TWC 6 week pilot program for TWC members, by appointment only:

Green Dates are available for immediate booking (volunteers are Available)

6pm-8pm Thursdays July 8, 15, 22, 29, Aug. 5, 12

12pm-2pm Saturdays July 10, 17, 24, 31 Aug. 7, 14

12pm-2pm Sundays July 11, 18, 25,  Aug. 1, 8, 15

Other dates will be confirmed as soon as volunteers confirm availability
 

Membership/Cost

You must be a TWC member to register for this program. Family membership  $157.07 per year for 2 adults and 3 kids, single youth membership is $62.15. Cost of lessons is same as LTW $30 per session. LTW Instructors or David will collect signed forms/fees on the day of lesson.

Registration/Contact

David Combaluzier  is TWC Board Director overseeing the "Windsurfer in Training" program.
Sessions are booked in advance, minimum 2 youths required to run the session, (so bring a friend).
To book an session, please contac t David Combaluzier at (dcombaluzier@hotmail.com) to book a session (dependant on volunteer Windsurf instructor  availability). 

Parents and their children participating in this program must register/pay, check in and out  with the supervising "Windsurfer in Training Instructor" each session. The cost is the same as the windsurfing lessons.

Families participating in this grassroots program are responsible for helping to rig/unrig, launch and putting gear away. Kids must sail within the "Windsurfer in Training" sailing area, which is same as for the LTW program, defined approx. by the white buoy in front of the club and west to the "point" between TWC and Cherry beach lifeguard station. (There is a map on the LTW trailer door.) 

O'pen Bic sailboat is a new generation sailboat that is durable, easy to sail (rigs like a windsurfer sail) and is easy to right if blown over.  

Guidelines

This a grassroots program that is being continually developed over the course of the season.

 "Windsurfer in Training" students must have a completed registration form/liability waiver signed by their parent /guardian. 

The "Windsurfer in Training" 8-12 must have their parent/guardian present . 12 -14 year olds must have a signed  letter of consent to participate from their parent/guardian.

There must be a coach boat available for 8-12 year old sessions. Youth may alternatively have their parent/instructor on board provided they been trained in the use of the O'pen Bic sailboat, making sure they don't exceed the weight capacity of the boat. Once they are comfortable with the boat they may have a parent/instructor  sail on a windsurfer alongside them.

The "Windsurfer in Training" sailing area is same as for the LTW program, defined approx. by the white buoy in front of the club and west to the "point" between TWC and Cherry beach lifeguard station. 

The program will start with an on land session that will familiarize the student with the equipment and concepts of use. Once they are familiar with them they will start sailing in the water. 

The students must wear: lifejacket, with whistle, weather appropriate clothing (shortie wetsuit or steamer) along with booties.

The key concept is to have fun as they learn about wind/sailing/wind/windsurfing, once they have sufficient skills and body weight they can move onto the LTW program.

Classes are run by volunteers, Parents, family and friends participation is encouraged to help run this volunteer program. If you are interes ted in volunteering and donating some time to help assist / administer this program, please contact David to arrange a time to get some training with these boats.

These boats can be raced in the wednesday night race series by the students. There is a O'pen Bic class in the CORK event in Kingston later this summer http://www.cork.org/schedule.html.

http://class.openbic.com/

http://www.openbic.com/products/open-bic,3,46/complete-boat,579.html

http://www.openbic.com/gallery/openbic_questions_reponses,35.html

http://www.openbic.com/gallery/guide_utilisation_openbic/greer_openbic,28.html

http://www.openbic.com/technology/coque,20.html

http://www.openbic.com/gallery/guide_utilisation_openbic/votre_bateau,26.html

A modern hull designed for fun sailing

The hull of the O'pen BIC was designed with fun sailing as the priority. It really is a modern boat where the hull is as open as possible, completely freeing the helmsman to move around and trim the boat to any wind and water conditions. When hiking, the large sides allow the sailor to set-up comfortably with their feet in the straps without placing any unnecessary stress on the body. The totally open and sloping cockpit means that there is absolutely no water in the boat either during sailing or just after a capsize.

