Optimist Sailing

[Jim_ME]

Since we've been discussing Sailfar music...this morning I heard this song again, sung by [Loudon] Wainwright - Daughter, and thought about what you had written about and videoed in this thread...

"That's my daughter in the water
Everything she knows I taught her..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVam-fshUgw

[Tim]

Absolutely love that song!

[Jim_ME]

Tim, glad to hear it. I've always appreciated his humorous self-mocking satirical lyrics.   :D

[Captain Smollett]

By George, I think she's got it.

Video later

Sorry it took so long...here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRlK4CTj7UA

Reaching and tacking practice in light air.

Couple of notes:

The music is an Irish traditional called "The Tune a Fisherman Hums" which I thought fit.  Sorry for the hacked audio editing.

This is bits and pieces of over an hour of 'practice.'  Since that day, she has sailed several more times and even taken a friend out with her.

Sorry too for the big wrinkle in the sail in some of the shots....we had the sprit properly tensioned and she came to the dock, I thought she was done for the day and loosened the sprit.  Then she went out again with the loose sail.  She came in and I fixed it, but it got on the video.  The upside is that she docked 3 or 4 times under sail.   :)

[Marc]

I remember those days, I wish I could get my daughter started but she has no interest.  Have a kool aid on me

[tomwatt]

Sorry too for the big wrinkle in the sail in some of the shots....we had the sprit properly tensioned and she came to the dock, I thought she was done for the day and loosened the sprit.  Then she went out again with the loose sail.  She came in and I fixed it, but it got on the video.  The upside is that she docked 3 or 4 times under sail.   :)

I can't imagine anyone thinking ill of you over a wrinkle in the sail of the boat your daughter is sailing.
But it speaks highly of you as a sailor that you express concern.

On a similar note, my 3 year-old grandson keeps telling everyone he wants to go "swimming" on grampa's boat... I think I've got a young salt on my hands! Time will tell.

[Captain Smollett]

The other Little Ensign, Jonathan Age 6, took his first solo sail on an Opti yesterday! 

He was very much looking forward to it, and while a little nervous at first, being able to make the boat move (well) in very, very light air had a BIG smile on his face.

In a puff, he took off with shouts of pure glee..."Look at me GOOOOO."

He's hooked.  Now the big 'problem' is going to be sharing time on one boat.... ;D

Soon, I guess, I'll have to make good on my promise of the day coming when they would just say "hey Dad, we're going exploring on the Opti...be back in a few hours."   :o

The Opti (and similar sized/styled boats) is the perfect training vessel...so responsive to the slightest change in wind, water, trim or helm, and they accelerate so fast when things are 'right' that the little ones get that rush of adrenaline.

[Tim]

Excellent!  And that day is just around the corner :)

[Captain Smollett]

The boy took his second solo sail this morning with a touch more air than last time (though still light not much).

I regret that I did not have a video camera last week to get his first go, but did have one today!

JP's Second Solo Sail

Description:  It starts out with him reaching well, then luffing for a bit, then taking off on a reach again.  Hes the one in the entire video and the other one is an older boy I believe in his third year of Opti sailing.

Look how well those boats move in light air!  What an amazing training platform....tons of fun even in air that many say "too light to sail today."

[Jim_ME]

Congrats to JP on his solo sails, and thank you for sharing the experience.

I am sure that your children will remember what a great start they received.

Reminds me of Longfellow`s refrain of looking back at his youth...

"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

[s/v Emerald Tide]

Very cool!   Congrats to them, and to you.

Those are good videos. What program do you use to integrate the audio and video?

[Captain Smollett]

Very cool!   Congrats to them, and to you.

Those are good videos. What program do you use to integrate the audio and video?

Thanks.  They are having a blast.  The girl is on the DL with a broken collar bone right now, but she's itching to get back to it.  I've got til then to come up with good solutions to the 'sharing the boat' problem.

incidentally, JP is using one of the club boats in that video, so that's a solution on club days. 

