02/12/12 - Power Boating - Rosmoney

2nd December 2012
Today we had South Easterly force 2-5 winds increasing 5.
Changing in the evening to West North Westerly winds force 5-7.
It was raining all day. - I guess we were just spoilt yesterday!

• Today I plan to get my National Power Boating Cert.
• I need to show Noelle that I know how to do everything she showed us yesterday and that I can do them to a high enough level to pass.

We arrived at half past 9 and the boat was already on the water because Noelle stayed on the island where we went to do our knots yesterday.

We climbed on board and Noelle told us that the trip was still on for Westport, despite the weather today. She checked that we all had plenty of layers on and warned us that it would be very cold on the boat during the day.

We then talked about the weather forecast and signs on the water, once we all understood everything that Noelle was telling us, we left Rosmoney for Westport.

The GPS was down today so it wasn't telling us where we were, I thought this was good because it meant that we had to use and understand the charts. Jarlath was on the helm first and I was navigating, we were going through all the port and starboard buoys on the way out. I had navigate for Jarlath until we were coming in the channel to Westport. Then we swapped, I was on helm and Louise was navigating the chart for me.

It was so cold in the wind that it felt like the rain drops were hailstones hitting your face. I was glad I had decided to wear my walking boots instead of my wellies today because the sole is much thicker and my feet were much warmer.

While I was on helm Noelle came and sat on the tubes next to me because the tide was nearly at low tide and I had to bring the boat down the channel where there was sometimes only .4/.5m of water under the RIB.
I found it a bit nerve racking on the way in because I was afraid of the depth being so shallow under the boat, so I just reduced the speed and came in nice and slow. When we were coming right in to the quay, Noelle took over because the depth had gone to .3 and she said it wouldn't be fair on me if something happened to the boat.

When we were coming along side a fishing boat to tie on Noelle jumped out to tie on and as she jumped back in to the RIB, she slipped and landed on her back on the seat in front of the console. She didn't move and was in a lot of pain for a while. Then she slowly got up and we all climbed up the ladder onto the quay. She was in a lot of pain and went down to see her coast guard friends.
Jarlath, Louise and I went for lunch in the helm and dried all our wet gear in front of the fire. Noelle then came in for lunch too but she sat with her friends.

After lunch Noelle brought the RIB out of the quay, the depth was even lower now and as we were coming out the GPS showed that it was 0.0m beneath us! Scary!

We then did some man over board drills and headed back to Rosmoney pier.
We recovered the boat and then Noelle said to get changed and meet her by her van in 10mins.
We all passed our National Power Boat Certificate!

I really enjoyed today and am so proud of myself for passing and getting my cert. I worked hard to remember everything we were taught and I can't wait to get more practice helming RIBs. I really would like to start working towards getting enough experience to go for my Safety boat certificate.

Environmental interest of the day...

Today we saw so many Cormorants. They were sitting on top of all the buoys in the channels. Some were afraid of the RIB as it passed by them and other just sat and watched us go by.
They are very similar to and can sometimes be confused with Shags, but the big difference that is easy to spot is that Shag's have their hair sort of 'gelled' up on top of their heads, where as a Cormorant doesn't and has a smooth head.

01/12/12 - Power Boating - Rosmoney

1st December 2012

Power Boating with Noelle Doran - At Rosmoney
There was no wind today, the water was practically flat calm and it was beautiful clear blue skies for the whole day.
A real winters day. :)

• Today my aim was to grasp the basics of power boating.
• Be able to perform the tasks that Noelle asked me to do.

Today when we arrived at Rosmoney pier, Noelle showed us how to launch the RIB. 
First she reversed the trailer on the back of the van down the pier until the trailers wheels were half covered by the water. She then came down and showed us how to get the RIB off the trailor. You have to release the strap on the front and slowly push it off. This trailer made life much easier because it was a roller trailer, this means that the boat can just roll off at ease.

