I had a sailing lesson today with the Irish National Sailing Club. The lesson was a short version of the Level 2 Sports Yacht course - I had a two day course in one day. As I was one-to-one with my instructor (Donncha), I was able to complete all of the tasks associated with the full course. Unfortunately I don't get the Level 2 certification - this requires the full two days on the water.
The boat was a Squib - like the one in the picture here. It is 19 feet long and quite a nice sized boat to sail. One person can manage sailing in this boat. It has a fixed keel which makes it too awkward for me to actually own one - it would need a mooring and also would not fit into my new shed in Wexford. I found tacking and jibbing a lot easier today than before - basically I am getting used to it. I also had to learning how to pick up a mooring, to come alongside a both a moored boat and a pontoon. and recover a person fallen overboard (which was a buoy). Very enjoyable and I got the hang of things quite quickly.
All of the sailing was inside Dún Laoghaire harbour, and the wind was a nice breeze in the morning session. However, after lunch the wind died down to almost calm and there was not much we could do. We finished up at about 3 o'clock. All-in-all - a very enjoyable lesson and confirms my belief that I should get a small sailing yacht.
No comments:
Post a Comment