For the video, I use kdenlive, which is a Linux program.  I could make the edits better with more time, but usually just trying to get the videos up for friends and family (when I try to email videos to family members, I always get complaints, so I've taken to using youtube).

I pretty much have to edit some audio over the audio in the raw footage, because there's usually a bunch of other stuff going on...talking, coaching, in some cases SINGING, chase boat engine noise, etc.

I'd think just about any video editing package could do it, but kdenlive and cinelarra are the only two with which I'm familiar.

[Captain Smollett]

2012 NYRA Cinco de Mayo Regatta

One of the local racing clubs, NYRA, began a new event this year with the purpose of raising money for the Youth Sailing Association.  The NOR announced that they would hold classes for any one design class showing with 3 or more boats as well as PHRF classes if those boats showed as well.

We ended up with SJ 21's (8 or so boats), Tanzers (3 or 4 boats) and 5 Optimists with youth skippers.

The Opti skippers arrived early and got boats rigged before just about any other skipper's / boats were on site (in their defense, they had to launch at another location and be towed down).



My son helped get the coach boat launched and helped the on-water coach:



The Opti Skipper's held their own pre-Skipper's Meeting Meeting in preparation for the RC's Skipper's Meeting:



Here's a shot showing boats from all three classes milling about awaiting for the start of the third race:



It was a fun afternoon with some good racing.

It's so cool to see the larger sailing community supporting the children and the local Youth Association.  I asked one of the "insiders" about the attitude of the adult sailors ... would there be "those kids should not be on the water during our race" kind of comments, and he said emphatically, "No, everyone here loves that the kids are out and sailing.  There's tremendous support for the Youth Sailing among this group."

This was my daughter's first race and she had some fun.  She's now officially surpassed my sailing experience: I've never been in a sail boat race.  I told her afterward that if I enter a race, she'll have to sail with me so I can benefit from her greater life's experience.

She looked at me funny.

I shot some video of the racing which I will post when I get some editing done on it.

[Tim]

Outstanding!!!!!!!! 

[Captain Smollett]

Okay, not perfect, but here's the video:

2012 First Annual Cinco de Mayo Regatta

Some good sailing was represented and I had a ball watching the racing, even if I did not get to sail myself.

[Captain Smollett]

Got eclipse out for the first sail of the season last week.  The boy and I had a few hours.

The new addition to our setup is a small trailer, which when combined with the little cart (purchased for the canoe), allows me to completely handle the boat "solo" (no other 'strong' person).  I can get the boat on/off the trailer and move around the launch site myself for times when the XO is unavailable.  The trailer makes it MUCH easier than car-topping.

It was a beautiful afternoon in the mid 60's, but when we got to the ramp, the afternoon thermal and some partly-cloudiness was setting in.  Punchline:  the boy felt a little over powered.  So, I parked the dink on the beach and hopped in the Opti with him.

We had a nice toodle around the City Anchorage, to-and-fro-ing our way around the anchored boats, dodging a trawler coming in, headed under the Trent River Hwy Bridge, back, here, there...nice.  I remain even after having it a couple of years, at just how 'responsive' that little boat is.  Sailing dinghies are worth their weight in "fun."

After satisfying the sailing bug for the afternoon, we parked the Opti and went for a short motoring ride on the dink.  This included stopping the ob and rowing to 'stalk' an egret...the boy wanted to see how close we could get.  Rowing quietly attracted the aerial recon by several ducks as well.

[Captain Smollett]

Wind about 10 knots, gusts 15 or a bit better.

http://youtu.be/OF3G1VpiyNs

[Frank]

great video!! put a smile on my face   ;D

[CharlieJ]

Wow- the kids sure have grown. You're gonna have to get a 2nd Opti soon I fear:)

[Captain Smollett]

Opti has been out twice this season so far, both on "firsts" for the little Skippers.

They finally got around to giving her another coat of paint on the hull and getting the name painted on.  Each Skipper got to paint one side, so they are different.