Once the boat was launched, we went down the steps and got on board. Noelle went through everything that you have to check before you can turn on the engine. We then had to go through all of the checks, individually so that she knew we understood. I managed to leave out the small issue of lowering the engine down into the water! It was only because I was nervous in front of Jarlath and Louise though!
We then headed out, we had to first drive the boat forward, neutral and then reverse to show we knew how to get the boat in gear. Then we had to do 'U' turns at speed, (25knots) followed by figures of 8 also at speed.
I found it hard to remember to keep one hand on the throttle and one hand on the wheel at all times because when you are driving a car you have to do the opposite. The difference with a RIB is that you have the control of the speed in the throttle in your right hand, not on a pedal on the floor. This is why you shouldn't lose contact with either the steering wheel or the throttle at any stage while helming.
After this Noelle could hear a problem in the engine. There was a clicking noise every time we tried to change gear. So she drove it slowly in to one of the pier and called a man that she knew to come and look at it. But as soon as she started to explain it to him on the phone, it stopped making the noise. Typical! I was really glad it was ok again because Noelle said if it was broken, she would have to do the course a different weekend, which would have been annoying.

Once the RIB had decided to work again, we went and learnt how to come along side back at Rosmoney pier. We came along side 3 times each at the pier. I found it much easier than I thought I would, it just takes patience and you have to take it really slow, coming into neutral when you need to slow down and let the tide carry you.
We then came along side a smaller boat with a tiller motor on it. We had to show Noelle that we could use a small tiller motor just so she could tick us off for that.
We had to do a figure of 8 around the buoys forwards and then do the same thing only backwards. Then we had to come along side at the pier and that was all we had to do in the tiller boat then.

We then got back in the power boat and Jarlath helmed the boat over to another island where we moored up next to a fishing boat.
Aparently there are only 3 people living on the island! Noelle introduced us to 2 lovely old ladies who invited us into their house for tea. They had a roaring fire inside and told us all to sit up infront of it and get warm. They then made us tea while Noelle went through some knots with us. It was so nice and warm in the house and we really appreciated it because our feet were freezing from standing on the plastic of the boat all morning.

After lunch, we went back out on the RIB and Noelle did some control in confined spaces skills with us. To do this she chose 4 buoys that we had to stay in the middle of. We had to go into reverse and then forward turning the wheel to port & then starboard, over and over again, just making sure we stayed in the box.

We then went back to Rosmoney pier for lunch. After an hour we went back out and did a bit of work on picking up a mooring and a bit more work on coming along side another boat. This is different to coming along side the pier because a boat can move in the swell and the wind, whereas a pier stays still.

We finished up as it was getting dark.
Noelle said to bring a lunch in a dry bag for tomorrow because we would be going on a trip to Westport.

I feel I did well today, there was a lot of information to take in, but I think I'll remember most of it. I'll definitely remember to put the engine down if anything anyway! How embarrassing! I really enjoyed helming the RIB and feel I did well on the controls.
I need to work at keeping one hand on the throttle and one hand on the wheel at all times, especially at high speeds. I really hope I remember enough and do well at everything I have learnt today tomorrow because I really want to pass my 'national power boat certificate'.


Environmental interest of the day...

Today when we were out on the power boat, there was an otter in the water near us. He kept popping up in different places. They are meticulously clean, after eating they wash themselves in the ocean, cleaning their fur with their teeth and paws. It is good that they mind their coats because it keeps them warm and insulated in the cold water.

20/11/12 - Sailing - Petersburg OEC

20th November 2012

Sailing - Petersburg OEC - Brian

Today we had a force 5 gusting 6 and it was raining...crazy!

• Today looked a bit crazy so I decided to challenge myself to sailing in the windiest conditions I have ever sailed in!

Today we rigged the boats in force 4 winds. By the time we got on the lake it had moved to a force 5. I was in a Vibe with Martin and he was on helm. We worked well as a team, trying our best to get around the 2 buoy course that Brian had set for us. 

The wind was just so strong and seemed to be coming in many directions that it was hard to stay on course and not to capsize. Martin and I capsized 3 or 4 times, it was crazy! We had to wait for the strongest gusts to pass sometimes before we could get the boat back over. Even then, once the boat was back over, it was hard to point the boat head to wind so that Martin could get in because the wind was just hitting the water in all directions, it was almost impossible to face head to wind.

Stacy & Liz's boat capsized...Stacy on the dagger board...

At one point, I was trying to point head to wind, Martin was holding on to the back of the dinghy and he could have gone bare foot skiing off the back of the boat we were going so fast!
In the end Brian came and collected us all from all over the lake and towed us in to shore. 

