Sailing Classes

The purpose of Polaris sailing classes is to enable our membership to develop an understanding and appreciation of the concepts and techniques of sailing. Upon completion of the beginning course the student should have developed enough knowledge and basic skills to participate as a competent crew member and should also develop an awareness of the responsibilities and skills required to ensure the safety of the crew and vessel.

Topics include:

• Parts of the boat and other sailing terminology
• Basic sailing theory
• Knots and cleat attachment
• Rules of the road
• Tacking and jibing (some spell it jybeing)
• Sailing Etiquette
• Man-Overboard rescue techniques
• Boating Safety

BEGINNING SAIL COURSE

Once a sailing class has been started, the classroom portion of the class are held at 6 p.m. and run until just before the weekly Polaris general meeting beings. The class will have 5 sessions on Tuesday evenings - each of which will be 1½ hours. Students will be asked to apply the class learning as soon as possible on the water. Therefore class participants will be expected to sign up for weekend sailing with instructor skippers to practice what they have learned each week.

The cost of the class will be $25 and this will include the book (normally $18). The text for the class will be "Basic Keelboat" by Monk Henry, and Kim Downing from the American Sailing Association.

INTERMEDIATE SAILING COURSE

Content is based on what a first mate would have to know to bring the boat back if the skipper became unable to help. Enough VHF to call and talk to the Coast Guard, enough navigation to figure out where you are, a course home, and how to tell the Coast Guard where you are, enough sailing to know how to reef, enough boat handling to put it in the slip under power, etc. We are only going to take about 6 students.

ABOUT OUR CLASSES

The sail classes are run by the Polaris Safety and Education committee which operates under the direction of the Vice Commodore of Sail.

Classes are taught by experienced skippers on a voluntary basis.

Member skippers are encouraged to audit the classroom sessions in order to understand what we are teaching.

Note: These lessons do not qualify graduates for an ASA certificate.

If you have any questions about the sailing classes, please contact Kirk Gardner, Polaris Training Coordinator.

The next classroom session(s) may or may not have been scheduled.
Refer to the EVENTS CALENDAR page for details.