26/02/13 - Sailing - Petersburg

26th February 2013
Sailing - Brian - Petersburg OEC
Today was 6*C, Wind F1 - 2. Sunny blue skies.

• Today I wanted to do a bit of rudderless sailing and also do some more work with the spinnaker.

When we arrived at petersburg today, we were yet again greeted with more than disappointing sailing conditions! Brian introduced us to a guy called Brendan from GMIT Letterfrack who would be sailing with us today and we went inside to have tea and discuss our options for the day. Brian suggested that we rig up some boats and go out on the lake even though it was a force 1! Somehow, while we were drinking our tea, the conversation came round to dinghy racing and then Brian suggested we rig up the 3 toppers and a pico and go racing around a course for the morning! He did a quick explanation about racing, the rules, where you want to be when the buzzer goes and that you really want to have the wind on your starboard so that you have right of way over others. It sounded like great craic so we went to rig up the boats, we decided to rig up 2 Vibes as well because we were going to use them for the afternoon session.

So there was Emmet, Fionan and myself and 6 dinghies rigged up! Sure you can never have too many boats!

We went to get changed and everybody met down at the lake, Brian went to get the power boat from the orchard side and met us back round at the beach.

We had an onshore wind so we all had to decide the best place to launch our dinghies and the best way to get up on to the course while Brian went and set out the buoys for the race.

I decided to launch my dinghy from the right hand side of the lake and then tack across to get up to the start line. It was a very slow process to get all the boats on to the course because of the lack of wind but eventually we were all moored up next to the power boat and Brian went through the course with us so that we all knew where we had to go.

We then all started going up and down along the start line and Brian started the count down timer from 3minutes. After a few tacks up and down, I knew where and when I needed to be tacking to get up to the start line with the wind on my starboard side for the start buzzer. I worked out if I sailed away from the line 30seconds it was taking me about 30 seconds to get back up close to the line, so when Brian called out 1 minute to go, I made sure I was just leaving the start line. I sailed away from the start line for 30 seconds, then tacked and sailed back towards the line, it was perfect timing and I went over the start line right at the buzzer! 

It was great craic everybody going around the course at a snails pace because of the severe lack of wind, but still being really competitive and trying to get ahead of each other by tiller wagging! I had different tactics to the rest of the lads, the all decided to go on a beam reach across and then tack and come back across to tack again and go around the buoy. But I got a bit stuck behind the lads and I wasn't catching any wind where I was positioned (and there wasn't a lot of it to go around)! So I decided to tack as soon as I was over the start line and past the power boat. This took me in the complete opposite direction to the lads but I was beating up wind and had calculated it that I would just have to jibe once to make it around the 1st buoy. It was perfect and I was in first place for a while, but then I got a pocket of no wind just before the second buoy and Emmet over took me! So I decided to sail just inside him so that if I picked up any speed I would steal his wind and I would also have right of way as we approached the 3rd buoy!

It was great craic and I stole Emmet's wind but he soon got back ahead of me and I ended up going over the line 2nd. It took us 20minutes to complete the race without any wind! haha!

It was cool because we had never raced before and you have to come up with ways of getting ahead of the others, making sure the trim of your sails and weight in the boat is perfect and you also have to think about who has right of way. 

I got squeezed out by Brendan at the start line. We both had the wind on our starboard side and he was on the outside of me but just ahead of me so he had right of way. This meant that I had to go around behind his boat to cross the start line. But I didn't realise until it was too late and I got squeezed up against the power boat which gave me a penalty of 360. Which means I had to go around the course an extra lap! It was a good way to learn the rules of the road and we had good fun at the same time.

We raced a few times and then we came back in for lunch!

After lunch we took the vibes out. Unfortunately my sciatic nerve was giving me pain again so I went in the power boat for the start of this session. I didn't want to keep sailing and end up making it worse because last time I did that I couldn't sail for 2 weeks. So I used the time to log hours on the power boat. I also learnt a lot by observing what the boys were doing in the 2 vibes. It's amazing how much you notice from a distance and Brian was asking me questions the whole time about how the boys could improve speed, trim etc.