Everybody waiting on shore for each boat to be rescued...

Once he had collected everybody together, he put some of us in the RIB and only Fionan and Cian (who were very experienced sailors) went sailing while we watched.

I was very wary of my sciatic nerve in the power boat because I was afraid of getting a big jolt and setting myself back, but I was fine.

In the afternoon we went driving around the lake looking at the way the wind was affecting the lake at different sections. We then came back and made boats out of things they found around Petersburg. It was a good way of learning how to balance the boat and really think about where things are positioned on a boat.

Fionan...proud of his college work...

The highlight of today for me was actually capsizing because I hadn’t capsized yet at sailing. I actually enjoyed it and I enjoyed sailing with Martin, which I hadn’t done yet either. We made a good team and we had a lot of fun sailing at crazy speeds and capsizing.

I feel that today went well, I lost interest a bit in the afternoon when we had to make little boats to sail in the bath tub... it just felt like a bit of a time filler (which is probably because that’s exactly what it was). But I can also see how it helped us to see how a boat’s weight is distributed and how it is proportioned.
I am glad we got to capsize, next time I will have to be quicker/better at finding head to wind after a capsize.

Environmental interest of the day...

There were trees on the bank where we pulled up that had no leaves but they had the reddest berries I have ever seen. There were bunches of them at the ends of the twigs. Nobody could work out what they were, so I am going to ask Orla if she knows.

23/10/12 - Sailing - Petersburg OEC

23rd October 2012

Sailing - Petersburg OEC - Brian

We had force 2-3 winds and it was dry & overcast.

• Today I wanted to show Brian what we learnt with Simon last week.
• I wanted to show him everything that I have learnt so far at Petersburg and prove to him that I am at the standard to receive my Level 2 Sailing skills certificate. 

Brian told us at the beginning of the session who was on his list that he was hoping to give level 2 certs to by the end of the day. I was pleased that I was on his list and was looking forward to showing him the skills.
We had to show that we have a basic knowledge of sailing, we are safety conscious and that we are capable of sailing without an instructor in light winds.

Brian took us out and the first thing we did was show him that we could come along side his RIB, this was made easier by the steady force 2 we had. This slowed down the whole process meaning you had time to think before carrying out the manoeuvre.
We then showed him that we could do man over board drills, this was again made easier by the wind conditions.
After lunch I was in a dinghy with Emmet and we did a bit of rudderless sailing with Brian. You do this by shifting your weight to the opposite side of the boat to which you want to turn and then back again. I found this difficult and I think it could have been due to my weight not being enough with Emmet as my crew at the front of the boat.


Unfortunately, towards the end of the afternoon session, I got a shooting pain going from my lower back down to my knee. I jumped up and had to stand while Emmet sailed the dinghy on his own back over to the rescue boat so I could get out. 

I was in so much pain and didn’t know what to do to ease it. I couldn’t move in any direction, I couldn’t even sit.

Brian had a talk to me about the pain and told me that he thought it might be my sciatic nerve. He jumped in the boat with Emmet so that he could show him something and he left me in the power boat. 

When he came back again I think he could see the pain in my face because he wrapped up the session and we all headed in. 

I couldn’t help pack away the boats or anything, I even needed help to get out of my wetsuit. I don’t know how it happened but I am going to a physiotherapist to get sorted out hopefully before next week.

Despite my crippling back pain, I passed my level 2 sailing skills assessment! This was a huge highlight and I am really looking forward to learning my level 3 skills.

I need to get my back sorted so that it doesn’t give me trouble in the future. Brian said that if you don’t deal with back pain at the beginning it just ends up getting worse and worse. (Apparently he speaks from experience). So he gave me the number of a lady in Westport to go to.

Environmental interest of the day...

Today I saw a swan on the lake, Brian said it was strange to see one on this side of the lake because they usually stay on the opposite side.

16/10/12 - Sailing Petersburg OEC

16th October 2012

Sailing - Petersburg OEC - Simon

We had force 3 winds in morning and then no wind in afternoon. It was dry all day.

• Today I want to learn how to pick up a mooring.
• How to do a man over board drill.
• I want to perfect coming along side too.

