Difference between revisions of "Bluewater Crew Class Syllabus"

Revision as of 11:38, 26 July 2012

This page will list items that sailors are expected to know to receive the Bluewater Crew endorsement.

Sailboat Operations

Winch Operation

• Requires two people to safely operate: one to tail, one to grind
• Proper number of wraps for sail and wind conditions.
• Safe technique for adding or removing wraps from winch
• Proper tailing technique to prevent over-wraps

Raising and lowering the mainsail

Raising mainsail:

• Remove sail cover and sail ties
• Shackle halyard to head of sail
• Boat must be headed into the wind
• Mainsheet & boom vang slack
• Two people to operate winch from cockpit
• Apply enough tension to halyard to remove wrinkles from luff of sail.
• Slack lazyjack lines and secure around reefing hooks
• Slack topping lift if necessary

Lowering mainsail:

• Hoist lazyjacks
• Tighten topping lift if necessary
• Boat must be headed into the wind
• Close companionway hatch for safety
• Center traveler and tighten mainsheet
• One or two persons on deck to flake the sail as it lowers
• Apply sail ties and sail cover
• No lines should be dangling from boom
• Boom must be high enough to avoid contact with dodger

Unfurling and furling the foresail

Unfurling foresail.

• One person on the furling line (black)
• In strong winds, one person on sheet (with a wrap around a winch) to control unfurling of sail
• Do not use a winch with furling line

Furling foresail

• One person on the unfurling line.
• One person keeps light tension on sheet (not necessary in strong winds)
• Do not use a winch with the furling line
• In strong winds, one more person may need to assist with furling line
• Furl to three wraps of the sheet around the foresail
• Cleat furling line
• Pull both sheets tight by hand and cleat them

Basic mainsail and foresail trim

Mainsail

• On a reach or close-hauled, leech tell-tales should be streaming aft (top most may occasionally stall)
• Mainsail should not be luffing (except perhaps at the luff when close-hauled)
• When close-hauled, sheet and traveler should be adjusted to position boom on centerline of the boat
• Sheet and traveler used to adjust sail twist when sailing upwind
• Vang used to adjust sail twist when sailing downwind

Foresail

• Use tell-tales to gauge foresail trim
• Foresail sheets should be led inside of shrouds to track when close hauled
• Foresail sheets should be led outside of shrouds to rail when reaching or running
• Foresail should never be pulled tight against spreaders or shrouds

Reefing the mainsail

Tacking/jibing a large vessel

Tacking

• Five jobs are necessary for tacking the boat. (are there better names for these roles?). If short-handed, more than one job may need to be performed by a single crew.
  • Helmsman - steers the boat
  • Sheet releaser - releases the sheet from the old leward side winch
  • Sheet hauler - hauls in the sheet on the new leward side winch
  • Cranker - cranks the winch as the sheet hauler tails
  • Traveler - adjusts the traveler during the tack if necessary

• Tacking Procedure (assuming tacking from close hauled to close hauled)
  • Establish which crew will be performing which roles
  • Helmsman cries "Ready About"
  • Crew assigned to roles respond "Ready" if/when they are ready
  • Helmsman looks to windward to ensure no traffic or obstacles
  • Helmsman cries "Helm to Lee" (or something similar) and turns the boat to windward
  • Sheet releaser waits until foresail luffs, then quickly releases sheet from winch
  • Sheet hauler hauls in the sheet on the other side
  • Traveler is adjusted if necessary
  • Helmsman steers the boat until on a close reach on the new tack
  • When sheet is hauled in as far as possible by hand, Cranker inserts winch handle and cranks until the foresail is trimmed properly
  • When sails are set properly, helmsman heads up to close hauled
  • Winch handle is removed and sheet is cleated

Heaving to

Mooring approach and departure

Assisting with docking

Proper use of the head

Dinghy driving

Knots

• bowline
• cleat hitch
• rolling hitch
• figure-eight knot
• round turn and two half hitches

Coiling and heaving a line

Safety information

Working with new sailors

Radio procedure

Safe use of winches

Location and use of fire extinguishers on board

Location and use of life jackets and inflatable PFDs

Retrieving crew overboard

Distress signals and location/use of signal flares

Navigational skills

Familiarity with layout of Boston Harbor

Crew should be able to identify well-known landmarks by sight, such as:

• Boston Light
• Graves Light
• Deer Island Light
• Long Island Light
• Long Island Bridge
• Castle Island
• Tobin Bridge
• Deer Island Treatment Plant
• Nixes Mate

Crew should be able to quickly locate surface and water features on a chart, such as:

• Long Wharf
• Boston Inner Harbor
• President Roads
• Nantasket Roads
• Lower Middle Channel
• Boston North Channel
• Boston South Channel
• Mystic River
• Charles River
• Dorchester Bay
• Quincy Bay

• Logan Airport
• Castle Island
• Long Island
• Deer Island
• Spectacle Island
• Thompson Island
• Gallops Island
• Lovell Island
• Georges Island
• Peddocks Island
• The Brewster Islands
• Brewster Spit

• Boston Light
• Graves Light
• Deer Island Light
• Long Island Bridge
• Nixes Mate

Rules of the road

Coastal piloting using charts

Aids to navigation

Use of GPS receiver