VIDEO page
|
 New
York's only "Gold Star" ASA School. How did we do in the ASA
Student Survey? CLICK
HERE
Welcome
to our
announcements
page!
Scroll around, or use the links to the
right, and see what's up.
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|
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Our
Director, Captain Stephen Glenn Card, recently earned his AASI Snowboard
Instructor Certification. And you should care because...
...it reflects
upon Steve's instructional philosophy and ability, and how he brings that
to bear upon the Sailing Center's program and therefore YOU as a student
here.
| Two
years ago, in his 40's, Steve started snowboarding by taking his first
lesson at Bromley Mountain in Vermont. He hadn't skied since he was
a little kid and didn't remember it. Steve only got two lessons in
that February before spring conditions came and he was advised to wait
until next year.
He
did. He kicked it off with his third lesson, a Learn-to-Ski-or-Ride-Free
program at Okemo Mountain. And then he rode, struggled, got frustrated
and scared, but ultimately triumphed by the end of that season, he could
meaningfully ride all the single black diamond trails at Hunter Mountain,
and also one double diamond. Persistence and determination were indeed
proven omnipotent.
Part
of the fuel for that was stubbornness and part was the conviction that
he could have been taught better at the beginning. Steve felt that
due to inconsistencies in his lessons (including one more later that season),
and in advice he'd been getting from other riders and videos, he would
have to learn to teach himself how to get a solid foundation in the sport.
He
experimented, watched videos, thought about it all, and practiced.
Wherever there were conflicting lessons or theories on how to control a
snowboard, he tried to find the common denominators. And, he realized
that if he could successfully round out his own education, he could probably
teach others to snowboard too. A new goal arose: to become good enough
to teach new snowboarders better than he'd been taught.
(By
way of background, Steve went through the same thing with sailboarding,
or Windsurfing, in 1981. He then earned sailing instructor certification
in 1983, American Sailing Association's inaugural year.)
One year
after his learn-to-ride lesson at Okemo, he was hired by the same mountain
as a rookie instructor (no doubt more due to his teaching background than
his riding resume). Two months and about 75 hours of teaching and
instructor training later, he attended a Level I Exam clinic conducted
by the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI, a branch of
PSIA or Professional Ski Instructors of America both the governing bodies
of their respective snowsports). He was approximately twice the age
of most of the 10 other candidates, and with far less riding time under
his belt as well. But after two days demonstrating riding skills,
imitating the exam clinician on demand, and giving mock lessons on snow
to other instructors, he passed with similar grades to most of the group.
To quote the clinician in his written evaluation, for someone who's been
riding for two years, you've learned a lot and it shows!
Steve's
sailing school pedagogy has always been to provide the best foundation
possible, enabling students to progress better and more quickly once they're
on their own after a course. He brought that same philosophy to snowboarding
instruction, and sometimes bumped heads with the mountain on just how a
student should be brought along. By combining the best elements of
Okemo's highly developed program with his own ideas, he was instantly effective
in teaching new snowboarders. And, by keeping logs of his lessons,
discussing the results with his supervisors, and tweaking his lesson strategies
and tactics, he saw further improvement over those two months.
-Steve in his instructor's uniform at Okemo,
taking a lesson of his own one hour before the mountain closed for the
season! Fellow snowboard instructors (and supervisors) were watching
and taking some iPhone video clips. This is a frame-grab from some
of the video.
The
Director speaks...
How does
all that translate (or even relate) to sailing instruction? Two ways:
1.
Instructional 'cross training;'
2.
Becoming a student again for fresh perspective on how to teach.
The
second one is really the first. My first snowboarding efforts are
still so recent that I can actually remember many specific parts of those
two lessons two Februaries ago. I can think back about what what
made sense for me and 'worked,' and what I didn't get that translated into
falling.
The
consequences of mistakes are different for sailing and snowboarding.
When people learn to sail on small keelboats, and make mistakes, the most
common results are that the boat slows down dramatically or stops.
When people make mistakes snowboarding, they start fighting the board for
their balance or fall. Falling is fairly common. The more students
fall, the more tense they get at the prospect of falling making for more
mistakes, and yes you guessed it - more falling. Falling on soft,
deep powder is not a big deal. Falling on hard pack or ice is less
than pleasant.
