FWSA members attend Education Symposium hosted by Dinghy Dames

On the day before the Dinghy Dames were to put on their Friendsgiving interclub and sailors may be wanting to drop their boats off early anyway, they hosted over 100 FWSA members at the first Education Symposium, orchestrated by Education Chairs Lee Parks, LL, and Pam Treloar, DD.

The day began with registration and socializing. The Dinghy Dames' Hospitality Committee members, chaired by Margaret Dufeny, really rolled out the red carpet with both sweet and savory breakfast foods along with the all-important coffee. Once all were registered, the first session was run by Emily Wagner, DD, giving all attendees a wonderful lesson on wind and weather on the water. She began with sharing with us all the tools and websites she uses before a race. She began with the macro view of weather patterns and continued to the very specific macro view of her particular location for that race. It was a very interesting presentation!

The next three sessions gave attendees options as there were three speakers during each session so choices had to be made. Linda Schwartz, LL, put on three sessions on how to rig, care for, and maintain a Sunfish. She discussed products that were best and those that were no-noes along with different parts that need to be checked often. It was a lot to absorb! Thankfully, she had a handout with all info detailed there.

Other speakers included

Gail Heausler, DD, Pre-Race Checklist and Starting Tactics;

Donna Sue Marks, , Race Committee Basics;

Tom Turton, Mark Roundings;

Margo Curry, WL, Basic Rules: How to stay our of trouble;

Lisa Brown Ehrhart, LL, Upwind and Downwind Speed and Tactics;

Linda Schwartz, LL, Boat Cleaning, Polishing, and Maintenance;

Carrie Greene, DD, Protests: Tips & Prep;

and the final presentation for all attendees

Margo Curry, WL, and Carrie Greene, DD: Mock Protest with Gail Heausler and Emily Wagner.

There was a break for lunch before the last two sessions. Most everyone left around 3:00 with a lot of extra knowledge and likely a new friend or two. The Luffing Lassies will host a similar symposium in January and I'm sure that, after the word gets out about how great this one was, will be even more heavily attended! This blog editor can't wait!