sure to tell your instructor so that he or she can arrange the lesson to your level. If you’ve been on a few lessons and are feeling more confident, decide on a skill that you want to practice, and let your instructor know what your goals are.
Q: What are some of the basic sailing skills I need to know to earn my Junior Skipper rating?
A: You’ll need to know wind direction (which way is the wind blowing?), rigging, knots (figure 8, bowline, half hitches, and some others), steering a straight course, leaving the dock, sailing backward, slow sailing, tacking, sail trim, heave to, points of sail, jibing, capsize recovery, man overboard recovery, sailing in circles, docking, balance, unrigging, right-of-way rules. There's a lot of detail on the web site.
Q: What can I do if I arrive at the Club and there is no wind?
A: There are plenty of things you can do besides hanging out around the club house. You can take the written test if you did not pass it yet. You can have a skipper help you practice rigging a boat, with or without putting it in the water. You can look at whether you can fix issues on the boats with a skipper who knows how to do that. If you don’t feel handy for boat repairs, you can ask the dayleader to assign you a task around the club grounds and you get volunteer hours. Low wind is also a good time to learn capsize recovery.
Q: What should I bring when I come to Cal Sailing?
A: A complete change of clothes, extra shoes, a towel, sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, snacks, drink, money for food (they sell lunch and snacks at the bait shop across the street).
Q: What about shoes? A: Please wear water shoes or other shoes that won't be damaged by water. Your shoes are going to get wet. Please do not wear flip flops because you need to be able to have a good foothold. It’s best to wear shoes that have a non-slip sole.
Q: What if I have specific concerns or specific goals I’m trying to achieve? A: Every Saturday morning, there’s a sailing lesson coordinator. If you have any concerns, questions, or want to provide feedback, please let the lesson coordinator know. The coordinator is familiar with the sailing instructors and can help match you with the instructor best suited to your situation. On other days, tell your instructor.
Q: What else would help me make progress as a sailor?
A: Crew for Sunday morning or Thursday evening races! It’s great fun! Check the website for upcoming cruises and go on a cruise. Help out with Open Houses. Help skippers rig boats for lessons. Chat with other CSC folks Saturday or weekday afternoons and get invited to go out sailing. The more you put into CSC, the more you'll get out of it.
Q: Anything else?
A: Have fun
Q: How do I unsubscribe from this list?
A: Easy. Refer to the info at the bottom of this message.
Direct messaging to instructors 7-30:
Hello wonderful instructors! Thank you for all your work making all our lessons,--especially our Saturday morning lessons--go so well as an all-volunteer org!
Context: we're routinely seeing 80+ students, often with 50-60 signed up by 10. We struggle to teach more than about 60, even if every eligible boat is out.
I've observed several Sat am lessons and would like to propose some process changes to help you as instructors focus on on-the-water teaching and, as a bonus, get as many students on the water as possible.
Idea: get a sense of who is planning to teach each week. Please take 2 mins to fill out this form if you plan to teach saturday 8/1 (or are a maybe) - there's open space for feedback, too.
We’ll see if we can consistently predict who is coming (or not!)
What to expect this Saturday:
We’ll now have 2 coordinators for peak summer Saturdays (main one, plus float--Owen is lessons coordinator, John Bon is float this week--thanks both!)
Timing: Instructors showing up by 9:30/10 is super helpful!
Alt: 11:30ish arrival to relieve first wave instructors who want to wrap early.
On the club status page during any lesson time, scroll down to tides info and you can see how many instructors v. students there are and the ‘waitlist’. We max out at about 15-18 instructors at any one time. Consider it your personal bat signal if you’re on the fence about teaching!
The order you do things as an instructors matters to cut down wait time for you, students, and idle boats (and this is CSC so as always, we want to accommodate a variety of teachers/styles!):
Please check in with lesson coordinators when you arrive-- they will help you get paired with a boat that is rigged/close to rigged so you can just get dressed and teach! They'll help get your students ready.
Check back in when you're dressed/ready and get your boat assignment and meet your students. Hopefully both will be 'all ready' for you to go sail or very close.
We'll have separate land lessons, so just do 'enough' on land to make sure you're ready to sail safely with students, but save in-depth rigging or land lessons for those teaching on shore.
Please aim to give each student 20-30 minutes direct instruction time and return to dock for next wave of students (or to let next teacher step in). We ideally need 2 (sometimes 3) loads within the 10-1 timeframe to meet our eager student demand! If this doesn't work for you, let the coordinator know your preferred alternate sail plan.
When you're done, let the coordinator know (or go into tablet) and click 'done for day'.
From 9 - 10:30ish, coordinators, students and early teachers will be helping get boats dropped so lessons can start as close to 10 as possible.
Thank you for all you give to the club! Hopefully this helps Saturdays be even more fun, low-stress, and valuable for all. Please share any feedback on what's working v. not!
steph