Watching
many beginner lessons conducted by other instructors, I noticed a pattern:
students didn't have a basic foundation of balance and stance, preventing
them from simply riding the board. Forget about turning if you're
falling down trying to glide 10 to 20 feet on a gentle slope, it's over
before it starts. Yet, so many lessons seemed to involve students
spinning around in circles, having the board shoot out from under them
like slipping on a banana peel, or barely controlling the board with a
lot of gyration, flailing of arms, and frustration. Despite the lack of
basic control, the students were often enthusiastically applauded, even
told that they were doing great. This seemed to be a disservice.
How could they be 'promoted' to the next lesson level, or grade, when they'd
pretty much failed? It was just setting them up for further failure.
(Encouragement: good.
Bullshitting them about their progress: BAD.)
I was
sometimes told to spend less time with some of my lesson elements and more
quickly move on to the next steps. I had a problem with this.
To me, it was counterproductive and would create more falling. I
felt that certain fundamentals had to be taught first.
Watching
all riders (students, guests, instructors, and numerous videos), I noticed
that the better the rider, the less you could see them do. The board
just seemed to go effortlessly from one turn to another, and the rider
just seemed to be going along with it. I had to identify the techniques
that were common to solid riders so I could finalize my OWN foundation
around them and teach them to my students.
Foundations
in Snowboarding and Sailing
Early
on in my teaching, I came to the conclusion that the single most important
skill for students to work on in their first lesson was simply riding the
board in a straight line. This is done with only the front foot strapped
in to a binding. The rider aims the board to go down a very gentle
slope that becomes level or even goes back uphill, guaranteeing that the
board simply comes to a stop on its own. The rear foot is put on
the board, the board goes, and the rider stands on it and enjoys.
Rinse and repeat. And repeat. And...
The
value of this is that the student can get used to being on a moving snowboard,
work on their balance and weight placement, and relax! This is called
a straight glide. Once a student is comfortable with this, and can
do it without fighting with the board, they're ready to begin turning and
stopping. I was encouraged to not do this, but to go straight into
'J-turns.' This adds a turn at the end of the glide by twisting the
front of the board with the front foot. Why skip the critical step
of the straight glide?
Because
there often isn't an appropriate area to do it (and this applies to many
mountain resorts). However, when students go straight into the turns,
they tend to spin around and/or fall down. The mistakes that cause
this become bad habits that follow them into the future.
SAILING
TRANSLATIONS:
1.
Having an appropriate area for beginners to learn and practice, free of
excessive distractions. Going one step beyond this is our exclusive
Obstacle BuoySM training
course (which was adapted from ski instruction decades ago). We've
got both. City Island Harbor allows plenty of room to sail regardless
of wind direction, and it's naturally separated from commercial traffic
in Long Island Sound due to neighboring Hart Island. Yet, we can
go around Hart at will and out into the Sound.
2.
Focusing on a proper foundation in the skills and understanding of sailing
BEFORE moving on to more advanced topics. Part of this is simply
having enough sessions and hours in a course for it to work. Another
part is supervised practice sailing without an instructor on board.
We've done this for decades. After teaching snowboarding for a few
weeks, I realized that the combination of direct instruction and supervision
inherent in group lessons is very similar to what we've been doing all
along.
So,
when I teach snowboarding, I always find at least a small spot that can
let students just step on and ride the board, doing nothing but standing
on it properly and looking where they are going. That's the foundation
for all other skills to build upon. (It's not just my opinion; it's
the second suggested skill to teach according to AASI, the American Association
of Snowboard Instructors. This is the governing body in the US, and
part of the PSIA Professional Ski Instructors of America.) When we
teach you sailing, we think about it the same way: how to give you the
best foundation. Once you have that, the rest is easy!
Want
to get a great foundation in snowboarding with less falling? Call
Steve at 718-885-0335 to talk about next season. Who knows - there
might even be snow!
-Those pesky heelside turns!
(Most beginners have more trouble with toe-side, but as riders develop,
anything can happen.
