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, keith

- 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 - steve

Session 5: Seamanship and Safety

24jan2013 - keith, scott

Session 6: Racing

29jan2013 - fran, mlindblad

Session 7: Navigation

31jan2013 - steve

things to include in the course

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
- weather tracking services
- near-shore vs offshore
- contingencies

navigation

clothing and gear

- gloves
- spot locator, beacons
- personal floatation devices
- knives, other tools
- foul weather gear

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

seamanship/safety, including

Basic boat handling

- know your crew
- communication
- rules of the road and unwritten addendums
- lights and sound signals
- federally required and recommended safety equipment, PFDs, etc.
- distress signals 
- radio procedure
- purpose of EPIRB / PLB / AIS transmitter
- use of radar, radar reflector
- tides
- procedure in fog
- anchoring, med moor, appropriate ground tackle for holding grounds
- running aground, kedging
- docking in various wind conditions; use of docklines
- dangers of a lee shore
- safe galley procedure (probably goes with life on board)
- procedure when flooding / holed
- procedure when propeller fouled
- procedure when engine fails in various situations
- procedure when stay or rig compromised or lost
- procedure when cable steering lost / emergency tiller
- life rafts, how attached to vessel and deployed, hydrostatic release
- rendering assistance to vessels in distress
- clearing customs, flag etiquette, courtesy flags, Q flag, etc.
- shore power cables
- rafting at anchor
- towing a dinghy
- firefighting, likely sources of fire, use of bilge blower
- calculating range under power
- when to refuel; how much to leave in tank
- where/how to empty holding tank
- DC batteries, charging
- location/purpose of thru-hulls, seacocks, bungs

( break out into water environment for tides/currents/weather?)

Sailboat handling (w/ emph on keelboats)

- know your crew , dealing with novice crew
- communication (e.g. what do I know, who needs to know it, do they know it)
- running/standing rigging 
- types of lines
- how to coil long lines
- heaving a line
- various knots and their uses
- correct winch operation, clearing an override
- wind, sails, heal, correct powering of boat, polars 
- boat balance
- use of jibe preventer
- how to depower the boat (traveler/vang/sheet/backstay/etc.)
- slab and furler reefing
- heaving to
- heavy weather and survival sailing, use of sea anchor, warps, etc.
- sailing a compass course

  for passages -
- sailing a compass course redux
- standing watch
- maintaining a DR
- log entries
- rest time (ear plugs and eye shades)

Crew and boat safety

- planning (the float plan) (maybe this should be its own section)
- situational awareness
- communication
- be proactive
- risks to crew (going overboard, loosing a handhold, slipping, getting whacked by sails/boom/whisker pole, cotter pins, etc.)
- what to wear (shoes, foulies, hat, sunscreen, sailing gloves, etc.)
- use of harness / tether / jack line
- MOB/COB actions and mindset (never lose sight of COB, attach COB to boat)
- COB of conscious/unconscious crew, spiral search procedure
- stages and treatment of hypothermia / heat exhaustion / heatstroke
- seasickness
- < boat safety - need to blow this out or put elsewhere. Right now I'm thinking of know systems, location of thru-hulls and plugs, maintenance, no collisions or groundings, lee shores, weather awareness, proactive shortening of sail, lots of things that could go under 'Sailboat handling'. Is there anything specific to boat safety that isn't maintenance or boat handling?>
- boat taking on water
- preparing for a sea-tow
- preparing to be rescued by a helicopter

Personal responsibility

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