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Capt. JG

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:55:34 -0400, wrote:

Teaching someone to read labels is not teaching them anything about
sailing. Jon's students will realize that when they try to sail a boat
that Jon hasn't "baby proofed".

In the end it all comes down to your objectives. If you want to
train people quickly to do a specific job on a specific boat, color
coding and labels are the way to go. If you want people to react
quickly and accurately on a specific boat, color coding and labels are
the way to go.

All other situations fall into the category of theoretical learning
which is fine for building a long term understanding of the principles
involved, but not very useful for quick, accurate execution by a team
doing split second maneuvers. Successful racing boats have been color
coding and labeling for many years. It works very well and helps to
keep everything sorted out. Without it, the cockpit on most boats
quickly resembles a large bowl of pasta.

And, it's not completely about students. I have charterers on my boat who
don't know didly about sailing. They want to help. If I started teaching
them before we got going, it would eat up the entire day. Labels and
color-coded lines are perfect for this situation.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com