Capt Dave's Tips            

It's going to be hard to top last month's article about Blue Stone Cabins rentals and their Romantic Packages, but this month I'll take a different direction.

At Windsong we are not known for discounting our prices except to encourage early bookings. 

When you book Outings 60 days in advance you save money. 
When you book AND PAY for Ground School Classes 60 days in advance you save more money. 
Many students book classes in time to receive the discount, but fail to remit payment, thus losing real money! 
Remember that the county requires prepayment no later than 4 weeks prior to the class date. 

When you're already the best bargain in town you don't have much room for "Deals" but we are participating in a "Summer Celebration" event sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Service to celebrate your involvement in sports and recreational activities this summer.

Here are the rules in order to qualify for the $149 Summer Celebration

  1. You must register for one of the class dates below.

  2. You must remit payment within 5 business days of registration.

  3. Only the first 5 students to register for each class qualify for the discounted fee.

  4. The registration deadline for this offer ends 8/15/06 at 5 pm.

  5. You must register via email or by calling the office.  The web will not properly price registrations for these classes.

Listed below are the classes that qualify for the Summer Celebration campaign:

Basic Sailing Theory 9/30
Basic Coastal Cruising 8/20
Bareboat Chartering 8/06
Advanced Coastal Cruising 8/08 & 8/10
Marine Meteorology 8/13
Coastal Navigation_a 10/16, 18 & 23
Buying The Perfect Boat 9/24

      So What's NEW!
Jeanneau 37 For Sale
We don't normally include boat listings in the newsletter, but this one belongs to one of our long time students.  His 2001 yacht is in the Sunsail Yacht management program and is scheduled to retire this season.  His plan is to place another yacht in their management program and make a nice deal for a Windsong student looking for a step up.  Checkout our Boats For Sale web link for more details.

Focused Clinics (Docking/Departing, Anchoring, Spinnaker Handling)

Students who joined us early this spring know there are a lot of skill sets covered during a typical 2-hr sailing outing.  For this reason, we've developed clinics to offer more focused practice in Docking/Departing, Anchoring and Spinnaker Handling.  These have been well received and very popular because everyone benefits from intensive practice of these "Skills & Drills". 

Due to special student requests, we've recently added a Maneuvering Clinic for extended practice in boat handling and maneuvering.  This clinic includes turns in confined spaces ("K" Turns), backing and use of "Prop Walk" and other advanced boat handling techniques. It became apparent during one of the Anchoring Clinics that students needed more practice positioning the boat in the proper space and being able to hold position against the wind and current to avoid collision with other nearby anchored boats.  This is a classic challenge when sailing in the British Virgin Islands during the busier times of the season.  This ability requires experience "Thrusting" and "Backing" and knowing when to position the helm in which direction.  It is a skill only acquired through practice and the normal Sailing Outing curriculum doesn't provide enough maneuvering in confined spaces to develop this judgment.  The initial clinic is scheduled for noon on August 19th. 

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      Windsong Events
Meal Preparation & Safety
Just because you'll be cooking aboard and not in your fully equipped home kitchen doesn't mean you're limited to hamburgers and hotdogs!  Frank Corbett, our professional gourmet chef will teach you the tricks and techniques of meal planning, preparation, food preservation and spoilage prevention afloat.  Without proper training in hygiene and procedure, your trip could become memorable for the wrong reasons.  During class you'll discuss meal preparation and safety as well as a variety of great cruising dishes including a Beef, Chicken and Fish delight!  This class is critical for those planning a cruise, preparing a holiday meal at home, or picnics outdoors. 

Register to join us, September 17th from 11-2 at the Snug Harbor Boat's Windsong facility, for this 3-hr clinic priced at $69. 
For more info visit our web at: http://www.windsongsail.com/GMStory1.htm.

 

Sunset Cruises

 Alan Horn, accomplished flutist for over 30 years, provided some classic, pop, nautical and whimsical tunes for participants in the June Sunset Cruise.

If you haven't been on one of the monthly Sunset Cruises this season yet, you're really missing it! 

So far this season we've had surprise appearances by acoustical guitarist and a flutist!  There are no promises but we have some fun ideas still in store for this season.

Grab someone special to enjoy a three hour evening sail down the lake.  It's a unique way to establish an annual tradition or pop that special question to someone who's been patiently waiting!

July Fireworks  

The July 4th weekend Sunset Cruise has become a tradition at Windsong.

The University Yacht Club fireworks celebration was spectacular again! 

Everyone enjoyed themselves!

Coastal Classes
Capt. C. J. is working hard to schedule everyone interested in participating in Basic Coastal Cruising, Bareboat Chartering and Advanced Coastal Cruising trips this November and December.  If your 2006 training plan includes advancement to any of these levels and he has not been able to contact you yet, you need to let us know immediately!  We are in the final booking stages for these limited class dates from Punta Gorda Florida.

12 Volt Marine Electronics
Our Marine Electronics course only occurs 3 times each season but has been very popular.  In class students study theory in addition to participating in the wiring of boat circuitry; stripping, crimping and soldering.  Participants learn to test circuits for polarity, voltage, resistance and continuity.  This is an excellent opportunity to acquire or improve understanding of electrical theory and application, this Sunday 7/30 at the Snug Harbor Boat's Windsong facility.  Pre-registration is required.  You can register via the web, email or by contacting our office.
 

