How To Teach Youth Sailing over Zoom
Social distancing has changed every aspect of our lives, from going to school, to running a youth sailing program. When bad weather hits and youth sailors cannot sail, we can still meet with them online. Here, at The WaterFront Center, when weather cancels our sailing program, our youth programs continue. Organize a Zoom call for your sailors with their instructors for a social distance sailing day!
Review With your Sailors!
First thing to do is review the past week with your sailors! Talk about the foundations they learned earlier in the week. With a beginner class, ask about parts of the boat and rigging. For an intermediate group, perhaps discuss how to get a boat out of irons and how to read telltales. Interact with the sailors and ask them for two things they learned during the week and for one thing they wish to improve upon.
Race Teams
If you feel that your Opti or 420 race team is comfortable and skilled enough for the weather that you have, take them out sailing! What better way to check all of your sailors’ skills than going out into the rain and high winds! I know our Opti team had a blast hiking upwind this past Friday!
Tie Knots!
On a rainy day, the next best thing to do with your sailors is grab line and tie knots! It is very important for young sailors to learn how to tie the appropriate knot for each situation they may face. For example, on a stormy day it’s important to reinforce the type of knot needed that will be strong enough to deal with the weather at hand. Demonstrate a simple square knot and make sure the sailors are able to tie two lines of the same size together. Talk about the bowline knot, which is a good knot for carrying heavy loads that will not come undone, no matter the force you put on it, yet, it is still easy to untie when you are done. The last types of knots to touch upon are life-saving knots. These are specialized secure knots that could help save your life, or someone else’s life in a dangerous situation The figure-eight knot is a secure knot that you can use to tether yourself, or anything else, to the end of a line.
Play a Game!
Play an educational game about sailing that can get your sailors to learn in a fun way! Lost At Sea is a good game for this, especially in stormy weather. Lost at Sea teaches the kids the most important means for getting rescued if they are ever stranded on a sailboat out at sea. Teach them the survival rule of 3; Humans can only go 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. Talk about safety position on the boat and add in those life-saving knots that you just practiced! Give the kids a list of items they might have on a sailboat and have them rank the items in order of importance. Review their answers with them and discuss why they ranked the items in the order they did. Finally, give them the correct answers and discuss their reasoning.
Talk About the Environment!
If you still have time at the end of the Zoom meeting you can initiate a conversation about the environment. Make them appreciate the oceans, harbors, bays, or lakes that they sail on! Teach them about the importance of the ecosystem and what animals they can find living in the water. If you can gather sea creatures from the specific region that you sail in, do a show and tell with the sailors. Show the animals over Zoom and give them the most important facts about that animal. If not, you can always teach about the importance of decomposition, the garbage patches in our oceans, the effect of micro-plastics on marine life, the three “R”’s (reduce, reuse, recycle), how much water drinkable water is on earth, or pollution!
Hopefully this can give you guidance on how to navigate the unsteady seas of social distancing. With today's technology at hand you can still give your youth sailing program a top notch day!
For these ideas and more visit our website, TheWaterFrontCenter.org or give us a call at (516)-922-2909.
Happy Sailing everyone!
