“Best sailing clinic on the bay!” (overheard at the Women’s Sailing Clinic this past weekend)

It was a fantastic weekend to have 18 women – both members and non-members, experienced and beginners, and several returning participants - come together for two beautiful days on the water. Coaches Holly Sears and Anne-Kinsey Wash started Saturday morning off with chalk talks for the Racing Fundamentals class and the Sailing Basics class respectively, then both groups got on the water, in eight Flying-Scots, two ILCAs, and one Melges.

In 5-8 knots of breeze, the beginners took off two to a boat, each with an on-the-water instructor and a student in the driver’s seat; they covered the points of sail, sail trim, boat speed and got plenty of tiller (extension) time. With the help of Joe Roos on a mark boat, Holly ran a series of start sequences to help racers practice boat handling, timing, and rule situations and then ran a series of short races to get in some tacking and jibing reps. The wind held into the afternoon and the racers completed several more races focusing on start line strategy and mark rounding rules while the beginners practiced steering to points of land and sail trim going around a course.

The wind was a little lighter on Sunday, starting out of the west at 3 – 6 knots, but everyone hustled to get out on the water and we were lucky to get several hours of instruction, with some beginners even trying their hand on the start line with the racing class. Overall, this lovely group left having improved the most on boat handling and mark roundings, but more importantly they left excited, energized, and grateful for the experience.

Thank you to Rick Peterson, Ron Jenkins, Lud Kimbrough, and Tracy Schwarzschild for lending their boats and their time as on-the-water instructors. Also thank you to Mike Miller, Mike Karn, Jon Deutsch, Andrew Spencer, and Matt Lambert for volunteering as on-the-water instructors and onshore support. Lastly, thank you to Allen Mason, Joe Roos, Josh Almany, Josh Bendura for help launching and retrieving boats. Thanks to event organizers Caroline Patrick and Jess Deutsch.

Special thanks to an anonymous club member who donated a half-day of private sailing lessons to one lucky raffle winner.

The support of you all makes this a wonderful event, for members and the larger community with participants coming back year after year. We get more people out on the water because of you – thank you.

Link to more pictures

Photo credit: Jon Deutsch