Last Sunday an enthusiastic contingent of our Port Townsend High School Sailing Team ventured out on the water with PTSA to get an introduction to the Thunderbirds. Ocean, Noah, Holly, Fiona, Panya, Kai, Luca, Lhotse, Grace, and Zia, joined Roland Nikles on Falcon, John Lynes on Kuma San, Mark Blatter on Merlin, and Josh Wheeler on Corvo. It was a great day. Adventures were had, starting with a halyard mishap on Merlin followed by a mid-bay crew transfer. We learned that skills we use all the time in dinghys, but that many of us have never practiced on larger boats, like rounding marks, tacking, jibing, and flying the spinnaker are very similar, yet different. The Thunderbirds are not unlike the dinghies we sail in our program. Everything is bigger, there are winches, and it is harder to sheet in, but the basic actions for how to do almost everything was nearly the same. We could still feel how the much the weight distribution affected our sailing, which I hadn’t expected to be able to feel. As the day progressed, the wind slowly picked up throughout the day, starting around ten knots and peaking at a little over twenty as we sailed back to Port. Overall, it was a great experience to be able to get out on the water in different boats, with experienced skippers who have a lot to tell, and a lot to teach!
Thank you to PTSA for a great day on the water.
Panya Cao, PTSA Board Member