      So What's Been Going On?
Celestial Navigation Presentation
Once again Windsong was invited by the Barefoot Sailing Club as a presenter for their monthly General Membership meeting.  The July meeting topic attracted a capacity crowd.  Senior Navigator Shelton Sawyer presented a hour long discussion of Celestial Navigation, the issues, the tools and the general methodology.  Dave Crumbley kicked off the presentation and offered an incentive to club members interested in attending both the Coastal and Celestial Navigation programs. The next Celestial program will be Sept 12, 14, 19 and 21st.

New with the 2006 schedule of classes were the addition of lab and hands on outings for both Coastal and Celestial Navigation curriculums.  The foundation classes have a "CON_a" or "CEL_a" designation in our class catalog.  The labs are designated "_b" and the on-the-water hands on are designated "_c".  September will be the last offering of Celestial courses for this season, so if you're curious how ancient as well as modern mariners transit the globe only by reading the stars, this sequence of programs is your ticket to freedom!

 

Kid Swapping
Several of our students are swapping kids for the summer!  Before you get ahead of me, take a deep breath and don't get so excited!  Sailing can be a challenge when you have school age kids at home and both parents are sailors.  A real creative approach to enabling parents to both sail on the same day without the expense of a sitter is "Kid Swapping".  The way this works is for one parent to participate in a morning Sailing Outing while the other one takes the kids to one of the nearby parks for a couple hours of frolicking in the water.  At lunch they regroup at the Dockside Grill at either Holiday Marina or Aqualand Marina for burgers and fries. They "Kid Swap" after lunch and the other parent participates in an afternoon Sailing Outing, the kids get to return to the water and everyone's happy. The kids get a fun filled day at the lake and both parents get to enjoy the thrills of sailing on the same day.  Great win-win solution!

Online Web Registration
DON'T FORGET that you can now register for classes from our Internet Web Site!  If you don't know your id and password, give us a call TODAY!  We continue to enhance the features available to support our customers.  You can now view your list of class bookings via the MY SUMMARY menu option after signing on.  By clicking the "View Family Summary" option you can view the booking for your family members.

The Monday prior to your classes our automated booking system generates an email Admission Ticket.  You MUST REPLY so that we know that you received your ticket!  You must also print it out and bring it with you as proof of your registration. 

Many of our customers have not added us to your "Friend's List", "Trusted Sites" or Contact list because your Internet Service Providers are bouncing our emails back to us marked as SPAM.  Unless you define us as "Friendly" senders you will not be getting our emails and may be denied participation in your class as a result.  This is more prevalent with Comcast, MindSpring, AOL and CNCHost service providers.

If you're not receiving our Newsletter notifications, this could be why!
 

Upcoming Classes
We have several seats available over the next few weeks of classes.

Ground School Classes:

  7/30 12 Volt Marine Electronics (THIS WEEKEND!)
  8/06 Bareboat Chartering
  8/08 & 8/10 Advanced Coastal Cruising
  8/12 Coastal Navigation_b (Lab)
  8/13 Marine Meteorology
  8/20 Basic Coastal Cruising
  8/21 & 23 Basic Keelboat Sailing Theory
  8/27 Advanced Coastal Cruising
  9/05 & 9/7 Basic Coastal Cruising
  9/10 Engine Maintenance
  9/12, 14, 19 & 21 Celestial Navigation_a
  9/13 Nutrition, A Sailor's Best Mate
  9/17 Meal Preparation & Safety (Class has "Made")
  9/18 & 20 Bareboat Chartering
  9/24 Buying The Perfect Boat
  9/30 Basic Keelboat Sailing Theory
     
Sailing Outings: (Check the web site for exact times)
  8/5 Clinic: Anchoring
    Clinic: Spinnaker
    Sailing Outing (Skills & Drills)
  8/12 Clinic: Docking (Hunter-28)
    Sunset Cruise
    Sailing Outing (Skills & Drills)
  8/19 Clinic: Boat Maneuvering
    Clinic: Spinnaker
    Sailing Outing (Skills & Drills)
  8/26 Clinic: Navigation_c
    Sailing Outing (Skills & Drills)
Windsong
       T-Shirts & Hats

These are great to tell others about
            your sport
                  and
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FOR SALE!  GOT SOMETHING TO SELL?  Try Our For Sale New Site Free.
Although we intend to limit items for sale to our student members, we will consider items submitted from the general public as well.  We'll play it by ear to see how it goes.  Just remember to let us know when the item is sold so that we can keep our web site current.  So here's the link Items For Sale.

   
HATE THAT SPAM?
Ever noticed that all official Windsong emails have the word "WINDSONG:" in the subject? That's so that you can use a filter or rule to intercept and redirect Windsong emails into a dedicated folder based upon this trait.  That way we won't ever wind up in your SPAM folders and accidentally deleted.  This is actually a two-way street.  Any replies from you will automatically contain the same identifier in the subject and we can prevent it's accidental deletion as well.  So any emails from you to us should contain the word "WINDSONG" in the subject or you risk censure by our anti spam software.  Daily we receive just over 800 SPAM emails and find the use of filtering software imperative.  Don't risk losing our emails, filter TODAY!

 

Friends don't let their friends go through life
without experiencing sailing!

Invite someone to join you today!

PLEASE, REACH OUT AND TOUCH US,

                We're listening!!

Many times students' suggestions are implemented on the spot!  We pride ourselves in our customer service and attention to the needs of our students. If you have thoughts or ideas, drop us a line or give us a call.  All things are possible; you simply need to ask. 

Thanks!
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our students for their loyal support through the season(s) and encourage everyone to bring one new friend along each year as you sail.  As we grow and expand our operation, we want to make our products and services available to all who may be interested, but someone has to make the introduction.  Share the love of your sport with those who may be interested in our unique collection of programs. You'll be glad you did and so will they!