Instruction taking place at the CLSA pavilion.
Rigging the sunfish.
Junior sailor bails out the boat.
CLSA's junior sailing program has a new format this year, and is off to a great start, as you will see from the story below.
Junior Sailing is off with a bang! With our format change, we are holding classes every Saturday morning from 9-12 instead of the weeklong camp that was held in previous years. The first weekend Commodore Frank Scotello taught the sailors capsizing and righting the boat, tying knots and the points of sailing. The next two weekends the lessons continued. The wind was very light and so the six kids in attendance paired up on the three Sunfish and headed out into the lake. The wind built briefly, causing each boat to involuntarily capsize, giving the newbie sailors a chance to try out the rescuing/self-righting skills they had rehearsed the previous weekend. Ben Williams, the day’s head instructor, also was on hand in his Laser to lend a hand.
Afterwards the junior sailors came in and, in the building wind, piled on Ben’s Flying Scot with fellow Flying Scot sailor Don Johnson and took turns sailing her. One boy and his father opted to continue practicing on a Sunfish, with some key and timely instruction from Frank on a Laser, who also was on hand to instruct. Everyone was very enthusiastic and wanted to keep sailing, but the time was up and the boats had to be put away in order for the Beer Can Laser regatta to take place.
The third weekend the wind was a bit stronger, but one boat managed to stay upright the whole time. All the juniors got much better at going around two marks that the instructors had set up. Ben Williams was again out helping right boats in his Laser. After about one hour the sailors came in and talked about their experiences with the instructors, Ben, Frank and Don. Then they went back out again, each junior on a Sunfish with either Ben or Frank, to further polish their sailing skills.
The fourth weekend was cancelled due to thunderstorms.