Today Simon took us out to do some man over board drills. We checked the forecast and he said that we needed to get out on the water as soon as possible because the wind was meant to die down in the afternoon.

So we went out straight away and Simon got us to first pick up a mooring because he said if we can do this then we will find our man over board drills much easier as they are practically the same method.

This was good to learn and was very similar to coming along side in the way that you need to turn head to wind in order to stop to pick up the mooring.

We were then each given a buoy to throw over board and then go and save. We took it in turns doing each of these tasks. We had to do it over and over again until we got it perfect and we were not allowed to swap helm & crew positions until Simon had seen what we had done and said it was ok to swap.

In the afternoon, Simon played a really fun game with us. He had a heap of tennis balls and sponges in the RIB and he threw them all out randomly. It was then a race, myself and Liz against Stacy and Kevin to get as many objects as we could using all the skills we had learnt during the day.

The wind was really dying down at this stage and Liz and I didn’t have the ability that Kevin & Stacy had, so they won hands down. But it was really good fun and is definitely something I would use myself if I ever get the chance to take a group out sailing as their instructor in the future.

Playing the game with Simon was really good fun. We hadn’t played any games with Brian, so it was cool to have a different instructor for a while to show us a different instructing technique. I would definitely prefer it if there was more fun put into our sessions with Brian.

A highlight of the day was definitely the homemade Birthday scones that Liz made for Matin's Birthday today! They were amazing and we had a great lunch with a nice cup of tea!

Enjoying nom nom Birthday scones!

I really enjoyed today’s sailing, there wasn’t exactly a lot of wind but Simon managed to keep us all interested. I don’t know if I was kept interested because I have improved my sailing skills and was better at sailing with less wind or if Simon just made the session interesting and fun.
I managed to pick up a mooring quickly and was pretty good at collecting a man over board by the end of the day. However, these are things that can never be practiced too much so I am looking forward to going over it again next week with Brian.

Environmental interest of the day...

Today I saw fish jumping on the lake, this could mean he was being prayed on, or he needed more oxygen. It was in quite a weedy part of the lake so maybe there oxygen levels were low there due to eutrophication.

10/10/12 - Snorkelling - Keem

10th October 2012

Snorkelling - Keem - Mark O’Connor

We had clear skies a sea temperature of 13*C and a fantastic 4m visibility!

• Today I wanted to go over basic snorkel skills.
• In particular my surface dives, because the visibility was so clear.
• I wanted to be able to dive down further and explore the sea life.

We went through possible water hazards at the beginning and they pointed out the rip on the left hand side of the bay and told us to only snorkel on the right hand side.

We were put into pairs (buddy’s) for the session, this meant that we had to stay with our buddy for the whole session, never let them go out of your sight and always check that they are ok.

While we swam out, Weeman asked us to do different skills so he could see how we were doing and give us any advice we might need. We had to do surface dives one by one. We had to swim down 4m, touch the bottom, do a forward roll and come back up, making sure we remember to equalise on the way.

Unfortunately I had trouble equalising, I reached the bottom but then I was in excruciating pain and had to kick as fast as I could to get back to the surface. This is a learning point for me because I learnt to put me before the task. I was concentrating so hard on doing my roll at the bottom, that I didn’t concentrate enough on equalising, which resulted in pain.

Luckily we were coming towards the end of the session and Oisin Foden brought me back in to shore. I had to get out and get warm, my ears were very sore, but it gradually got better, I think a visit to the doctor will be needed to check everything is ok.

The highlight of this afternoon for me was finding the starfish eating a limpet! It was so interesting and some people in the group didn’t know that starfish eat limpets so that was really interesting. Another highlight was to be able to see so far under the water! It was absolutely amazing and I find sea life the most interesting in the world. Even the sea weed and the way it flows in the tide, I think, is absolutely beautiful.

I did well today but I need to concentrate on me, more than the task I have been asked to do...if I’m not comfortable, or my ears are sore, or I can’t equalise, then I should come back up. I spent too long down there trying to equalise because I wanted to be able to complete the task, but it was dangerous.

Environmental interest of the day...

