Late FW 101 Report

I held my first FW 101 class a few weeks ago, but have been slow putting together a report...all in all, awesome group of guys for my first class...couldn't have had a better time.

After a few hours in the "classroom" and a nice lunch we hit the water.  Climbing all over the boat was the first activity.  Erik scooting onto the hatch and making his X nose-wheely...



After climbing around and exploring the limits of stability it was time to do a little bailing and pumping.  For some reason everyone was taking a lot of water through the front hatch 



Chad pumping out his 135 quickly...



Mike also had a leaky hatch.  Took a little while to figure out the best way to work around the pedals but once solved he made GREAT time...



Erik got a little revenge so I used it as an opportunity to demonstrate some McGyver bailing techniques...



As the wind came up we moved to playing with drift chutes and other things, and then onto self-rescue.  Scwa down!



It took 2 tries to get into the Trident...tall and narrow is not the easiest!



Then everyone else took a few turns, and everyone did great...





We called it a day.  We regrouped the next morning for a little group fishing.  The bite was a little slow at first but things warmed up.   Erik drew first blood, and remained the hot stick of the day...



Mike looking happy!





Erik with another...



Mike fired back...



Erik closed it out with a nice smallie...



We hit the shore and Leah made some awesome striper tacos.  Thanks to everyone the that showed...had a great time, and hopefully you guys are a safer and more confident in 08.  See you on the water!

Awesome day, great pics too. It's great to teach people tips and tricks. You can never be be too prepared, but practice can help save your life. Nice job

Jeff

  Strong Work Scaw...

 Looks like everyone was having a Great Time and getting Solid Info/Experince OTW....

 

Nicely done and documented too.  Scwa teaches with the skill of yoda, sets people up like a true outfitter, and has a backyard playground that's bad-ass on an average day.  Nicely done.   

Having Mendo in my backyard definitely makes for a great opportunity for this class, no doubt about it.

Sean,

Great class and I'm sure everyone walked away with a lot of confidence and knowledge (besides fish).

Sorry to ask this question here and we can move it but in terms of what you were trying to teach in your class, did you have any feedback on the X-Wing?  I noticed that it had to be detached to access the front hatch.  So does it float just in case Erik didn't leash it?  Otherwise it appeared to be something to grip onto during self rescues and a pretty good beverage and rod holder.  It would seem that its OK in freshwater but I wouldn't think that its not a good thing to have in the salt.

Please advise,

Gary

I think you made an observation that came to light on the water.  Access to the front hatch is a huge benefit, and under the worst circumstances it might be necessary. 

The X-wing was a MAJOR obstacle when trying to get to the bow.  There was no getting a drift chute on the bow without a trolley.  Bailing out of the bow was very cumbersome if not impossible.  Erik however had a rear hatch, so he was able to do some reasonably efficient bilge pumping from there.  All in all it has its benefits, but IMHO there are any more negatives.  I am down with clean and low-profile zen rigging, and I think the OTW exercises made the advantages of that approach readily apparent.