Emmet & Fionan had a vibe each and once we got out of the bay, we were getting gusts of F2 winds and they both managed to fly the spinnaker on their own.

They sailed around for a bit with the spinnaker and then the wind just died, so we helped them to get the spinnakers down and Brian towed them in to the bay where they did a bit of rudderless sailing.

They had to shift their weight around the boat to tack and jibe and keep control without the rudder and do a circle around the powerboat. They did really well and were in total control of the boats.

I was really frustrated that I couldn't have a go, but I knew I had to look after my back.

Environmental Interest of the day:

When I was in the power boat with Brian today he was telling me about all the rocks across the lake, he said that the lake is absolutely polluted with rocks just below the surface of the water. This means you have to be really careful when power boating because you could destroy the RIB by hitting a rock at speed.

He also told me that the islands on the lake used to be inhabited. Red island used to have a farm on it, another island had a church on it and people used to live on others.

Follow this link to read more about the islands of lough corrib:

http://www.derryquaylodge.ie/corrib-tours

19/02/13 - Sailing - Petersburg

19th February 2013
Sailing - Brian - Petersburg OEC
Today it was 3*C. Wind F2 - 3. Mainly sunny with a few showers (but they didn't mean it)!

• Today my aims were to do a bit more work with the spinnaker and try to improve my boat trim without being told by Brian.

When we arrived at Petersburg this morning, we decided to go out straight away while there was a bit of wind. There was Peter, Fionan, Emmet and myself today, so we just rigged up the two vibes and once they were ready to go we went to get changed. Before we went out on the lake, Brian asked Fionan to do a bit of teaching and asked him to show the rest of us how to rig the spinnaker on the boat. This was great for Fionan because he is a very talented sailor and this gave him the chance to work in the role of the instructor.

Fionan was nervous teaching us, but he did a great job and showed us everything with good clear instruction.

We went down to the lake & launched the boats, Emmet & I were in one Vibe and Peter & Fionan went in the other vibe.

Brian set up a course for us just outside the bay where we had to beat up wind, then go around the buoy on to a beam reach then go around the next buoy on to a training run and down to the next buoy where you just had to luff up to get back onto a beat. Emmet was on helm first and we started to go around the course, helping each other with trim of the boat and sail trim also. We kept forgetting that we only needed to luff up on the third buoy and we kept going to tack around the buoy! It would be ok if we just did it once but maybe it was too early in the morning or something because we went to tack instead of luffing up 3 times in a row in the same place! haha!

It was good craic though and it was a good way to train yourself in what to do with the sails and the boat trim on each leg of the course. After 3 times around the course, it was my turn on helm.

Brian came over and gave feedback to Emmet on his helming while we were swapping places in the boat. It's always interesting to hear the feedback because even when you think you had it nearly perfect, Brian will always find something for you to improve on. I enjoyed going around the course and this time Emmet & I remembered to luff up on the third buoy instead of tacking and making a mess of the course!

Brian noticed that I had improved on knowing how to place my body weight and my crews body weight for the trim of the boat. I was glad that I was getting it right because that was one of my aims for today.

When we had all been around the course 3 times each, we had to come alongside Brian in the power boat and then we all went in for tea and a pee break.

After our tea break we went back out to the same course but this time we had to do blindfolded sailing! The person on helm had to be blindfolded and the crew had to tell them what to do. 

Emmet went on helm first and I was in charge of telling him what to do! It was quite hard because you have to think really clearly before telling them what to do and you need to think about how the boat will react to what you tell them to do before you tell them to do it because a wrong move could mean a capsize and a shivery session! The hardest part was when we needed to tack or jibe because you have to tell them 'Tack' and then 'Duck' when the boom comes across and then it's really hard to get them to line up again so that we are going the right course because they obviously cant see where we are heading. I was a bit late telling Emmet to line up straight and at one point we tacked and straight after that we had an accidental tack! ...needless to say Emmet took off his blindfold and Brian came over in the powerboat laughing at what he had just watched!

