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Posts tagged ‘yachtmaster’

Jul 20

Myself, Karen & Lisa

Offshore yachtmistresses

Life onboard a training yacht has been on full throttle all the way to yachtmaster exam and beyond. Last days of self sail training passed, progressing to delightfully unorthodox yachtmaster preparation training week with legendary John “The Mad Professor” Cole.

Yachtmaster training is not only about avoidance of disasters, but also about building skill toolkit in case a disaster happens despite of all precautions. Read more

Jul 2

The Needles, east Isle of Wight

Bonjour & Au revoir x 2

During past 5 days of long distance passages we have sailed 600 nautical miles. The journeys took us twice across the channel to France and back to Solent, and along the coastline to Weymouth.

Our little yacht Whisper set sail from Lymington with instructor Roger Grigg and our Yachtmaster fastrack course skippers Karen, Lisa and myself. We had lovely, fair weather and moderate winds during these five days, and so it all was very enjoyable break from the rough weather we’ve seen until now. In good weather like this it is easy to go into cruising mode and just enjoy the sail! Roger was full of confidence in our abilities and as a sign of approval even slept through the crossing of notorious Traffic Separation Scheme – cargo shipping lanes in the middle of The English Channel. (Thanks Roger!) Read more

Jun 6

CV11-2

Would you care to deploy the anchor, madam?

Week of training with Lisa, Karen and instructor John has been no doubt the highlight of the yacht master program by this far. A wonderful mixture of characters with plenty of humour, energy and ambition – who would object training from 0700 to 2300 with this kind of lot? Read more

May 28

Skipper Richard was happy surfing 11.9 knots.

Two reefs in

Yachtmaster training continued last week with a long distance passage, building skills and sea miles for a coastal skipper exam next week.

Last week was interesting to say the least. Our old crew of myself, Richard, Steve and Ally joined 42ft yacht Miss Reality in brisk breeze, which built up to force 8 gusting 9 at times during the week. Swinging and bobbing in the boat made everyone feel more or less queasy for a day or two, but soon the symptoms disappeared and waves didn’t look that big anymore.
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