New Sailors: Learning to Sail
at Lake Arthur
Member volunteers of the Moraine Sailing Club offer sailing instruction
leading to U.S.Sailing certification to MSC members during regularly scheduled
"Learn to Sail" days and on a "by appointment" basis.
Our lessons are a more informal, social approach than what you would find in a sailing school, but cover everything* and allow you to proceed at your own pace (each student is given a log book for recording their progress).
It takes about 20 hours to master the art of sailing. Of course, once you have learned to sail (by either approach), joining a sailing club is a great way to keep your skills sharp and learn more from shared activities with other sailing enthusiasts.
Members who meet the U.S.Sailing certification standards* are eligible
to use our club boats (Flying Scots and Sunfish mainly) as part of our
Community Sailing
program) by joining the program and paying an additional $190 annually.
To get started with MSC send in your $35 membership dues and be sure to
indicate that you are "interested in learning to sail" on the MSC
application (http://morainesailingclub.org/Website/join.html). For
more information contact Joe Shields, MSC Education Coordinator (412)
367-3697, joeshields@yahoo.com.
* 19 U.S. Sailing Certification Standards
------------------
1 Wind Direction, 2 Rigging, 3 Knots/Lines, 4 Departure, 5 Steering, 6
Stopping/Starting, 7 Tacking, 8 Sail Trim, 9 Safety Position, 10 Points
of Sail, 11 Jibing, 12 Capsize Recovery, 13 Overboard Recovery, 14 Landing,
15 Getting Out of Irons, 16 Weight Placement/Hull Trim, 17 Unrig/Shipshape,
18 Navigation Rules, 19 Upwind Sailing
NOTE: U.S.Sailing "Start Sailing Right!" textbooks (regularly $14.95)
are available from MSC for $10
Typical MSC Learn To Sail day, 10am-3pm
If planning to attend, please RSVP to Joe Shields, joeshields@yahoo.com. It really helps to know how many people are coming ahead of time.
Instruction originates at Watts
Bay.
FORMAT: rig, launch, and sail boats from 10am to noon, break for lunch
(bring one!) and some brief shore-school topics, knot practice, written-test
taking (if you are ready)... then back out on the lake for more sailing.
We like to have all boats retrieved and put away by 3pm.
Other things to bring: extra clothing (layers), water bottle, sunscreen
lotion, sunglasses, hat, signed MSC
application & dues if you haven't officially joined MSC (required
by our liability insurance provider).
If you don't have a copy of our two-sided "Sailing in a Nutshell" studysheet,
you can find the two sides here:
Everything you need to know to pass the written test is on these two sheets.