jellyellie

RYA Day Skipper practical 08-13 February 2008

I recently set sail with Dream or Two on a 5 day RYA Day Skipper practical course. Being 17, I found it hard to find a school that would take me without a parent, but Dream or Two were happy to support me. OK, so the promise of chocolate cake was a bit of a convincer too.

I can remember feeling overwhelmed when Jannine gave me my first basic navigation exercise, spending an hour over something that took me five minutes by the end of the course. It was this transition over the five days, my confidence increasing with each log book entry, that I love so much about sailing. There’s always so much to learn, so much to absorb, and having Jannine as my instructor made this an incredibly enjoyable process.

The highlight of my voyage had to be taking us into Poole during the night. We’d sailed directly into the sunset across from the Solent, to watch the stars come out above us; it was a perfect evening. I love everything about being a skipper: coming up with the pilotage plan, giving clear instructions to the helm, navigating as you go, giving your crew bearings to take, bringing the boat into the marina at the end of the day, slicing the chocolate cake…oh yes, the chocolate cake.

It’s hard to pick my funniest moment of the week; there are too many to choose between. It’s either fellow Day Skipper David asking Jannine if she was “in a position to tack” whilst she was in the heads and we needed to go about, or when Lucy was paying out the anchor in Newtown Creek, and having put out the 20m we had laid on deck, continued to let the chain run from the anchor locker with a “she’s still taking it out!”.

It still hasn’t really registered with me that I am now a RYA Day Skipper – much to my dad’s annoyance.

I passed the course with flying colours, and am incredibly honoured that Dream or Two have offered to support me to reach my goal of RYA Yachtmaster. That, coupled with a bursary from Trinity House to fund my practical and theory courses, has put me well underway (couldn’t resist it) on my determined course (sorry) to becoming a fantastic skipper.

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