Spent today helping out at Rich's Sailing Centre. It is based at the Pretoria Sailing Club on the Rietvlei Dam. What we would call a reservoir in the UK is called a dam in South Africa. This is situated within Rietvlei Nature Reserve which is open to the public.
The club has its own little swimming pool and a BBQ area.Oh yeah bbq's are known as braai's here in South Africa. It is apparently a short version of the Afrikaans for 'grilled meat'
Rich was running the second part of a beginners course. We arrived a bit early so that we could get things ready, including launching the rescue boat which is also used as a teaching platform.
There were supposed to be 6 (the max he'll take) but 1 lad didn't show. They started with a recap of the previous lesson and then we went out to rig the boats. We rigged the boats initially with a reef as Rich wasn't confident in the ability of the students at this stage.
While Rich did a bit of a pep talk I went and saw to the rescue boat to make sure I understood where everything was and how it should work.
Once on the water we tried to get them to sail a course which involved tacking only. This didn't go quite to plan though and they did quite a bit of gybing as well. The students got to swap about quite a bit so that each could show what they'd learnt to 'pass' the course and get their certificates.
After a short while the wind dropped sufficiently for us to shake out the reefs and let the students have a go and follow the leader. They did this very well and seemed to just click as to what sailing is all about. Part of the trick with teaching sailing is to see what is working for the students and adapt the methods you use to get them to do what they need to do, rather than sticking rigidly to the plan you had before.
During the session I took plenty of photo with the small digital camera so that Rich could use some in his publicity. Also gives the parents an idea of how the kids were doing out in the middle of the lake.
Once the course was finished we had a picnic lunch with Jayne and the girls.
There was an important meeting with the club officials which Rich needed to be around for, in the afternoon so I agreed to take the girls out for a spin in the safety boat. Got a slapped wrist for going too far up the lake. There are hippos in the nature reserve surrounding the dam and we're not allowed to get too close. We didn't see them.
Got back to the shore and then packed away the boat. Although I had put plenty of sunscreen on my arms, face and even my legs, I forgot about the tops of my feet. They got a little sunburnt and left white bits where the straps for my flip-flops had been.
Roast dinner for supper. Can't wait. Packing bags etc for the trip to Kruger tomorrow. Apparently the camping is quite civilised.
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