Beam Reach

Dinghy Sailing!

April 11, 2009

On this beautiful day, the Beam Pod was taught how to sail in dinghy’s!  One of the dinghy’s was owned by Mr. Val Veirs and it was a nice and new one.  Then the other one was owned by Mr. Jason Wood and his was older and had a classic look.  The afternoon first started off with Val explaining each part of the dinghy, there is the center board, the rudder, the jib, and the sail.  The center board keeps the boat balanced and makes it harder for the dinghy to tip over.  The rudder is at the edge of the boat and it steers the boat in the direction you want it to.  Then the jib hold the sail in front of the dinghy and the sail is self explanatory.  It was very interesting getting into each boat and trying not to fall in before our plunge this week.  I went into Val’s dinghy first and i almost fell in because i was not in the center.  Then Matt got in just fine and then trying to sail the dinghy to the next dock was very difficult.  None of the parts were in the dinghy and i found out that i suck at paddling.  So once matt got us to the dock, Val showed us how to put the sail together and how to sail.  I was first in charge of the rudder and the two terms were tac and jibe.  Tac means to turn into the wind and jibe is to turn away from the wind.  Val said when we are ready to tac scream “Ready to tac” so the rest of the crew can duck!  Then we returned to the dock and Matt came in with Hilary and I.  We all had a great time sailing in Val’s dinghy and i do have to say that Matt is a crazy driver enjoying all the fast turns!

Then things started to change once Hilary and I went into Jason’s dinghy.  First of all, when i entered it almost tipped over and i let some water in!  Once we were situated everything went bad because Jason’s rudder is more sensitive the Val’s and you need to turn it very slightly.  When i was steering Jason’s dinghy it was going all over the place.  We had to stop and paddle because we were going to run into the rocks, but once we got it going it was pretty cool.  After i awhile i got nervous and was scared that we were going to break it, so i got out.  Then Hilary went out by herself and Jason’s dinghy seems more of a one person then a two.  It was a good experience and i hope to ride in Val’s dinghy again and not Jason’s lol.  Sorry Jason but yours is to scary for me, but i had fun!

Sailing is so much fun and i cannot wait until the Beam Squad goes on the Gato Verde!  

We Are All in This Together,

Peter