Ok, what's up? Spring was slow in getting here and now where's winter?

Well, the pavilion closed early this year and Winter officially arrives on December 21st and stays until March 21st. And once it hits, there will be enough cold weather to go around.

But have you been checking out the progress on the docks????

Check out the webcams! Just do it during the day - I forgot and went to the site at night. Great lights but you can't see much of the progress.

http://sailing.mit.edu/webcam.php

4th of July

Were you there on the dock? Cause it was the place to be for the 4th of July celebration!

Kayaks, techs and Boston's on fire.

We saw Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty float on by. Went sailing on the river, dodging in and out of all those motorboats, kayaks, canoes and other strange floating devices - it was a blast.

What was the weather like? Good wind, sunny skies and then some ominous dark clouds with the sun glinting off the Zakim bridge and buildings in Boston. It's New England weather - there had to be a little drama. However, the storm never materialized, thank goodness.

A sincere THANK YOU to everyone! Matt, with all the staff and volunteers worked hard manning the door, keeping sailors safe and clear of the barge perimeter, and doing everything you didn't notice to make it a fun afternoon/evening for all.

Dwight & Alvar...scheming

Alvar and Dwight have a magnificent system to keep the grills going...it's all in the planning.

Tom, former commodore

Tom Rose from Testive was there, breathing in the smoke from the grill.

I was in the locker room when I heard the collective "Oooohhhh!" from the crowd on the dock. It wasn't dark yet so I knew I hadn't missed any fireworks - just a great photo opportunity and yes, there was Pat, drenched from the waist down. 

Pat, after the mishap

He was moving a tech dinghy, which somehow managed to go one way while Pat went another. But with some quick moves, Pat was able to keep his upper half dry. 

There were so many familiar faces on the dock. Ron Filosa sold me his boat so I could get a quick sail in, Peter S. was there to help out, alumni, sailing students, sailors, friends - it was really nice to see everyone.

The blue and red Prudential Center.

 Finally the sky got dark and the concert started. There were tons of people on the dock with expensive looking cameras - but you'll have to make do with the few pictures I took with my ancient camera.

Happy 4th of July!

Oooooo,

aaahhh,

Learning to Sail at the Pavilion

Want to learn to sail? The Pavilion is the place. These two look happy in the Wednesday Learn-to-sail class! Come on down on Wednesday evenings (5:30).  It's a three class series with all 3 classes offered every Wed.


The weekend would be better you say? Then sign up for the Sunday All-in-one class. These classes are extremely popular. The instructors fit in as much training and and beginning sailing experience as they can into one long session. 


Then what, you ask? There are several options. Try dock hours. During "Dock Hours" our volunteers will be around to help you improve your skills, and if you're ready they'll give the Provisional Rating Test. Check out the calendar to see listings for dock hours, these are added "on the fly" when people have time.  


What if you are a new sailor and a) have questions? or b) are looking for someone to sail with? Then try the Learn-to-sail mailing list.  We also have some instructional videos on the site you might like to watch.


And now, this summer, there are intermediate tech sailing classes. Every other week on Thursdays, starting June 23. These classes will help you progress beyond the basic skills you learned in the Wednesday and Sunday classes. See the calendar.


What if you're into competition? Well, there's the Intro to Racing on Mondays. This class draws beginning sailors and racers as well as many long-time crews looking to move into the back of the boat. 

Looking for more of a challenge? Try the catamaran classes! The catamaran is a fast boat and requires significantly more athletic ability than a dinghy. The boat easily reaches half the wind speed, and it is not unusual to match or even exceed the wind speed. Not only is the boat fast, it is very responsive. A quick turn can easily throw the skipper or crew off the boat or skewer another sailboat.


Or you could be looking to get into a larger boat, such as the Lynx, so you can sail with more friends?
Well, we have Lynx classes too. 


Check out the website. We sometimes offer Laser and windsurfing classes too.
So, come on down to the Pavilion and learn more about sailing, it's various forms and get out on the Charles.

Wednesday evenings at the Pavilion

So, we had a great evening, on Wednesday May 25th, check out the class pictures on the site (Gallery), and then last Wednesday? You want to know about last Wednesday?

Tornadoes in Massachusetts. Hail, thunder, wild lightning and TORNADOES!

What is going on? Eric Gibber sent me an email asking what we'd done to attract such weird and wild weather on Wednesdays this year. Hmm, got myself a tongue twister there...

So, what'll we have this week? cross your fingers and come on down to see.

Um, still waiting on that spring...

So, my last blog post, on March 12th, started off hollering about spring coming, and dammit we're still waiting and it's May 24!!!

However, tomorrow?

Forecast for Wednesday, May 25

Sun and a few passing clouds.

High 72F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.

Dare we dream about a sailing class while not wearing wool? YES, let's dream big and hope for a beautiful, sunny evening with a nice breeze and a killer sunset.

Something like this:

See you all there!

Spring is coming, Spring is coming!!!!

And with that the Sailing season.


This is an exciting one for the MIT Sailing Pavilion as it is the 75th anniversary. Yes, 75 years of sailing! The pavilion opens on March 29th. So, find your sneakers, round up your sunglasses and dust off that bottle of sunscreen. Then grab a windbreaker and sweatshirt because while the sun is shining - it's always colder on the river in the spring.

What's going on even before we're open? The team is in full swing with practices and regattas.

The Sailing classes will start up in April with the 1st Wednesday sailing class on April 20th at 5:30. The Sunday classes start a bit later in the season, May, when the weekend regattas begin to taper off. Have you ever seen a weekend with a Sunday class AND a regatta in full swing? Organized chaos to say the least, all out there enjoying sailing or learning to.

The Pavilion and the river are our rewards for having survived this snowy winter! There's a lot going on this season so check out the web page or just come on down to hang out.

See you soon.