We saw a starfish eating a limpet today.
I surface dived down to just below the surface and picked up the starfish from the rock. When I turned him over on his back we could see him eating a limpet. (I like the way I have just decided that it was a ‘he’ starfish here!)
We then put the starfish back on the rock where I saw him so that we didn’t disturb him too much.

09/10/12 - Sailing - Peterburg OEC

9th October 2012

Sailing - Petersburg OEC - Brian
There was no wind and it was dry.

• Today I was looking forward to trying to make the most of the serious lack of wind.
• I wanted to practice coming along side and do some spinnaker work too.
• I want to get better at tidying up sheets on board & I want to learn some useful knots too.

Brian went over what we learnt the week before and drew more diagrams to describe what he was trying to explain. e.g wind direction & sail position.
We then rigged the boats & Brian showed me how to tidy up the sheets, it is just a round turn and two half hitches most of the time. Brian showed us how to attach the spinnaker too, this is a sail in front of the jib and main sail that is stored in the boat & can be pulled out when needed by clicking out the sheet.

We took out the 3 Vibes and went in groups of 2.

It was really frustrating trying to sail with such a lack of wind but Brian said that this meant he could tell who knew how to sail well and who didn’t. It meant we had to be really tuned in to the breeze to try & work out which way we needed to sail to catch as much of the breeze as possible. However, I just found it very frustrating and got bored quickly.

I was in a Vibe with Liz and the dinghy’s were hardly moving, we could lie down & have a chat for a while & when we looked around, we hadn’t moved anywhere!!

We did some knots at lunch time, Brian showed us the reef knot, round turn & two half hitches and a bow line. We practiced them while we were eating our lunch.

There was a small increase in wind in the afternoon and Emmet & I were in a dinghy together and we got a chance to use the Spinnaker. I pulled the sheet and the spinnaker came out, it was a bit hard to get used to because you have to face the boat slightly down wind to prevent the boat whipping around in the wind when you hoist it up. Unfortunately our spinny got caught on the roller on the way out & got a bit torn, but it still worked fine-ish. When we caught the wind with the spinny up, we went a good bit faster, however, it was still painfully slow and after a few manoeuvres in slow motion, Brian brought us all in. 

Today was a slow, long day, but I actually learnt a lot, I didn’t realise at the time that I was learning, but I learnt how to sail in slack winds and how to be tuned in to the breeze on the water.

A highlight for me today was when we got the spinnaker up and actually managed to get somewhere with the very little wind we had in the afternoon.

I think I could have tried harder to not get frustrated by the lack of wind while trying to sail! If I had persevered I might have learnt more about sailing without wind. However I did still learn how to use a Spinnaker and it was good conditions to learn that in because it wasn’t too windy and the wind came in gusts, which gave us time to understand what was going on.

Environmental interest of the day...
Today when we moored up on red island, there was an unusual looking moss washed up all along the shore line. It was soft, yellowy white colour and it moved when you walked near it. I asked Brian if he knew what it was and he said that he wasn’t sure. So I plan to find out more information about this, maybe by taking a picture next week and asking Orla about it.

03/10/12 - Snorkel Sea Training - Old Head

3rd October 2012

Snorkelling - Old Head -Feidhlim Dignan

It was raining and the sea temperature was 13*C. There was poor visibility.

Today I was looking forward to using the skills that I had learnt in the pool and hoped I would see some sea life.
I wanted to prove to Feidhlim that I had understood everything that I had learnt from Weeman the day before and that I was able for this senior snorkeler course.

Everybody geared up before we went in.

We went through water hazards with Weeman & Feidhlim, things to look out for when snorkelling. e.g ropes under the water.

Feidhlim took the group that I was in and we did our forward and backward rolls, it is amazing how much harder it is to do them in the sea because with your wetsuit and the salt water you are much more buoyant and it is hard to make sure you don’t float to the surface when rolling.We did our entries at the steps of the pier, forward roll entry, backward roll entry, silent entry, and then we did our entries off the top of the pier, our feet first entries.

It was cool to get out in the sea snorkelling but it was unfortunate that the visibility was so poor. The main highlight for me today was that I was borrowing Stacy’s XCEL wetsuit and I was really nice and warm for the whole session.

I fallen in love with XCEL wetsuits! I have to save up for one!