This lesson was to work on a stability
issue with Steve's heel-side riding on steeper terrain, which cropped up
at the end of the season after he thought he had it licked. So, he
asked for a lesson and got one from not just one, but two snowboard supervisors.
One of THOSE guys was complaining about his own heel-side riding that day.
Note the assymetry of Steve's arms.
This can be from bouncing off uneven terrain, or from a flaw in making
or completing a turn.
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WATCH US
ON NBC!
We were
on "First Look" on NBC, Saturday September 26 at 7:30pm. The show
featured hidden gems in in NY City, and covered City Island with a featured
restaurant and a visit to the Sailing Center. Watch us sail with
the host of the show as we show him the area and teach him a little about
sailing and our program! Click
here.
KNOT
TYING CLINIC!
A
new offering for 2009, we're pleased to offer you this short clinic to
teach you how to tie nautical knots or remind if you've simply forgotten.
Learn 8 knots that are more than enough for almost anything you'd want
to do on or near the water:
Figure
Eight
Stopper
Bowline
Cleat Hitch
Reef/square
knot
Rolling
Hitch
Round Turn/2
Half Hitches
Sheet Bend
You
won't just learn the steps - you'll also learn that how you close
a knot is just as important as how you form it. Of course,
we'll teach that on a knot-by-knot basis so you don't tie not-a-knots.
We give
you - and you keep -
-
rope (yes, rope
- it ain't a "line" until it's on the boat!)
-
knot tying board
with a horn cleat and a post
-
our own DVD
so you can review the knots anytime
Introductory
tuition: $75!
Next Schedule:
TBA.
To be notified,
Contact
Us
SEE AN ARTICLE
ABOUT US!
 |
It's
on our 2006 Greece trip...
and it's
in the American Sailing Association's (ASA) member newsletter magazine.
see
it on line here! |
|
Left & center photos: Steve Card. Right photo: Peter
Schorr
Or, see our
GREECE
PAGE for photos and video links from our 2006 and 2008 trips!
ASA
GOLD STANDARD and
ASA STUDENT
SURVEYS
|
The
ASA
Gold
Standard:
NY
Sailing Center is the first Tri State school
to
earn its "Gold Star"
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(ASA changed the "gold star" to a "green
dot" in December 06 or January 07. The criteria are the
same. This program has been around for years now, yet until 2009
we were the only NY School to have earned this distinction!)
ASA (American
Sailing Association) has indicated on its web site those schools that have
begun meeting stringent quality control standards for the safety of their
vessels. The Gold Standard program
involves Vessel Safety Checks performed by qualified inspectors from the
US Coast Guard Auxilliary or the US Power Squadron. These inspectors
check for federally required safety equipment and other recommended equipment
and practices to ensure safe boating. Vessels that meet all the requirements
are registered as passing and receive a decal to be prominently displayed,
as well as a copy of the VSC registration.
ASA wisely decided to offer schools the
opportunity to be awarded "Gold Standard" status if its vessels are inspected
and passed. This way, ASA can help ensure quality control for affiliated
schools and give prospective students another measure by which to gauge
prospective schools. New York Sailing Center
& Yacht Club was the first Tri-State Area school to earn
a "Gold Star" listing, and was the only New York school with
a gold star listing until 2009. (That's most of a decade!)
Gold Standard schools are designated with
this logo: (As of winter
06/07, it quietly changed to a green dot.)
As of December '09, there is only one other school in New York with this
distinction.
Vessel Safety Checks (also known as Courtesy
Marine Examinations) are free to the boating public, and they're a friendly,
informal way to ensure you haven't overlooked anything either required
or highly recommended. Even if you don't pass, the inspection cannot
result in any penalty or citation. You'll just be told what you'd
have to correct to comply with the federal requirements, and/or exceed
them to be awarded the VSC decal.
If you have the decal, and you've maintained
the vessel to the same standards present at the time you passed inspection,
any boarding by the Coast Guard should go very smoothly. The decal
may even help to prevent stopping and boarding, as it indicates your serious
intention to comply with the law and operate your vessel safely.
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Click on the VSC shield logo for more
info on safety checks, or the ASA logo for info on the Gold Standard program
or to verify our status (or that of other schools)!
