SBD Tajiri

SBD report: Jan, 15 -Tajiri

The wind was almost perfect for a day sail, almost. That is if one did not mind 15 knots with gust of 24 and above. Perhpas a bit much for a beginner, but one learns under those conditions, what not to do. So it would be a good day for sailing…other than the cold, and the rain, the heavy rain! Overall it was a good day, if you were a duck. For a sailing class it was not something to look forward to doing.

I arrived on time, fully dressed for foul weather. After pre-checking out the class boat i was ready to face what was ahead. I was asked by the staff if it was ok to still run the class. I said it was ok, things may settle down later. My student was running a little late. Not really surprising for me considering the weather.

Once he arrived and we did the introductions I started the lesson. I covered as much as possible on safety, equipment, boat part names, etc, before going to the boat. As I finished my classroom lecture the weather, calmed somewhat as we went to the boat to do the check out together. That went smoothly. The student was well prepared before with his text reading, also he was familar with powerboats, so that was also helpful.

I decided to move the boat to a more easily accessable spot on the dock to give predocking training instructions. At that time I notice the high wave surges. This was going to be somewhat of an unpleasant challenge to do docking. However good experience, but i needed to stay alert for the boat and the student. I decided to change the location for the docking practice to a less extreme spot for the waves. After lunch we started.

As stanard practice i did the frist docking demo for the student then let him try. I explained rather than going for the docking right away, to make a trial approach first to feel the conditions and the boat handling. So before each docking we took a long approach just at the mouth of the harbor entrance. This was the student could get comfortable with the boat and the effects of the wind and waves.

We did several rounds on both sides of the boat facing and with the wind. Docking with the wind took more time for the student to understand the approach angle and slowing the boat. However after awhile he was able to do it nicely.

There was a small break in the wind power enough that we could practice wind from abeam docking and undocking. I had some concern as the outboard on the boat is not powerful or very deep into the water from the stern. This also cut down on the thrust of the motor. This part of the lesson also went smoothly.

Once everthing was covered and i could see the student was doing ok, i called an end to the class prepare for the end Q & A section and reviewing the practice test. We returned to dock and closed the boat down for the night. Once all was done. The wind and the rain stopped! All was calm, we were tired and wet.

The weather was bad, but the class went well.