I am new to a lot of things this year; new to Seattle, new to UW, and new to the Yacht club, just to name a few.  This past year, I moved from the great state of New Jersey to Seattle to work toward a PhD. in Bioengineering.  One of the most striking things about Seattle of course is how much water there is.  Initially, all of this water can cause some level of frustration for an outsider; difficulty navigating the streets because it seems one always runs into a lake, traffic caused by bridges, a cloudy, rainy winter…certainly someone made a mistake when they choose the location for Seattle!  Seattle natives however seemed to love all of their lakes and bays, so perhaps I was missing out on a whole other world which this city had to offer, and only had to find a way onto the water to experience Seattle as the natives did.  After some careful calculation I quickly determined that on a graduate student’s budget, I was certainly not going to be buying my own boat anytime soon, nor did I have the means to frequent the types of establishments where I might snag a guy who owned his own yacht.   Clearly I needed a plan B.

Enter WYC, the perfect way to explore the watery world of Seattle.  Although I had done a lot of kayaking and canoeing back in NJ (yes we do have nature there!), I had absolutely no sailing experience.  After some helpful advice at boat on the lawn I registered for a single handed novice class.  This way, if I sunk the boat or ran into Bill Gates’s dock, there would be no widows or orphans.  After some ‘threatening’ emails from my instructor, I read (and re-read) my blue book which seemed to be written in a foreign language, and rummaged through my closet looking for clothing that contained NO COTTON.  I arrived on the dock the first day of class with boat parts and points of sail swimming around in my head and a gut feeling that I was going to be swimming in Union Bay before the night was over.

Fast forward. Class went well…I have only needed to be towed out of the lily pads by the whaler once, have turned in countless 360 degree circles by accidentally forgetting to keep my hands on the tiller, have felt perceptually

impaired while trying to tie bowlines, and gotten knocked in the head a few times by the boom (sailing has a way of making sure you aren’t day dreaming!).  Sailing is certainly challenging and requires attention to detail, and an investment in learning how to handle a boat.  However, by the end of my five weeks and due to the patience of my instructor and many of the experienced members of the club, I have discovered that tipping the boat is half the fun, and now I know the meaning of all those words that seemed like a foreign language at first.  The members of the WYC could not have been friendlier or made me feel more welcome.  On a windy day, when I am hiking out under the warm summer sun, looking at Mt. Rainer, I understand just why residents of Seattle are so fond of all this water.  I certainly look forward to many more sailing experiences during my time here.

Clew-less?  ~Rebecca Penkala

Pre-flight your boat.

It's a good idea to go around the boat you're about to take out and inspect it for damage, loose pieces, and missing pieces.  Many people use the boats and not all notice when something is wrong, or if they do they might not report it with a pink sheet on the check out clip.

Rigging check:

· Look for broken strands in the standing rigging.  Even one broken strand will significantly reduce the strength of the wire. A 505 deck had to have significant repairs when a shroud parted and dropped the mast.  In this case the shroud was known to be defective and the boat was taken out anyway.

· Check that all the clevis pins are held in with split rings or cotter pins.  Make sure that they are doing their job.  I have found mangled split rings that would have taken very little shaking of the rig to have them fall out.  We have had a Hobie drop a mast recently, nothing was found wrong except that the clevis pin was missing.

· Check the eye straps or chain plates that attach the stays to the boat.  Most are screwed on in some fashion.  If they are loose, then the nut behind the

· scew is loose and can fall off.

· Check the mast and boom for cracks or loose screws or loose pop rivets.  Having the goose neck fall off of the Laser is no fun.  I have found a crack half way around a Laser boom where the tear started at a pop rivet hole that holds the vang bracket.  The collars for the top section of the Laser mast is another popular failure spot.

· Check the running rigging, having the sails fall down can make for a

· slow trip back to the dock.

Sails Check:

Look for tears, once started they can unzip the whole sail.

· Look for missing stitching.  The threads lie on the surface of the sail, and are the first thing to abrade.  Once the stitching is gone at a high stress point like the leech, the stitching can pull out all the way to the luff.

Hull check:

· Look for holes, rips,

· crushed glass.  A hole below the waterline is obviously bad, but some don't think twice about the tear in the tank from the port hole that can happen on the FJ.  No problem until you capsize and start taking on water into the tank.

· Are the centerboard, rudder and tiller in good condition, along with the attachment points to the hull? 

 

Once you get good at it, pre-flighting your boat will only add a minute or so to your rigging time.

 

Dismasting Hobies’  ~ John Courter

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