Coastal Skipper - "Les Glenans"

[oldrascal]

Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

Thanks to all for your interesting advice and comments in another post regarding Coastal Skipper training.

As I sorely lack passage-making and night-sailing skills, I am leaning more towards a Course Completion certificate for the time being followed by as much good quality mile-building as possible.

As I understand it and as long as I have a minimum of 2,500 miles logged, I could then skip the formal Coastal Skipper exam and do a YM prep week followed by a YM Offshore practical exam. If I am correct, this is an interesting option.

But I have been reading reports about Les Glenans sailing school in France, either in Brittany or down on the Med.

Of course this is not an RYA course but as I am after the advanced training and experience and speak fluent French, this might be a possibility. Here is an article from the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2006/sep/09/france.sailingholidays

Although the language is not a problem, I have little experience of the French equivalent of the sailing terms we use every day. This might be quite a hinderance to progress perhaps. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Has anyone done a course with Les Glenans and, if so, what was the experience like?

 

[Dyflin]

Re: Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

The have two bases in Ireland ( http://www.gisc.ie/ ) and are highly regarded. Of course, you'd be cruising in the finest area in the world, but don't let that distract you /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jimbaerselman]

Re: Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

Snag with Mediterranean courses is that you won't get experience with tides. If you're a slower learner, that can be an advantage, because then it's much easier to learn the sailing and boat handling concepts without tidal interference. If you're a quicker learner (pass your driving test with confidence first time?) then you'd do best pitching straight into the tidal stuff. And that is important . . .

Glenans used to be very strong on motorless seamanship. Which meant very high tidal awareness in their original sea school, in the Glenans archipelago off western Brittany.

 

[Oliveoyl]

Re: Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

High recommendation for Glénans -one of the best, although I chose to go another route myself (a bit less spartan pehaps).
If they have bases in Ireland, probably easier to stick to English language. Have done all my practical sailing in French, all reading in English, and now doing RYA theory in English, so have to learn and translate at the same time.

 

[jezjez]

Re: Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

glenans wrote a classic "how to sail" manual which is amusing, too.
I doubt you'd have any problems with les termes nautiques if you are fluent in french, take you no longer than it would here.
Brittany has got to be more interesting to a sailor than the med...n'est pas, mais ami?

 

[goboatingnow]

Re: Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

If you have teh sea miles skip teh coastal skipper and go straight to the YM. The fact is its pretty much teh same exam and theory background. ( I actually think there needs to be some mods to thsi to increase the seperation, perhaps teh day skipper and coastal needs to be amalgamated.

 

[wotayottie]

Re: Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

[ QUOTE ]
..n'est pas, mais ami?

[/ QUOTE ]

Back to school! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[longjohnsadler]

Re: Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

Glenans at Collanmore in Clew Bay is very impressive (I was moored off there last year) but it's only a dinghy sailing outfit as far as I could see

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Coastal Skipper - \"Les Glenans\"

There's a new Glenans manual and it's excellent. I have one. I'm sure they find us amusing too.