If you need help in arranging a VSC for
your vessel, contact us.
|
|
How
have we been doing in the
ASA
STUDENT SURVEY?
|
The American Sailing Association (ASA)
sends newly certified students a survey to fill out about their experiences
at sailing school. The survey is confidential, so schools can never
find out who said what about them. But they can find out how the
students' responses broke down over the questions asked of them, which
is how ASA determines the School of the Year and Oustanding Instructor
Awards each year. (Our family is a 4-time former winner with our
first school.)
The survey is now adminstered on line,
and the questions have been revised to better reflect what is most important
in getting a proper sailing education. ASA has put a lot of thought
and effort into this.
Our "grades:"
LAST
MONTH (as of October 27, 2011):
Our rating from students
was 4
out
of 4
(on
a scale of 1-4, with 4 being perfect)
LAST
6 MONTHS (as of October 27, 2011):
Our rating from students
was 3.88
out
of 4.
Our Director, Steve Card,
was also rated
3.88
out
of 4.
LAST
MONTH (as of May 26, 2011*)
*we didn't keep
up with posts this summer, but the scores were in the same range.
Our rating from students
was 4
out
of 4
(on
a scale of 1-4, with 4 being perfect)
LAST
6 MONTHS (as of May 26, 2011):
Our rating from students
was 3.92
out
of 4.
Our Director, Steve Card,
was also rated
3.92
out
of 4.
LAST
MONTH (as of April 10, 2011):
Our rating from students
was 3.87
out
of 4.
LAST
6 MONTHS (as of April 10, 2011):
Our rating from students
was 3.80
out
of 4.
Our Director, Steve Card,
was also rated
4
out
of 4.
Prior
Survey Periods...
LAST
6 MONTHS (as of March 16, 2011):
Our rating from students
was 3.73
out
of 4.
LAST
6 MONTHS (as of September 14, 2010):
Our rating from students
was 3.87
out
of 4.
LAST
6 MONTHS (as of December 21, 2009):
Our rating from students
was a perfect 4
out
of 4.
Our Director, Steve Card,
was also rated
4
out
of 4.
LAST
6 MONTHS (as of August 18, 2009):
Our rating from students
was a perfect 4
out
of 4.
Our Director, Steve Card,
was also rated
4
out
of 4.
The school has had 6-month
scores ranging from 3.52 to 4.0 since late 2008.
Our Director, Captain Stephen
Glenn Card, has had scores ranging from 3.6 to 4.0
(We don't think you'll find
this kind of transparency from other schools; we have yet to see it.)
Prior Years:
The vast majority of survey
answers fell under
'Excellent,' and
most of the the rest under 'Good!'
The survey results were
available as an annual tally. It is now done on a running average
as shown above, although annual results are available too. Here are the
breakdowns for prior years for which the data is available.
2000
| Excellent |
146 |
(70%) |
| Good |
51 |
(24%) |
| Fair |
8 |
(4%) |
| Poor |
5 |
(2%) |
| Totals: |
210 |
(100%) |
|
2001
| Excellent |
166 |
(92%) |
| Good |
16 |
(8%) |
| Fair |
0 |
(0%) |
| Poor |
0 |
(0%) |
| Totals: |
182 |
(100%) |
|
2006
| Excellent |
41
|
(72%) |
| Good |
9
|
(16%) |
| Fair |
6 |
(11%) |
| Poor |
1 |
(1%) |
| Totals: |
57 |
(100%) |
|
Grand totals:
| Excellent |
353 |
(79%) |
| Good |
76 |
(17%) |
| Fair |
14 |
(3%) |
| Poor |
6
|
(1%) |
| Totals: |
449 |
(100%) |
|
How
did we do in 2002 & 2005? The
responses were too few to be statistically significant.
2003
& 2004? We
weren't able to get the data from ASA (no response).
Prior
to 2000? When
we requested the data, it was no longer available.
Have a question about the data above,
or the ASA Survey in general?
Contact
us. Or, contact ASA.
|
To learn more about ASA and US Sailing
in general,
click here
to go to that page.
|
Peter Schorr
& Steve Card step up their Instructor Certifications
Our own Peter recently attended Instructor
Qualification clinics for Multihull Cruising and Advanced
Coastal Cruising, run back to back in tough conditions in San Francisco.