I enjoyed this evening’s session even though the visibility was poor. I need to buy either flippers that I can wear my booties with or neoprene socks because my feet felt the cold.

Environmental interest of the day...

Today the visibility was very poor in the sea and we couldn’t see anything under the water. Today I learnt that when it rains, the fresh water mixes with the salt water and causes poor visibility which is why it was so bad today.

02/10/12 - Snorkelling - Pool training session

2nd October 2012

Snorkelling - Pool Session - Mark O’Connor

• Tonight my aim was to learn the basic snorkel skills needed to be a senior snorkeler.

Weeman was our instructor tonight, he taught us the basic skills to become a senior snorkeler. 

First of all we learnt how to fin on the surface, to do this you have to kick from your hips and try not to bend your knees too much. We then learnt how to fin below the surface, this is a much slower wider kick, sometimes your knee might bend, but you still have to try to kick from the hip as much as you can.

We then swam 4 lengths of the pool free style without fins, we then had a 4 minute break to catch our breath before we had to hold our breath for 20 seconds under water. Weeman did a couple of breathing techniques with us to help us catch our breath before we had to do the breath hold, which was really helpful.
We had to do 3 forward rolls and 3 backward rolls under water.

We also went through all the entries to the water, e.g silent entry, forward roll, backward roll, feet together and step in.

There are a couple of different surface dives that we went through, these are useful when you want to dive down and explore something further. This was good to learn because I knew it would be useful to know for the sea sessions.

I really enjoyed learning how to snorkel tonight. A highlight for me would be actually getting my breath hold because I have tried it in the past and failed due to having a cold and my lungs not being able to function at their full capacity.

I think I did well tonight, I worked hard to do all of the skills to the best of my ability and really enjoyed learning them. I am looking forward to the sea session so that I get to use all of the skills I learnt tonight to explore the sea. :)

02/10/12 - Sailing - Petersburg OEC

2nd October 2012

Today there was a North easterly force 3  wind and it was raining.

• My personal goals for today were that I wanted to practice the basics of sailing that I had learnt the first week.
• I also wanted to try and rig the dinghy without Brian having to point out too many mistakes.
• I wanted to be more confident in the dinghy and be able to decide how my sails should be set depending on the wind direction.
• I wanted to try not be nervous so that I can sail with 100% effort and improve as much as possible.

Today Brian went through some terminology used when sailing, e.g the different points of sail, i.e beating, beam reach, running etc.

He drew a simple picture to explain these terms which made them much easier to understand. What I found hard was remembering what your sails should be doing during each point of sail.

We rigged the boats on our own & Brian only got involved when something was wrong. I got the majority of the rigging correct, it was just my knots that I was having trouble with and how to tidy up the sheets on the boat.

I started off sailing in the Topper but as I got more confident, Brian moved myself & Liz into a Topaz Vibe together. 

It wasn’t very windy in the morning so this was a good chance for Brian to introduce us to the Jib. This was the first time I had used a jib. First Liz was on the helm and I was on the jib and then after a while we swapped.

I liked using the jib and it was amazing how much more speed we could pick up when it was up. During our time on the helm, we had to follow a course that Brian had set out with buoys and get the feel for being on the helm and telling your crew where you wanted them and what you wanted them to do.

We then had to learn to turn head to wind and make the dinghy stop. This was good fun and Liz and I enjoyed working together on the dinghy. We made a good team and did some good sailing for the morning.

Over lunch time, Brian went back over his points of sail diagram. This was a good way to refresh our memory and help us to understand more after doing the practical.

Brian decided to tow us out further using the power boat after lunch because we were too protected from the wind in the bay. This was a good idea because it was a force 3 out on the lake and we got to show off more of the skills that we had learnt in the morning.

One of our aims for the afternoon session was to come along side Brian in the power boat by approaching at the right angle, deciding which side we were going to come along side on and then pointing head to wind in order to stop on either his port or starboard. Luckily I did this successfully about 3 times in the afternoon session.

A highlight for me today was that I felt much more confident overall going out in the dinghy. I was also proud of myself for getting the hang of coming along side pretty quickly.
Sailing with Liz was good craic and we had a lot of fun while working as a team on the Vibe.

