Catching the Wind
Irvine’s Phil Slate remembers the thrill--then the terror--of his first moments learning to sail on Newport Harbor.
“You catch a little wind and your sails fill up and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Hey, now we’re sailing!’ ” Slate said. “But then you notice that straight ahead there’s a 70-foot power boat bearing down on you and you are thinking, ‘This is not good.’ ”
Fortunately for Slate, he and his boatmates had been taught the tools to avoid disaster and they steered out of harm’s way. But his experience nicely illustrates the range of emotions felt by beginning sailors.
For the uninitiated, sailing can be an intimidating pastime, full of mysterious jargon and perhaps some yacht-club snobbery. But with the proper training and attitude, the sport can be a refreshing breeze.
There’s nothing pretentious about the sailing program at Orange Coast College, where Slate and 30 others recently learned the basics of the sport. Tucked between slips holding million-dollar yachts, OCC’s facility, on county-owned bay-front land, serves those who want an affordable way to learn to sail.
OCC’s basic classes--from beginning dinghies to advanced 30-foot boats--offer 20 hours of instruction, usually spread out over five weeks. The price range is $95 to $125. The cost to learn at private sailing clubs is considerably more, starting at $200 for similar classes, and monthly fees push the price even higher.
More than 5,000 people a year--both OCC students and the general public--take advantage. A minority of those are beginners, but at any given time there are at least 60 people learning how to sail in OCC’s Lido 14s.
“It’s just a real jewel for the county,” said Brad Avery, director of the OCC program. “One of the problems we’ve had over the years is people see Orange Coast College and assume, ‘Well, I’ve got to be a student at the college to take classes.’
“For people out there who have thought for years, ‘Boy, I’d like to try sailing,’ it’s just a marvelous opportunity to do that.”
GETTING STARTED
The OCC preparation starts in a classroom with a view. Before instructor Brian Kfoury turns the sailing students loose on the water, he lectures for nearly two hours in a spartan room with picture windows that look out on the main channel of sparkling Newport Harbor. Kfoury (pronounced fury) hands participants waivers to sign, vouching that they can swim.
“But don’t worry about capsizing,” Kfoury said. “To flip these boats, you have to do three things wrong all at one time.”
The comment causes nervous laughter as do many of Kfoury’s ice-breaking jokes, which are weaved through his lecture on the basics of sailing and the Lido 14 dinghies used in the class.
Kfoury discusses common terms--port and starboard (although, he said, left and right are now commonly used by professional boaters to avoid confusion), bow and stern, windward and leeward (pronounced loo-ward in traditional sailing circles)--and teaches the students to tie a simple knot, leaving much for future lectures.
“I’m not going to confuse you with right-of-way rules today,” Kfoury said. “Just try to avoid each other.”
Soon that admonition is being followed--most of the time--on the water. After a quick lesson on rigging the boats, three person crews hoist mainsails and push off.
“Be patient with each other,” Kfoury said before each crew left the dock. “Everybody learns at different speeds. It’s best to make gentle suggestions.”
That first sail can be a daunting experience for a neophyte. You have to pay attention to wind direction, the tangle of ropes in the bottom of the boat, whether your sail is full or flapping, or if another boat closing in on you. Add to that this confounding fact: If you push the rudder right, your small craft turns left.
“It’s like throwing people in the cockpit of an airplane and telling them to steer,” Kfoury said.
Fortunately, crashes in a dinghy aren’t catastrophic--top speed in a Lido is only 3 to 4 mph--and soon enough steering becomes second nature.
By the time the five-week series of classes is completed, the students are confident, if still novice, sailors.
GETTING HOOKED
For months, Jane Hamel tried to convince granddaughters Sarah and Brittan Northcutt to take a sailing class with her. Finally, the twins, who are sophomores at Marina High, agreed to take a break from their busy soccer, golf, softball and swimming schedules and give sailing a chance.
The twins said they quickly learned to love the sport, especially when Kfoury set up buoys for the class to race around.
“We’re pretty competitive,” Sarah said, smiling. “We like to try to go as fast as we can. That was fun.”
That was obvious, judging from the giggling often heard from their Lido as it sped past. During one race, they inadvertently hooked a marking buoy and dragged it behind their boat.
“We looked back and all these boats were following us,” Sarah said, laughing, “because we had the buoy.”
Said Brittan: “I think we brought a bit of a sense of humor to the class. We are the youngest ones here by 10 or 15 years.”
OCC classes draw an eclectic mix of people--singles and married couples, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters--taking advantage of the usually light breezes that make Newport perfect for learning.
Victoria Stewart, a loan consultant from Costa Mesa, said she had no interest in sailing before agreeing to take the class with a friend from work.
It took only one four-hour class for Stewart to warm to the sport. “I thought it would be a useless skill,” she said. “I knew I was never going to buy a boat, but I found out you don’t need to.”
Every week after the class, Stewart e-mails her family about her latest adventures on the water. “I found out,” she wrote in one, “that once I have acquired some skills, I don’t need to own a boat because there are always big sailboats in need of people to help crew.”
Stewart has moved on to the intermediate sailing class and isn’t planning to stop there.
“Now,” she said, “I’m really hooked.”
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
The Lido 14
Manufactured by the W.D. Schock Corp. of Corona, this small craft was designed with Newport Harbor in mind. Fully rigged, it weighs 310 pounds. Here’s a look at the boat used by Orange Coast College for sailing classes:
Learning Spots
Orange Coast College has the most extensive program for sailing in Orange County, but it’s not the only place to learn how to sail. UC Irvine leases space on the OCC docks and opens its classes to the public. And the County of Orange runs classes in Dana Point Harbor. Here are some of the beginning opportunities this summer:
Orange Coast College, 1801 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach
(949) 645-9412
Classes open to people 14 and older
Fee: $95
Weekend Classes
Saturdays, July 22-Aug. 19
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sundays, July 23-Aug. 20
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Saturdays, Aug. 26-Sept. 30
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sundays, Aug. 27-Oct. 1
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Saturdays, Oct. 7-Nov. 4
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sundays, Oct. 8-Nov. 5
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Weekday Classes
July 10-14
1:15-5:15 p.m.
July 24-28
1:15-5:15 p.m.
Aug. 7-11
1:15-5:15 p.m.
Evening Classes
Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, July 10-July 25
5:15-7:45 p.m.
Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, July 31-Aug. 15
5:15-7:45 p.m.
County of Orange
Dana Point Harbor Youth and Group Facility, 34451 Ensenada Place, Dana Point Harbor
(949) 661-7122
Teen-adult class open to people 13 and older, program also offers classes for younger children
Fee: $69
Adult Class: Saturdays, July 22-Aug. 12, 8:30 a.m.-noon
Teen-Adult Class: Saturdays, Aug. 12-Sept. 9, 4-7 p.m.
Teen-Adult Class: Saturdays, Aug. 19-Sept. 16, 8:30 a.m.-noon