Offshore Sailing Course

This is the outline for the offshore sailing course, January 2013.

Session 1: Introduction

10jan2013 - mwall

 - outline of the course
 - experiences of each person in the course
 - types of boats - hulls, keels, sail plan, instruments
 - difference between racing, cruising, offshore racing, day sailing
 - season plan for x-dimension - races, crew requirements, crew selection
- boat
 - day sail boats vs racing boats vs offshore
 - hulls and keels
 - sail plans
 - skills needed for each type of racing
 - preparation needed for each type of racing

Session 2: Yacht Preparation

15jan2013 - mwall

- boat - enumerate variants, highlight x-dim, what fails, what spares to keep
 - steering mechanisms
 - engine
 - electrical systems
 - navigation systems
 - freshwater
 - septic
 - standing rigging
 - running rigging
- what tools are critical

Session 3: Life Aboard

17jan2013 - gigi

- cooking
 - meal planning - examples of good, bad; sample meal plan for bvi
 - provisioning
 - how much per person?
 - how to cook with propane
 - living with limited refrigeration
- watch systems
- sleeping
- seasickness
- communications
 - into/out of port/harboar
 - with coast guard
 - with other vessels
 - during races
 - within the boat communication (e.g. skipper to foredeck when mooring)

Session 4: Weather

22jan2013

Session 5: Navigation

24jan2013 - steve

Session 6: Racing

29jan2013 - fran, mlindblad

Session 7: Seamanship and Safety

31jan2013

things to cover: safety - how to deploy life raft - types of life rafts - how to heave to - how/when to use sea anchor - flares and when to use them - epirb

life aboard - how to deal with seasickness - different methods, what works, what does not - cooking

 - sample meals (e.g. menu for a week in the bvi)
 - equipment - refrigeration
 - what food works, what does not

- provisioning

ports - coming in to a new harbor/marina - departure - gunkholing

how to prepare for a trip - day sail - week-long cruise - harbor race - near-shore race - off-shore race

racing - rules - tactics - overview of various races we know we will do: halifax, figawi, wed evenings

weather - general principles - wind before, wind after - high pressure vs low pressure - tracking the barometer - clouds - waves and wind - how much wind for x wave height, when whitecaps

navigation

clothing and gear gloves spot locator, beacons personal floatation devices knives, other tools

first aid - cpr - broken bones - breathing - blood loss - body temperature

boat locator site (eis info)

for each thing, enumerate general types, highlight x-dim specifics