Bluewater Crew Class Syllabus
From MITNA
This page will list items that sailors are expected to know to receive the Bluewater Crew endorsement.
Contents
- 1 Sailboat Operations
- 1.1 Winch Operation
- 1.2 Raising and lowering the mainsail
- 1.3 Unfurling and furling the foresail
- 1.4 Basic mainsail and foresail trim
- 1.5 Reefing the mainsail
- 1.6 Tacking/jibing a large vessel
- 1.7 Heaving to
- 1.8 Mooring approach and departure
- 1.9 Assisting with docking
- 1.10 Proper use of the head
- 1.11 Dinghy driving
- 1.12 Knots
- 1.13 Coiling and heaving a line
- 2 Safety information
- 3 Navigational skills
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
Reefing the mainsail
Tacking/jibing a large vessel
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