Latest revision as of 09:57, 29 January 2020

You know that MIT has a fabulous river sailing program, but did you also know that MIT also has an offshore sailing program, where you can sail MIT's 47-foot boat, Mashnee, in Boston Harbor, to Provincetown, along the Maine coast, and even to Halifax, Nova Scotia?

The purpose of this IAP course is to show you that sailing a 47-foot boat differs from dinghy sailing only in degree: the boat and sails are bigger, you can stay out longer (days!), and you don’t have to come back to the dock at night. We are offering 8 sessions that will cover the fundamental and practical aspects of large boat sailing, with the goal of making everyone feel equipped with the knowledge to feel comfortable sailing along the coast. The classes will cover keelboats, weather, navigation, safety at sea, racing, and chartering a boat in the Caribbean.

No prior knowledge of keelboats or sailing is required (though the latter is very helpful); just an interest in learning about sailing in the salt water.

• Location: 66-144 (http://whereis.mit.edu/?go=66)

• Times: Tuesdays & Thursdays 6:30-8:30

Sessions

Tue Jan 7: Introduction to MIT Bluewater- Ryan Conway

6:30 - 8:30pm - In this session, we will discuss the Bluewater program, our classic boat Mashnee, what types of sails & trips we offer, and how you can get involved as crew. No big boat sailing experience is needed, but an understainding of sailing vocabulary will be helpful.

Thu Jan 9: Sailing beyond MIT - Ryan Conway

6:30 - 8:30pm - In this session, we will discuss how exploring sailing options outside of MIT. Whether you would like to own your own boat, charter in exotic places, looking to venture offshore, or to build upon the skills you have learned here at MIT, this session will provide options for taking your sailing to the next level.

Thu Jan 14: Navigation #1 - Ted Young

6:30 - 8:30pm - Where are you? How will you get to your destination safely? In this course we will cover the basics of coastal navigation, including how to read nautical charts, identification of navigation aids, and proper use of a magnetic compass.

• Slides from this session: File:Navigation IAP 2020 1.pdf

Thu Jan 16: Navigation #2 - Ted Young

6:30 - 8:30pm - In part two of this introduction to coastal navigation, we will further discuss skills for safe navigation, including understanding of tides and currents, piloting and dead reckoning, the navigation rules, as well as techniques for using electronic devices such as depth sounders, GPS, and RADAR.

• Slides from this session: File:Navigation IAP 2020 2.pdf

Tue Jan 21: Racing - Adam Traina

6:30 - 8:30pm - Racing is a very fun and very effective way to learn how to sail well; you are on a boat with expert sailors who are helping you to correctly trim, drive, navigate and in general sail the boat. In this session we will introduce sailboat racing and cover a broad range of topics that will enable you to have fun while racing keelboats. Topics we will cover include:

• what does it even mean to race boat that are really different?
• different types of races: courses, regular vs. chase races.
• the basic racing rules of sailing
• starts (very different from auto race starts!)
• sail trim
• racing and sailing tactics

Thu Jan 23: Weather - Eric Brown

6:30 - 8:30pm - You’ve probably heard ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning’, but did you ever wonder why that is so? In this session we will cover many aspects of weather as it related to sailing, including:

• Weather basics: high and low pressure, warm and cold fronts, and what it all means for the sailor.
• Observational weather - what can you tell about future weather based on what you are seeing now?
• NOAA weather forecasts - there’s a lot of information, and we will make sense of it.
• How to get weather information at sea, when there is no 6 o’clock news.

Slides from this session: File:MIT IAP 2020 - Offshore Sailing - Weather.pptx

Tue Jan 28: About Sailing Safety - Arne Gelb

6:30 - 8:30pm - This interactive two-hour session will review key concepts you learned during the course with a focus on practical ways to keep yourself and crewmates safe,so you can focus on cruising, racing or just having fun afloat. We'll cover:

• Five things to do before getting underway
• Avoiding the two biggest mistakes
• Safety tips
• Differences between sailing on the Charles vs. coastal waters
• The most common categories of emergencies

Slides from this session: File:About Sailing Safely Bluewater Skippers Course IAP Jan 2020.pdf

Thu Jan 30: The Science of Knots - Vishal Prakash Patil

6:30 - 8:30pm - Mathematicians and engineers from MIT have used color-changing fibers to help develop a mathematical model that can predict the stability of a knot. By combining the theoretical with the empirical, the new approach can explain why one knot is better for a specific application than another.

A link to an article about this work in gCaptain: https://gcaptain.com/mit-knot-study-science/

Further Study and Additional Resources

Sailing & Seamanship

The Annapolis Book of Seamanship: John Rousmaniere

The Art of Seamanship: Ralph Naranjo

Chapman Piloting and Seamanship - Jonathan Eaton

International Marine Book of Sailing: Robby Robinson

Boat Maintenance

Offshore Sailing - Bill Seifert

Sail and Rig Tuning - Ivar Dedekam

Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual - Nigel Calder

Navigation

The American Practical Navigator (BOWDITCH) - National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

NOAA Raster Chart Viewer

Light List - U.S. Coast Guard

Navigation Rules - U.S. Coast Guard

Local Notices to Mariners - U.S. Coast Guard

NOAA Tides and Currents

United States Coast Pilot - NOAA

Weather

NOAA National Maps: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/outlook_tab.php

NOAA Marine Forecast by Zone (Coastal): http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/east/boxmz.htm

Boston Harbor Marine Forecast: http://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=anz230&syn=anz200

Passage Weather: http://www.passageweather.com

North Atlantic Weather Fax Charts: http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/marsh.shtml

Gulf Stream and Offshore Weather: http://www.bermudarace.com/DefaultPermissions/LogisticsResources/tabid/202/Default.aspx