MJYC Sailing School Blog

I would like to start by congratulating all of the students that completed the first week of sailing school.  GOOD JOB!!!!!  Some of you were nervous in the beggining, but everyone did very well by the end of the week.  This week was a huge success and I can’t wait for the next two.  It was good to hear most of you talking about doing more weeks this year.

Speaking of doing more weeks, I want everyone to remember that you can take sailing lessons all three of the weeks available.  The program is designed for you to learn at your own speed and continue to work on your skill sheets.  Many of you recieved your Seaman 3rd class this week while a few others recieved thier Seaman 2nd class.  I know you guys didn’t see me checking things off on your sheets, but I was!  You never know when answering a question right gets you a check for your skill sheet.

I mentioned at the end of both classes that we are going to try to have a sailing school picnic open to all participants.  We will decide on a date after this weekend and let everyone know.  The picnic is a great opportunity to meet other students and even give your parents a chance to sail on your boats.  It will also be one of the few times you won’t be forced to sail around buoys!

This week was very busy and went by way to fast!  If students or parents have any questions for me involving the school, Yacht Club, performance, or even where to find a boat, PLEASE ASK ME.  I will do whatever I can to help you out.

Thankyou to all that participated this week.  Andrew, Morgan, and I had a great time teaching you and we can’t wait for next week.

Remember to pirate a boat from someone and GO SAILING THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!

Chad Lewis

Head Instructor, Marquette Junior Yacht Club

Another great year of sailing school is off an running and I couldn’t be happier!  Both classes today were great and I’m excited for the week ahead.  Most impressive, is the skill level of many of the first timers.  I can’t wait to see how good you’ll be by Friday.  Another Harpoon was launched this evening and one more will be launched tomorrow morning, giving us three Harpoons as well as one or two sunfish and two Optimists.  Andrew and I went to the library today to pick up the third opti and decided the display was too nice to remove.  We will use an additional sunfish in place of that opti.

I would like to give lots of thanks ahead of time to everyone involved with the sailing school (parents, kids, other club members, etc) for bearing with us as we move through the first few years.  We are at a new facility and will be working out kinks regularly.  Although the educational content will remain the same, how we use and adapt to our sailing venue will take some figuring out.  Just today I learned its much easier to have the kids stand on the shore while I teach from the dock instead of having all of us on the dock.  I’m a huge fan of feedback, so if you see something not working or really like the way we’re doing something else, please let me know.

As far as the blog goes, I will try to give my feelings on how the day went everyday.  The blog probably won’t be written until later in the day, because I need the sunlight to get other things done.  I would suspect that by the second week we will be seeing regular blogging, earlier in the day.

One last note… WE NEED TO GET MORE DOCKS IN.  IF YOU CAN COME TO ANY OF THE NEXT FEW WORK BEES PLEASE DO!!!!!!  Remember that the docks are a money maker for the club and essential to maximizing the learning at the sailing school.

Thanks for a great day everyone!!!!!!

Sail Fast, Swerve Faster

Chad Lewis, Head Instructor