I worked hard to get the hang of coming along side today and it paid off when Brian told me I had it perfect. That felt really good and it made me realise how much it means to be told you are doing well by your instructor.

I felt a lot more comfortable on the helm today and when Brian asked me to show him my tack he said it was really good.
I am looking forward to next week because Brian said he is going to go over some knots with us, which will help me with rigging and tidying up the boats before heading out.

Environmental Interest of the day...

Today, Brian told us about the Pike and Trout levels in the lake. Apparently they have an issue with the high levels of Pike eating all the Trout in the lake. So they have to try & get as many Pike as they can out of the lake to give the Trout a chance to grow and thrive. They also section off parts of the lake to let the Trout grow bigger so they have more chance of surviving the hight Pike levels.

18/09/12 - Sailing - Petersburg OEC

18th September 2012

Today was a Force 2 and it was dry & sunny.

Nice weather for learning the basics of sailing in and not bad Birthday weather either. :D

Our instructor was Brian.

My personal goals for today were that I just wanted to learn the basics of sailing really. How to rig a boat and some basic terminology used when sailing. Not too much, just getting started!

Getting Started...

Brian showed us the sail boats that we were going to learn to sail in for the first few weeks, they were very small dinghy’s called ‘Toppers’.
We went through all the names of the different parts of the dinghy and then Brian showed us how to rig a dinghy. We then split up into 2 groups and we had to try & rig the dinghy as well as we could without any help. Then Brian came over and checked what we had done, told us where we had gone wrong and showed us how to do it right.

I thought this was a great teaching method because I believe people always learn better from their mistakes. This way, you learn lots of wrong ways to do it and you’ll remember that the next time and do it the right way.

Brian gave us a theory lesson on different wind directions and how to use the wind to your advantage when sailing, e.g where your sails should be, whether your centre board should be up fully. This was a good idea to go through a bit of theory before we went out on the water. However, I felt like I had been a little bit bombarded with information.

But then, they do say that ‘when your brain hurts, you are learning!’

Our task on the water today, was just to be able to sail in a figure of 8 around two buoys, using the wind and letting our sails in/out. There were no complicated maneuvers involved in the session (which was a relief!) because Brian just wanted us to get a feel for the dinghy & how to steer the way you want to go.

I was really nervous about going off around the buoys, not so much about being in the dinghy, but it was more the fact that everybody was going to be watching. We only had 3 toppers for 6 people and we had to do it one at a time first so that Brian could watch us & give us improvement pointers.

I think if I was running this session I would take into account that some people might not feel comfortable sailing for the first time in front of everybody in their group. If I couldn’t get more dinghy’s on the water, I would probably just let them go in pairs and take it in turns on the helm.
However, it wasn’t so bad once I had done it, I was just nervous before I set off, but like most outdoor groups, everybody was really supportive and wanted each other to do well. So perhaps it was a good way to improve my confidence issues when performing in the outdoors.

We learnt how to tack today, (pushing the tiller away from your body, towards the boom) Brian didn’t want us to Jibe today (pulling the tiller back, away from the boom) because it is much trickier and you are more likely to capsize.

The highlights of my day today were the Birthday cake that Liz baked for me and served up to everybody at lunch time with custard! (It was seriously yummy and much needed after a long morning sailing!)

Emmet helping himself to some nom nom Birthday cake! :D

It was great to go sailing and get used to being in the dinghy and maneuvering around the buoys.

Thinking back over the day, I know it was silly to get nervous and self conscious when Brian asked us to sail individually. If I don’t stop doing this then I am not going to improve much each week so I’m going to try my best to over come this.
I think I did well today, I tried hard to get the hang of tacking and learnt how to get basic control of the dinghy. I am looking forward to getting out again next week and improving/learning more.

Environmental Interest of the day...

There are fig trees growing at Petersburg. I found out that they would grow two large crops a year if they were in a warmer climate. But this isn't possible in Ireland because the temperature is way too low! They grow wider than they do tall. This is a handy piece of information to know incase I ever had a group out & I saw a Fig tree, I’d be able to tell them a little ‘fact of the day!’

I did find it a bit of an unusual species to be growing in Ireland though!

(For more information on fig trees you can follow this link:  http://www.garden.ie/howtogrow.aspx?id=996 )