We swapped places and I was now blindfolded on helm. Emmet was crew and in charge of telling me what to do. We ran into difficulties straight away because I wouldn't be the best with my left's and right's and so when Emmet would tell me 'left' I would sometimes go to my other left! So Brian suggested that instead of 'left' and 'right' Emmet should try 'luff up' and 'bear away' to tell me what to do instead. Amazingly,this worked and we didn't have as many problems after that.

I thought this was a great exercise to run with sailors of our level because we have got to the stage where we are comfortable following a course so it's a great way to make it more challenging and to make us think about what we have to do to make the act in a particular way.

When we had all had a go at this, Brian gave us 20minutes free for all sailing so we could just sail around the lake in any direction we wanted having the craic!

When we came back in, we de-rigged the boats and Brian went to print off some pictures for us to revise the parts of the boat because we are a bit rusty on knowing the names of different parts of the sail etc and he said it is important to know. So we all got a picture of a boat to take home and label.

Fill in the labels!

Environmental Interest of the day:

Today Brian told us that Lough Mask is a limestone lough covering 22,000 acres in area and that is it one of the best trout fisheries in Ireland. It is famous for its large ferox trout and anglers take a number of these large trout every season. They are usually 10lb in weight but the largest recorded on the lake is apparently 18lb.

12/02/13 - Sailing Petersburg

12th February 2013
Sailing - Brian - Petersburg OEC
Today it was about 2*C with no wind at all in the morning and a change to about a force 3 in the afternoon.
It was sunny and blue skies

• Today I planned to work towards my level 3 skills & was disappointed when I saw the weather forecast for the day. Wind = 0. We arrived at Petersburg in hope that it would be windy anyway, but the lake was like glass, not a breath of wind on it.
• So I decided to make a new aim for the day, which was to get to grips with navigation and ask Brian to go through some chart work with us.
• We have been so unlucky with the weather recently. Last week I couldn't even drive my car up from Kerry because the car was blown on to the other side of the road in Force 8-9 winds and this week we can't even get a breath of wind!

When we arrived at Petersburg today, I think everybody was a little bit annoyed at the lack of sailing conditions again! However, I tried to see this as a positive & explained to everyone how we could use this time to get more navigation knowledge if Brian was able to teach us. This is especially beneficial for those of us who are planning to go for our Day Skipper in the next few weeks.

Brian said he was definitely up for going trough a bit of navigation and everybody else seemed up for it, so we made some tea and Brian went to get some charts, books and flip cards.

This made me think about if I was the sailing instructor for an older group, like ourselves, a group of people who had targets that they want to meet and were not just there to have the craic. As the instructor, Brian had to be prepared to teach us navigation skills because we asked to go through it. Even though he said this is something he hasn't done a lot of recently and he was a little bit rusty to start with, he still managed to go through some bits with us. I realised that you have to be prepared for a group like this who know what they want to get out of a session and are motivated to reaching their goals. You can't be slack on any areas when it becomes your profession.

So Brian first went through the simple things like the different colours on the map and what the colours indicate, i.e the white is deep water and the yellow is land. He then went through how to give a grid reference and explained that instead of going along the bottom and up like you do in mountaineering, you go up and along.

We then talked about what different symbols on the map meant and Brian showed us a book of all the symbols. It is an absolutely huge book! You would never remember all of the symbols, so it is important to memorize the most common symbols at least. We then went through different buoy symbols and their meanings, including port, starboard, north, east, south, west and the shapes to look for incase they have become dis-coloured over time and weathering.

Brian explaining charts!

