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    "Free Boats" and Sailing Aging Out

    Same with me, but we were given the freedom to do it by our parents. Some of the best fun I've had was after sailing lessons had finished for the day and before racing started in the evening. There was no way our parents were going to pick us up, bring us home and then a short while later drop...
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    "Free Boats" and Sailing Aging Out

    I feel the parents, or the teenagers should be encouraged to get their own dinghies. That's what I did and unlike many I'm still sailing. Most of the parents can't sail though and would worry too much about the swallows and amazons approach. When I was learning to sail it was through a club and...
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    "Free Boats" and Sailing Aging Out

    I'm involved in my local sea scout group. There is no shortage of kids getting into sailing through it, but I feel that it's possible that it is a little too structured for them. When I was a kid (not in sea scouts) once we proved that we were competent in boats we were just let rip out in them...
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    DIY handicap

    I'd never heard of PHRF until I went sailing in Canada. In Ireland it's PY for dinghys and then IRC and ECHO for keel boats, but seeing as two of our boats are originally Austrian designs then the German yardstick is the only one I can find that has all of our boats already covered. we'll use...
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    DIY handicap

    We're not too worried about accuracy, just need a rough method of comparing each boat, and the RC will be mostly drunk so easy is good.
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    DIY handicap

    Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think the German yardstick is the winner. It has all of the boats we have lined up already and seems to have nearly any other boat we might encounter in the future. We'll probably start off on that and adjust as needed.
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    DIY handicap

    I'm based in Ireland and most of the boats we'd have would be UK or European designs. I've had a look into PHRF (Completely unheard of here) I can find base rates for a lot of boats, but not for ones like the leisure 17 and Manta 19. I did find a PHRF formula though: R' =...
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    DIY handicap

    I've been searching for a simple DIY handicap system that could be used by a group of friends for informal racing, but can't find anything. IRC and ECHO are the usual rating systems in my area, but they cost money and take time. I think that that would discourage a few people here. All we want...
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    What is the most pain you have ever felt

    That brings back memories. I lost the top off the same finger. It got eaten by a big planer. Everything down to the first knuckle was chewed off. Surprisingly it was not too sore at first, I just got angry and threw a few things around the workshop. The pain only came later in the hospital. I...
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    Gelcoat colour matching.

    I learned a trick a good few years ago when an old guy at the boatyard I was working in watched me smear little dabs of gel I was struggling to colour match onto a hull. He suggested that I cover the gel with clear tape. I was sceptical, but tried it. I do it every time now. It helps blend in...
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    How to prevent kids getting bored with sailing?

    The boats are hartley 12s, but there are a few wayfarers too. We are taking a break now for a month or two while it is too dark and the weather is bad, but in the new year I'll try organising a few things to get them having fun. So far I've tried organising a race for them, which they...
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    "National Un-Cleavage Day"

    I knew a Ukrainian hooker once with a false eye. Made the mistake once of asking her why she always wore sunglasses, even at night. She removed the glasses then took my hand and poked her fake eye with my finger. It was odd.
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    Angela Lansbury DTS

    She had a house near me in Ireland and I did a bit of work on it nearly 20 years ago. She looked ancient then. I never thought she'd go this much longer.
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    "Don't touch anything, let them do it (not easy)"...racing with young teens

    I know the feeling. I'm coaching a load of 16-17 year olds in the sea scouts and I just cant understand them. When I was that age everything was a competition, and all the kids I learned to sail with felt the same. These kids just seem to have no interest in competition, which is fine, but I...
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    Rules question - defining the start line after the start.

    In any of the races I organise I let everyone know before hand that if they are over before the gun then they have to round either the committee boat or the pin and then re cross the line from behind. This leaves no room for misunderstanding. and is a good incentive to make sure your boat is...
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    Meme Anarchy

    Imp is back on the water now. Saw it race in Cork Week this year and sailed past it a couple of times on its mooring.
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    How to prevent kids getting bored with sailing?

    Well, that's the idea, to help them stick at it so that they acquire the bigger and better stories.
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    How to prevent kids getting bored with sailing?

    That sounds like a fun game. Anything that makes it fun should help. I'm not sure what areas they need improvement yet. I was meant to go and assess them last Thursday, but there was zero wind so sailing was cancelled. Hopefully I'll get to see them tomorrow. I'll have a chat with them and see...
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    How to prevent kids getting bored with sailing?

    I don't think its a case of them not liking it. By all accounts they like it, but just don't really know what to do next. They go out and there is no structure to their learning at the moment and they don't really know what to do. My task is to make it more interesting for them and provide a bit...
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    How to prevent kids getting bored with sailing?

    That's a fair point about the racing. I hadn't thought about it like that. I just know I learned so much from racing and loved racing that I just assumed that that would be a good approach. I suppose I'll have to see what way the kids feel about it and work from there. I've been thinking about...


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