Large swells, strong winds, and typical Golden Gate fog and current made
this a very challenging set of clinics. Multihull was exhilirating
while getting a cruising multihull to act like a beach cat. Advanced
coastal had one added difficulty: it's largely done at night, including
anchor setting, MOB (man overboard drill), and traditional navigation on
a chart. This is a very advanced standard, done in some of the toughest
conditions available, and we're very proud of Peter.
Update: Mihai Cosereanu also upped his certs to Advanced Coastal
Cruising, and is off to the Boston REC of the Coast Guard to upgrade is
Coast Guard License as well.
Director & Dockmaster, Steve Card,
squeezed in a Basic Coastal Cruising IQC and got his Coastal
Navigation credential as well. He's been putting the advanced
certifications off for awhile as he's busy running the business, but had
an opportunity and took it. Card also got his US Coast Guard license
recently: a Masters license for inspected (and uninspected) vessels to
50 gross tons, near coastal route (versus inland or open ocean), with endorsements
for Radar Observer Unlimited, Commercial Assistance Towing, and Auxiliary
Sail vessels. Card found an error in the Coast Guard exam for the
Auxiliary Sail endorsement, proved it to Sea School's satisfaction with
a vector diagram, and Sea School forwarded it to Coast Guard, who corrected
the exam. Kewl!
Update: Steve is in the process of upgrading his instructor certs
to include Radar, a new endorsement level offered by ASA. Students
must have 101 through 104 under their belt before taking this, and instructors
must have 203 and 205 (but not 204 for some reason). We will be offering
this course to students shortly. (Steve already has an unlimited
radar endorsement on his Coastie license, which is not in fact unlimited,
as a separate endorsement is required for Western Rivers. That's
some very tricky business.)
Update: Radar on hold as it's very time consuming, but Card did
his Bareboat instructor clinic in May; this was done in the Hudson
on a Beneteau 43.
Anywho, the BCC clinic was done locally
in conjunction with another school. They needed to borrow a suitable
boat due to boring logistical reasons, and we were able to supply our Columbia
32, "Morning Star."
Here's the group in "action" (or,
on its way to lunch during a break in maneuvering drills).
Dockmaster is in the dork hat, lower left.
Archives...
See
us on NY1 NEWS!
part
of Bronx Week
Reporter Jill Scott of NY1
News came over to the Sailing Center this summer to interview some
of our students and us, and film us all in action. This short piece
first aired in June and is still in re-runs. The entire clip (2 1/2
minutes) is posted on NY1's site. You can see the video in your choice
of dial-up or broad band, or just read excerpts. Click
here to see what sailing school is all about in a couple of minutes!
For other videos of NY Sailing Center in action, including the cable shows
"Back to Basics" and "Third Date," click
here.
NY
SAILING'S DIRECTOR EARNS
RADAR
OBSERVER UNLIMITED CERTIFICATION
Director and "Dockmaster," Steve Card,
recently completed the Radar Observer Unlimited course and examinations
conducted at the Center for Maritime Education near the South Street
Seaport in Manhattan. CME is part of the famous Seamen's Church
Institute of New York and New Jersey, a seafarers' advocacy organization
that evolved as a temple and haven for sailors, and has evolved and grown
since its inception in the 1834. (Visit them at www.seamenschurch.org).
Other organizations offering this certification include S.U.N.Y. Maritime
and
Sea
School.
Coast Guard approved Radar Observer
courses
are five days long, consisting of general radar theory, specific safety
and operational guidelines, and extensive application of plotting radar
targets and simulator practice. While there is no official prerequisite,
it is quite difficult to pass the course without a fair amount of navigational
background that includes understanding of vector triangle solutions for
determing speed and direction.
Certification is awarded upon successful
completion of a theory exam, a rapid radar plotting exercise from a simulator,
and a plotting exam with multiple components, including evaluating multiple
"target" vessels or objects to determine which pose the greatest risk of
collision, and what action to take to mitigate that risk. Once that
is determined, the effect of any course or speed change on all other targets
has to be assessed.