A relatively hard chine design was chosen for the bottom shape of the hull. Used by numerous modern boat architects, this design offers an excellent compromise between performance and stability. When reaching or broad-reaching, the boat accelerates quickly to planing speed, especially if it is kept flat. When close-reaching, the boat sets on its chine and has excellent performance up wind.

The hull includes integrated carry handles that make it easy to put in the water and transport.

Planing hull : The pleasure of gliding when reaching

1. Unpack the rig components and unroll the sail. Check that you have each of the different components listed in the section “Your Boat”.

2.Mount the boom onto the sail by threading it through the webbing loop holding the downhaul pulley, with the fork positioned at the base of the luff pocket. Attach the clew hook to the sail at the clew eyelet.

3. Attach the Cunningham to the sail by threading the rope through the tack pulley. Ensure that there is no more than 1 crossing of the rope.

0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px Arial;">4. Insert the mast up the luff pocket of the sail, ensuring that the mast passes through the boom fork. Ensure that the male mast plug fits snugly into the top of the mast, and that the vario top is adjusted to the appropriate length (see below).

5. Stand the mast (mounted with sail and boom) in the mast cup at the front of the boat. Attach both the Cunningham and mainsheet ratchet block to the hull with the automatic snap hooks. Tension the Cunningham by pulling on the handle. In order to facilitate downhaul tension, apply downward pressure on the boom at the same time as you tension the Cunningham. If the wind is over 10 knots, ensure that the clew of the sail is well tensioned also (check “Additional Tips” for more information on Cunningham tension).

6. Check List before sailing:

• The rudder must be correctly fitted on its mounts.

• The retaining clip must be locked against the rudderblade. Make sure that any safety leashes are fitted as appropriate. Note that the rudderblade can be raised and lowered during the launching or landing process. The red rope will raise the rudderblade, the green rope will lower the rudderblade. Make sure that the rudderblade is raised when you come into shore!

• The draining bung at the bottom of the hull must be closed firmly.

• The daggerboard retaining loop must be fitted to the hull. As you launch the boat, gradually insert the daggerboard in its casing as water depth and wind conditions permit.

• Go sailing and have fun!!

Additional Tips:

• Steps b. and c. are only necessary the first time you use the O’pen Bic. Once you have mounted the boom and the Cunningham, they should remain permanently attached to the sail. When familiar with the rigging process of the O’pen Bic, it takes no more than 2 minutes!

• Vario top length: The vario top should be adjusted so that the boom sits at shoulder height when the sailor is sitting upright in the boat (for an average sized user). In general, this will mean that the vario top is set at around 10 cm long, but further tuning will find the best length for you.

• Cunningham tension:  The right amount of tension will depend on the user’s preferred sailing style, weight, skill level and the wind / water conditions. Try different levels of Cunningham tension to see what works for you!

• If the wind is over 10 knots : apply maximum tension to the Cunningham = allow the sail to open in the gusts = gives you more control. Visual checkpoint: the leech of the sail starts to become loose.

• If the wind is less than 10 knots: apply less tension = gives the sail a tighter leech = fuller profile = more power. 

• Mainsheet ratchet block:   The red lever turns it “on” or “off”. 

• In “on” mode =  the mainsheet can only be pulled in one direction =  the block will “click” = the mainsheet tension decreases. 

• In “off” mode = the mainsheet can freely move in both directions.

• Daggerboard : It should be positioned according to the prevalent wind conditions and angle of sail. 

• For strong winds or downwind sailing, raise the daggerboard slightly to let the boat plane. 

• In lighter winds or upwind sailing, lower the daggerboard to give the boat more traction through the water. Again, the best daggerboard position will depend on the user and sailing conditions, so try different positions to see what works for you!