Day Skipper Course

[newboy]

I am just thinking about taking up sailing having spent a couple of weeks in Ibiza doing little more than playing, and a couple of days of more practical experience in Pembroke in a Laser.

What I would love to get some more information on is the following:

Good places / companies to do a RYA "Day Skipper Practical" course abroad?
What experience should I ideally gain prior to going on this course?
Any contacts for Sailing clubs in Swansea area where I might gain a little more practice crewing etc. before heading off?

Thanks in advance of your help...

 

[Jeremy_W]

>>Good places / companies to do a RYA "Day Skipper Practical" course abroad?
- a friend did a course with Gibraltar Sailing (guess where) and there are yachting schools in Portugal and the Canaries.
>>What experience should I ideally gain prior to going on this course?
You'll need 100NM, 5 days sailing and living on a yacht, 4 night hours plus a sound knowledge of the basics of navigation. The "Competent Crew" course covers the practical requirements (5 days is minimum - spreading it all over 7 days is better, IMHO). The Comp Crew/Day Skipper theory course covers the theory. If you're a total novice it's best to complete the whole course before trying DS practical. Yacht clubs and FE colleges run the theory course as a two-term evening course. Most yachting schools also run it as a 3-weekend or one-week intensive package. NMCS (and others) run it as a correspondence course.

>>Any contacts for Sailing clubs in Swansea area where I might gain a little more practice crewing etc. before heading off?
Try heading for Swansea Marina and just walking around and asking people. Failing that Mumbles SC is an active dinghy club on the Gower Peninsular. Either they'll have a yacht section or they'll know where their racing members head after
they have hung up their wetsuits.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

Just to reinforce what jeremy has sadi i would stae that theory is a must before you tackle the practicle. you will just not get the same out of the course if ypu have not done the theory. buy some books is also a good tip as chances to sial decrease as the weather gets worse so read!

the rya web site has a list of clubs and of schools in your area. you can do intensive rya day skipper and theory all in one week. it aint cheap but this time of year it is cheaper. the best i know in wales is at plas menai, check it out on the web all in one day skipper is £600 that is theory then practical. but before you do this get the miles in with some boats at your local club. wander doen there and just ask.

remember it is experience that really counts. donot be obsessed by the paper. the more you are out there the more you learn and you never stop learning.



Beer! Now there's a temporary solution.

 

[LeonF]

Difficult unless we know for sure what your couple of weeks amounted to, but I'd be tempted to suggest you do a dinghy sailing course accompanied by the Dayskipper theory over winter. When I did my dayskipper some years ago, there were students who belived that the way to start sailing was to do the Dayskipper theory and so much of it was meaninglessto them. Plas Menai is a very good centre. Remember, most great yachtsmenand women started in dinghies--it's the only way to really understand how to sail a boat.

L.A.R.Ferguson