Second Sailing Class Today

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by boatgirl123

In all fairness he is not really yelling horribly at me just being stern and I had told him in the beginning of class I learn better in a setting like that more hardcore and not to baby me at all. He is great teacher and is patient and explains everything very well and wants me to visualize the commands and maneuvers he is asking me to do. He also runs through the sequence before in case I have questions. So all is good there and I think I will continue to certify through them for further classes. Thanks for all your words of encouragement.

OK. If he's being "directive" and making sure you hear him over the wind, waves, boat noises, etc. ... that's different.

I would highly recommend that you read SAILING FOR DUMMIES -- terrible title; excellent book for beginners.

[OldFrog75]

Enjoyed your post. Reminded me of when I was starting. My first 2 or 3 lessons it seemed like everything had to be done very, very quickly and deliberately with little, if any, margin for error. Maybe this was due to my instructors' racing bent; maybe it was my lack of confidence and understanding of the process. Needless to say I found myself scrambling around in all sorts positions trying to get to the right place and do the right thing - tighten this, loosen that; head up, fall off; clean up sheets in the cockpit; etc. By the time I finished my 3rd lesson I was a nervous wreck. Fortunately my fourth lesson was with a very calm, easy going instructor who showed me how to amp down, let the boat do the work, and just kick back and enjoy sailing. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

It's good you and your instructor have an understanding about how you need to be taught. Three months from now none of that will matter and everything will be much, much easier for you I'm sure.

[pete33458]

As you go along, you'll see that you'll learn more from accidentally doing things wrong than you do from accidentally doing things right...your mistakes stick with you. The goal is to make those mistakes WITHOUT loss of life, or major damage to property. Barring that, celebrate the learning experience! pete

[Starbuck]

Boatgirl has come back twice to defend her instructor against the conclusions of other posters that she is being verbally abused in some way. It's clear to me that she doesn't think that is the case, and she was there, so I'll defer to her. One must remember a woman's use of vocabulary is sometimes subjective: "yelled" can mean "his voice took on a stern and forceful tone." From the overall context, I suspect that's more what she was trying to communicate, especially since she explained what she meant in her second post; an explanation that continued to be ignored.

Many commenters read that one word and reflexively ran to put their virtual arms over her shoulder to comfort her, and missed the whole point of her post: I'm having a ball learning this and I want to tell someone who can understand how thrilling this is!

Boatgirl, congratulations, and keep after it. You make me remember my own salad days at the tiller. It's grand, isn't it? Your post is not rambling or vague; it is only the lack of paragraphing that makes seem so. In the middle of your enthusiasm, take a breath every once in a while and hit the Return key. lol

Keep us posted!

[Teknav]

Hi Starbuck! +

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by boatgirl123

In all fairness he is not really yelling horribly at me just being stern and I had told him in the beginning of class I learn better in a setting like that more hardcore and not to baby me at all. He is great teacher and is patient and explains everything very well and wants me to visualize the commands and maneuvers he is asking me to do. He also runs through the sequence before in case I have questions. So all is good there and I think I will continue to certify through them for further classes. Thanks for all your words of encouragement.

Thanks for clearing that up. Sounds like a good instructor who was willing to meet your learning style needs.

Pardon me if I don't understand the changes to make things politically correct or gender unspecified. Hurricanes should have female names and my boat is a "her." Too old to change.

You're well on your way to becoming a great sailor. Most of us learned the way are learning and I learn best when I'm able to correct mistakes and carry on.

kind regards,

[boatgirl123]

Thank you starbuck. Well put and yes an occasional paragraph would have been nice. I get lazy with that and capitalizing.

Thanks for all your kind words of encouragement. I have a good friend coming down with his Mac to help me practice and to do a Bimini run. He is a very seasoned sailor. He better hurry up and get here. I need to get back on the water again.

Sail enchantress.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Starbuck

Boatgirl has come back twice to defend her instructor against the conclusions of other posters that she is being verbally abused in some way. It's clear to me that she doesn't think that is the case, and she was there, so I'll defer to her. One must remember a woman's use of vocabulary is sometimes subjective: "yelled" can mean "his voice took on a stern and forceful tone." From the overall context, I suspect that's more what she was trying to communicate, especially since she explained what she meant in her second post; an explanation that continued to be ignored.

Many commenters read that one word and reflexively ran to put their virtual arms over her shoulder to comfort her, and missed the whole point of her post: I'm having a ball learning this and I want to tell someone who can understand how thrilling this is!

Boatgirl, congratulations, and keep after it. You make me remember my own salad days at the tiller. It's grand, isn't it? Your post is not rambling or vague; it is only the lack of paragraphing that makes seem so. In the middle of your enthusiasm, take a breath every once in a while and hit the Return key. lol

Keep us posted!

I'm sure she knows whether the tone is instructive rather than abusive. I did think she was talking about the "over the top" yelling that does sometimes happen on boats. i have a friend who calls it "anchor stress" because on his boat it tended to happen while people were trying to cooperatively work to get the anchor down or up.

I call the most stressful thing I had to learn under others' direction "Post Traumatic Dock Disorder."

But "yelling," or projecting one's voice, is often necessary. It's the intent behind it that counts, and the OP knows what that is.