SUMMER STORY -- All aboard

Lolita Harper

When she was 23 and with no previous experience, she jumped on a

sailboat and sailed for three weeks from Fiji to New Zealand with

friends.

Twenty years later, Diane Dewitte is a beginning sailing instructor at

The School of Sailing & Seamanship at Orange Coast College.

Her lesson No. 1: do as I say, not as I did.

Dewitte said those who are interested in learning to sail must be

fully prepared before they go out on the water. Humans were not designed

to be in the ocean -- they have legs, not fins, she said. And a lot of

people who want to sail are just too anxious.

“You’ve got to learn to walk before you run,” Dewitte said.

The School of Sailing & Seamanship has a great program for that and

will have folks jogging in no time, she said.

Beginners start their courses on 14-foot Lido dinghies. On those, they

learn sailing fundamentals like terminology, rigging, safety, docking

under sail, tacking and jibing. In addition, students will learn in a

hands-on environment, as 80% of instruction is done on the water in

Newport Harbor.

One class can have 12 to 33 students and two to four students share a

boat. The class is five weeks and costs $99, not including textbooks.

Classes are open to people ages 14 and older. Classes for children ages 9

to 13 are offered in the early summer but are over now.

Two beginning sailors, Marc and Andrea Robson, agree that knowing the

fundamentals are crucial to the sport.

“Once you understand the terms and the basic rules, it’s pretty

straightforward,” Andrea Robson said.

She admitted to being a little overwhelmed at first and nearly tipping

over, adding that she underestimated the power of the wind and nearly

lost control of her sail. But as time has progressed, she has learned to

relax on the water.

“Even if you are discouraged at first, the more you do it, the easier

it gets and the more comfortable you feel. It just flows,” Andrea Robson

said.

Her husband, Marc, said he looks forward to sailing everyday after

work.

“It’s a great way to wind down,” he said.

Marc Robson’s ultimate goal is to take a month off work and sail

around the Virgin Islands. The beginning sailing class is a stepping

stone, he said.

“My husband’s the adventurous half,” Andrea said. “My goal is not to

hit anything.”

Regardless of how exotic the reason for starting sailing, Dewitte said

The School of Sailing & Seamanship can prepare would-be sailors. After

learning the basics on the 14-foot Lido, participants graduate up to

30-foot Shields.

“Those who can handle a 30-foot boat without an engine are truly

sailors,” Dewitte said.

Once the techniques are mastered, students can start taking their

boats offshore to the Catalina or Channel Islands, she said. That is when

the real fun starts.

“Sailing allows people to have true adventures because you never know

what is going to happen next. You are surrounded by something much larger

and more powerful than yourself,” Dewitte said.

When a person is out on the water, they must also be aware of the

cycles of the sun and the moon, something that urbanized people have

forgotten, she said. It brings a person back to nature’s most powerful

and driving forces and makes them realize they are part of a larger

universe, she said.

“Sailing forces you to be in tune with all the natural elements -- the

wind, waves, and weather. The natural rhythms of the earth,” Dewitte

said. “That’s something you don’t get in other sports.”

The unpredictability of the sport justifies Dewitte’s emphasis for

proper education, she said. When people receive high quality training,

they are more equipped to handle the different variables, she said.

Although Dewitte also recommends taking a classroom navigational

course, it is not required by the school as a prerequisite to sailing.

But the more knowledge someone has, the better they are able to face the

challenges that sailing can produce.

“If there weren’t some risk, we wouldn’t do it. We’d be content on our

couches at home watching other people live their lives,” Dewitte said.

“But sailing is like life, you’ve got to do it to get the most from it.”

Dewitte has been a boater since her three-week trip from Fiji to New

Zealand, she said. She said she never felt a more calming feeling than

being out there on the water for so long. It was like her life was

reduced to its simplest form, she said.

“It’s just you, and the boat and the wind and the water,” she said.

“It felt like everything blended. I felt like I was a part of something

and I continued to seek it out.”

She has yet to escape the allure of the sparkling water and hopes her

students find the same passion in the sport.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .