New Sailors: Learning to Sail
at Lake Arthur
Member volunteers (US Sailing certified instructors) of the Moraine Sailing Club offer sailing instruction
leading to U.S.Sailing certification to MSC members during regularly scheduled
"Learn to Sail" (LTS) days and on a "by appointment" basis.
Our lessons cover everything* and allow you to proceed at your own pace (each student is given a log sheet/book for recording their progress). You can join in at any point and attend any LTS session without worrying about missing something. Each time you are at the tiller, the on board instructor coaches you on the next skills you need to master. We hold 10 LTS days per sailing season (see schedule)
It takes about 20 hours to master the art of sailing. Our LTS sessions are 6 hours long, so on average it takes about 3 to 5 sessions to master all the skills, but there is no time limit, no pressure. We will work with you until you feel comfortable performing all the skills. Of course, once you have learned to sail, a sailing club is a great way to keep your skills sharp and learn more from shared activities with other sailing enthusiasts.
Members who meet the U.S.Sailing certification standards* are eligible
to use our club boats (Flying Scots and Sunfish mainly) as part of our
Community Sailing
program) by joining the program and paying $230 annually.
To get started with MSC send in your $40 family membership dues ($40 covers all members of your family) and be sure to
indicate that you are "interested in learning to sail" on the MSC
application (http://morainesailingclub.org/Website/join.html).
Also, there is now a $100 per student LTS fee required to
participate in Learn To Sail sessions for a whole season ($50 for additional family members).
For
more information contact Rich Halapin, MSC Education Coordinator, education@morainesailingclub.org
* 14 U.S. Sailing Certification Standards
------------------
1 Wind Awareness, 2 Rigging/Unrigging, 3 Knots/Lines, 4 Rules Of The Road
5 Departure/Returning, 6 Steering, 7 Stopping/Starting (Safety Position),
8 Tacking, 9 Points of Sail/Sail Trim, 10 Jibing, 11 Capsize Recovery, 12 Overboard Recovery,
13 Getting Out of Irons, 14 Upwind/Downwind Sailing
Click here for our Skills Checklist used in logging skill mastery
(later transferred to
US Sailing's "Little Red Book" and presented at graduation ceremony)
NOTE: U.S.Sailing "Learn Sailing Right!" textbooks (regularly $17.95)
are available at LTS events from MSC for $10 (additional cost for shipping)
Typical MSC Learn To Sail Day and Sign-up Procedure
If planning to attend, please sign up for specific dates on our Events Calendar. It really helps to know how many people are coming ahead of time, and indicate whether you prefer a Flying Scot or Sunfish (for students age 15 and older). Students under age 15 are required to sail in a Sunfish. Sign-ups for each learn to sail date will be available 2 weeks in advance.
We can accommodate 30 students in Flying Scots, and 10 in Sunfish, as follows: We have 10 Sunfish, so we can accommodate 10 students. We will have an instructor in a motor boat to instruct the Sunfish students. We have five Flying Scots. In order to ensure that each person gets adequate hands-on instruction, there is a limit of three students (plus instructor) per each Flying Scot. If more than 15 students sign up, we may divide the students into two groups. The first group will sail in the morning and will do shore school activities in the afternoon (learning essential knots, chalk talks, capsize drills, etc.). The second group will do the reverse. After 30 people sign up, any additional sign-ups will be placed on a wait list. Students in both groups and those on the wait list will receive instruction on rigging, launching, leaving a dock and retrieving.
Instruction originates at Watts
Bay (map) starting at 9:00 am. Park in the first Watts Bay lot you come to, and then walk past the pavillion and meet
at the green MSC shed by the three docks.
FORMAT: rig, launch, and sail boats from 9am to noon, break for lunch
(bring one!) and some brief shore-school topics, knot practice, written-test
taking (if you are ready)... then back out on the lake for more sailing if we do not need to divide students into two groups.
We like to have all boats retrieved and put away by 3pm.
Other things to bring: extra clothing (layers), water bottle, sunscreen
lotion, sunglasses, hat, signed MSC
application & dues if you haven't officially joined MSC (required
by our liability insurance provider). Also, there is a $25 per student LTS fee required to
participate in Learn To Sail sessions.
If you don't have a copy of our two-sided "Sailing in a Nutshell" studysheet,
you can find it here:
Everything you need to know to pass the written test is on these two sheets.
If you missed one of our winter Learn To Sail seminars (or would like to review), here is our Power Point Presentation slides: