Member Education

Racing: Where to begin - Resource Information

Bill Newbury and Tom Hall were generous to teach our last class in "Intro To Racing".  It was an informative evening and with the start of our Thursday Night Race Series beginning on May 24th, the class will also be useful!  Participants of this class will have an opportunity to be placed on Wednesday night or Thursday night race boats  and put their class knowledge to work.

Bill Newbury's lecture information is available here Download Introduction_to_Racing.pdf

Docking Refresher Course

Back by popular demand:  Docking 101!  Don't be fooled by this course, as everyone can benefit in brushing up on their docking skills!

This course will be taught by member, Greggus and Yahr and an instructor TBA

Date: Sunday June 3rd

Time: 4PM-7:30PM

Location: PYC Great Room and Docks

Course Fee: $15

Our agenda for the evening:

4:00 to 4:15 arrival

4:15 to 4:45 lecture

4:45 to 7:00 demo and practice in power or sailboats

7:00 to 7:30 demo and practice in dinghies

Topics to be covered for in this course:

• Docking Power Boats
• Docking Sailboats with auxillary power

Hands on training will be done with a PYC launch, a sailboat as well as dingies.

This course is designed for the "timid" boat handler but all levels of experience are welcome and encouraged!

Course size is strictly limited to 10 participants.

To Register for this course, Click HERE

Racing: Where to begin?

There may be some members out there that would love to try racing, but might be a little intimidated by where to start.  The Education Committee is currently working on a pilot program where a small group of people (10) can learn about the rules, tactics and what boat positions are.  This class will begin with an evening classroom session and then on to the water later in the week.  Sound like fun?  It will be!  Check back here for more details as we build this new and exciting program scheduled for the early spring.

In the meantime, try reading the "Getting Started" (Download GettingStartedRacing.pdf ) that Tom Hall created understanding there may be a significant number of sailors with cruising boats who might become more interested in racing if they understood how to get started as well as increase participation in Class D (150-180 PHRF).

If you have any questions about “Where to Begin” send me an email!

Weather: Resource Information

Our Weather Course was a full day of learning and information.  Those that attended felt that they now feel a bit more confident in reading weather charts and making their own predictions. Below are some of the website links that Dr. McNally used extensively during the day.  I will post them here as well as in the sidebar for quick use later.

For the 500mb, 850mb and 200 mb maps:  http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/nwsfax.html

Surface Anaylsis and maps (including CONUS):  http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/sfc2.shtml

Local weather discussions: http://www.weather.gov/view/prodsByState.php?state=ME&prodtype=discussion

Additionally, Dr.McNally suggested:  www.weathertap.com  This is a paid service, but has everything you need at your fingertips without having to mine the government sites.

Search Google with the search term "iwin" and click on the sites that are with the National Weather servide for State data and Maine graphical data.

I hope this is helpful for our attendees. I will post more information later in the week.

For those who missed this wonderful course:  Not to worry!  Dr.McNally has agreed to visit us again next year!

"All the time...Everywhere...On the Planet...Always, EVER!"  -Dr. Lou McNally

Seamanship Program: Resource Information

Our February Seamanship Program was a success and a great way to spend a cold, dark and wintry Maine evening. 

Rob Hail started our evening our with a discussion on sail care basics and sail repair as well as what should be in your sail repair kit.  Afterwords Rob demonstrated the tying of several knots:

• Bowline on a bight
• Sheet Bend
• Double Sheet Bend
• Rolling Hitch

To learn more on knot tying click here.

Jere Thompson discussed what we might want to consider keeping in our rigging bags.  Download Rigging_Bag_Contents.pdf

Jere and Greggus took us through the steps involved in spicing 3 strand line and discussed practical applications for doing your own splicing as well as line whiplocks.

Instructions for Splicing  and Whiplocks are listed below: 

Download splicing_line.pdf

Download Whiplock.pdf

Thanks to all who attended and thank you to Greggus, Jere and Rob for their time and enthusiasm!   

Remember that useful knot? The Bowline!

New Programs for 2007

The boat is put away, and the snow isn't quite here yet.....wondering what to do?  Here is a list of potential programs that are in the works for 2007:

• Seamanship

• Astronomy

• Docking 101 and Docking 102

• Electrical Course

• Diesel Course

• Wooden boats and Boat Design

• Intro to Racing

• Weather

Additionally, there may be an "Intro to Cruising" course being offered.  This would be a weekend "mini cruise" that would introduce individuals to cruising, or reacquaint those who haven't cruised in a long time.  This course is in the development stage, however, if you are interested, please contact Maya Cohen.

Dates and times for these courses will be released to the membership via email and through this site as details become available.

 

 

What one Season does.....

The Education Committee hosted 5 seminars from early spring 2006 until August 2006.  These programs generated over $3000 dollars that will be placed in the Education Foundation and used for future programming.

While the money that is generated from education programs is important, you may also make a contribution to the foundation.   What a terrific way to commemorate a regatta win, a boat christening or some other memorable occasion?  For additional information about donations to the Education Foundation, contact Maya Cohen.

Fall is Settling In!

Fall is settling in, the boats are getting hauled and what are going to do with ourselves now?

The Education Committee will be meeting soon to discuss 2007 programming.  If you have any suggestions about course offerings, please contact Maya Cohen.

Check back soon for updates!

Sail Trim: Overview and Resource Guide

The PYC Education Committee had another sold out course with their offering of a Hands on Sail Trim course.  This class started with a brief 30 minute lecture given by Carter White with Hallet Sails and then the students moved down to their assigned boats for 2 hours of on the water sail trim instruction.  Light wind was a challenge for the evening, but our instructors were brave and carried on!

This course was by far the most logistically challenging course the Education Committee has taken on to date.  The Course was completely volunteer driven, meaning that all of our top notch instructors (Win Fowler, Rob Haile, Carter White, Jeff Sammis and Sherry Fowler) donated their skills and time for the evening and all of our boats for the evening were also donated.  Boats that we used for the evening were:  J/29 J/100 J/109 J/42 J/44  The Education Committee would like to thank everyone again for all of their time and effort and thank the participants for for such a successful evening! 

Sail trim is what makes our sailboats move, whether its cruising or around the marks.  If you would like more information on sail trim, North U publishes a great book on the topic. Also, the Quick Guide that you received at the class is a great resource to have  as well.  If you couldn't make the class, we have this guide listed on the right of this page in our resources list.

Enjoy your boats, have fun with your newly found trim skills and sail fast!

We hope you will visit our photo gallery at the right.  Our Sail Trim Class was fortunate to have the photography talents of Scott McCatherin and Jonathan Knowles for the evening!  Thank You!