After going through the navigation and chart work we took a tea break. During the tea break, Dave & Brian walked down to the lake to see if the wind had picked up at all. Liz, Emmet, Peter & I went through these flip cards that Brian had. There was different topics in each pack, there are pictures on the cards and you have to look at the pictures and say what you think they mean, then you flip them over and see if you were right! I went through all the buoy's and the rules of the road that we had just been revising with Brian. The cards are a great way to learn and I found them a really good thing to do after the theory session because it cements the answers in your mind in a testing way. This made me think of different ways you, as an instructor, could test students after a theory session. Maybe by drawing the pictures or by having a flip chart made up with the pictures on that they have to say what they mean and you could use this over and over again with different groups then.

After the tea break, Brian decided that we should rig the boats up anyway and head out on the lake for a while, wind or no wind. If anything we would be practicing launch and recovery!!
So we went and rigged up the 2 Vibes and 1 Pico boats and then got changed into our wetsuits. Liz & I decided to go in a Vibe together, so we launched the boats. I was on helm and Liz was crew, Emmet was on helm and Dave was crew and Peter took the Pico out on his own. We all just started floating around, there was no wind to take us anywhere so we were just wagging the tillers in the water trying to make our way across the glassy lake.

Brian came over in the power boat and we were all laughing about how there wasn't even a breath of wind! We were trying to make the most of it but the conditions were just no good for sailing.
Then Liz & I noticed gusts on the water a little further away from us so we wiggled the tiller until we managed to get closer to the wind and eventually, there was wind in our sails.
It was really cool, a force 2 gusting 3 just came out of nowhere and we were finally sailing! :D Liz & I started zooming out out across the lake and Brian came over in the power boat to tell us how well we were doing! It felt absolutely awesome, we were flying across the lake in force 3 winds and we were totally in control. Brian said we should try and fly the spinnaker  and then he asked if we were ok if he went back to the lads who were a bit away from us.
So Liz & I decided to fly the spinny, Liz was crew, so she pulled the sheets and I kept on course and beared away slightly to fill the spinnaker. We got it up perfectly first time and the extra speed we got from it was amazing! We were absolutely loving it! For the first time, we felt like we were in complete control and we were getting some really good sailing conditions to practice our skills in. We were hiking out and loving every second of the sailing...we then realised that we couldn't keep going in the same direction forever, even if it was the best fun sailing we had ever had! So we had to make plans to turn around and head back in to the beach!

We had to jibe because if you tack with the spinny up you will just get the spinny all caught and you will end up dragging it in the water. If the spinnaker gets soaked then it is pretty useless because the material just absorbs water and it becomes really heavy so it wont fly as well. So we prepared to jibe and when we were both ready we jibed the boat around. What we hadn't thought about was that we would be beating up wind on the way home and it is really hard to beat with the spinnaker up because the wind wont fill the sail easily. So we decided to bear away again, get the spinny down and then luff up and beat home.
We met the boys on the way back in who were shivering cold and soaking wet! They had been capsizing all afternoon while Liz and I had been flying across the lake! You can probably imagine the stick they were getting from Brian and us girls! We were dry and...well...not warm...but warmer than them!

I felt this session went really well and I think Brian, as the instructor did a great thing by taking us out when it looked like there was no wind because it ended up being one of our best sailing sessions yet!
I liked that Brian came to check on myself and Liz and felt confident enough that he could leave us on our own while he went back to the lads for a while. I think by doing that, he gave us more confidence and because we felt confident we had one of our best days sailing yet. Also, because Brian left us on our own, we had to figure out what would work well and what wouldn't on our own and in a way, this was a great way to learn.

Environmental Interest of the day:
When we went to rig up the Pico today, there was a lot of leaves and dirt in the bottom of it. We all started to clean it out and then Brian told us that it is important to not let leaves and dirt sit in the bottom of the boat for too long because as it sits there, it starts to break down and produces an algae that can be damaging to the plastic that the boats are made out of. It was interesting that Brian brought this up because Noelle was explaining the same thing to Jarlath, Louise and myself on the power boat course. Only she was talking more about making sure we cleaned off the RIBs and trailers after them being in the sea because of the algae that could ruin them too.