The last class was the NROTC class that started on August 14 but finished on Saturday, 25th. The class also started with 17 but was reduced to 13 over the period. Howard was the principal instructor and provided us with a summary of that class.

Synchronous gybing.  No, it’s not a South American dance but to watch it from ashore one can’t help but think of dancing.  Synchronous gybing and tacking are sailing drills where a line of dinghies all turn at the same time in response to a signal from the instructor.  Its quite impressive, especially when you learn that the dinghy skippers hardly knew a bowline from bow just a few days ago.  This was the case at the recent Sailing Smart Day Camp held at the Lake Thunderbird BoatHouse, June 19-24.  Seven community youngsters arrived Monday morning for six half-day sessions where they learned to sail and were introduced to boating and water safety.  By week’s end all the campers were sailing well and happily showed their new skills to parents and grandparents who came out for the final session.  Les Cummings, US Sailing Association certified instructor, was the primary instructor.

The second Sailing Smart Day Camp was held from July 10-15 with also producing seven new sailors. Camp2 was blessed with winds building with the class which partially compensated for the hot temperatures.

An Essentials of Sailing class took place during the weekend of June 2.  Four students Oklahoma Sailing Club (OSC) members Luisa Blanco, Tifarah Booth, Amanda Roggow and Pedro Olaya, completed the class taught by Mike Klatt, also a US Sailing instructor.   “Essentials” is a new concept for the BoatHouse curriculum: Learn to sail in a weekend. The goal is to train each student to a point where they can continue to develop sailing skills with minimal supervision.  The class is very intense, as it introduces most of the material of the week-long Small Boat Sailing classes in just over half the time.

A Small Boat Sailing class was June 5 through June 12.   This 20-contact hours class leads to certification in small boat sailing under the guidelines of the U.S. Sailing Association.  Five students, Sarah Fox, Julie Halterman, Kirsten and Chris Lee, and Brandon Morgan, completed the class which was taught by Mike Klatt.

Sailing Classes started back in May with a Level 1 Instructor Class taught by Rick Shaw and Howard Haines. There were nine students from several states but few from here.