The Radar Observer, Any Waters, Unlimited
Certification is accepted by the US Coast Guard for endorsements on Captain's
Licenses and must be renewed with a three-day course every five years.
Card has completed license and endorsement exams for OUPV (Operator of
Uninspected Passernger Vessels), Master of Inspected Vessels up to 100
Gross Tons (in Card's case, 50 tons), Radar, Commercial Assistance Towing,
Auxiliary Sail, and Marine Radio Operator. After application paperwork
is processed, LOOKOUT! Newly licensed menace... :-)
Watch us on Discovery!
See us cookin' - literally - on "Rosemary,
Queen of the Kitchen."
This show airs on Discovery Home Channel (114,
Time Warner, Manhattan - 172, Cablevision, Bronx).
See the Dockmaster (Steve Card, Director of the
Sailing Center) along with Bob and Shaun. We prepare
a gouirmet meal for Steve's girlfriend, Heather, under Rosemary's guidance,
then serve and dine at water's edge. Filmed entirely on location
at the Sailing Center premises.
Get a glimpse of some of us sailing bums, as well as
the Sailing Center itself and the waterfront.
AIR DATES:
Saturday, Feb. 26, 9pm
Sunday, 27th, at midnight, 5am, 8am, 1pm and 4pm.
To see more on the show, and look at video of prior episodes
(and probably this one), go to Discovery directly:
www.discovery.com
Click on Discovery Home in the links, left side of page.
Rosemary's show appears top center Click there and have fun.
|
|
NEW:
VIDEO PAGE
CLICK
HERE to see everything from our Obstacle Training course to cable shows
and the Virgin Islands. |
ABOVE:
New
York Sailing Center's Director & "Dockmaster," Steve Card; Mihai
Cosereanu, one of our Instructors;
Sabina in the shadows; Radu,
trying to usurp Stephon Marbury's thunder with the "I'm the Best" Quote
(Daily News, January 1). We're aboard Mihai's Pearson 30 sloop,
"Sunbow," on New Year's Day 2005. Nice weather demanded that we fire
up the diesel, leave the slip and sail around for a few hours, then return
and re-winterize the engine.
|
GOT CHARTS?
We're dealers for NOAA Print on
Demand Charts. These are the finest charts available today, but
they don't cost much more than standard charts. They are not printed
until you order them, so they are up to date with all corrections from
Notice to Mariners, National Geospatial Agency (Formerly NIMA), and NOAA
Critical Corrections. They also have better graphics and other options/benefits
not found on any other charts. Print on Demand charts are available
for every standard NOAA flat chart, and also as "Mapfold" charts for a
small but expanding number of NOAA small craft folio (folding) charts.
For more info, call us or send us some
e-mail.
A dedicated Charts page is coming to this site soon.
SEE
US ON CABLE TV: The Fine Living Network's
new
series, "Back to Basics
Time
Warner digital cable, Channel 144
See Aylin Bumin, one of our Basic
Keelboat students from this season, and Director Steve Card in this
episode (look for it in re-runs). The series is about how people
get back in touch with themselves through various healthy activities.
In this episode, Aylin and Steve are seen
sailing on one of the school's Beneteau First 21's (what we use to teach
basic sailing). Aylin gets some follow-up sailing instruction, and
explains how she got involved in sailing and what it means to her.
Steve provides some basic info on going to sailing school in general, and
about NY Sailing Center specifically.
Each half-hour episode of "Back to Basics"
has three co-features. "Our" episode also has a couple that takes
tai kwan do lessons together, and six female friends who met after moving
to the city who formed a cooking club for fun and to learn how, and eventually
wrote a book about it.
Other cable programs we've been on include
"3rd Date" on the Metro Channel, and the MTA's "Transit Transit News."
"Ancient
Archives..."
Spots
for Nautica's new fragrance,
Latitude/Longitude,
now running
on various channels.
Guess who they consulted for the Lat/Lon data appearing in the ad?!
|
Okay, it's not our boat. We're not
on it, either. And it's pretty far south of here. But they
did come to us to get realistic data to include in the spot. So there.
(By the way, it's Cabo San Lucas.)
|
|
