georgeo
New member
Its like poking a fire isn't it! have just read all the replies from my previous post, and clearly, strong views are held by some! Can I just say that a) I agree with much of what has been posted and b) The purpose of me setting up this thread was that those people who may be interested can see what is involved, how much is achieved at each stage, and what benefits accrue in a forum where I would hope to illustrate both the many good points as well as some of the not so good points, free from editorial challenge (!) or the need to make good copy.
So, on with my tale. This part covers day 27-day 50, the middle part of the course. This was all based in Cowes and under the direct auspice of Flying Fish, with directly employed FF instructors (rather than freelance). What a difference! All the FF staff were highly professional, friendly and competent. The 2 bosses of the company, one of whom I crewed for in Cowes week were approachable and really wanted to see their clients do well and learn a lot.
The first week was taken up with YM theory, nuff said. Competently taught, lots of homework, we all passed.
Second week, race training in preparation for Cowes. We were split into crews, on X332s and drilled in all the various arts of racing sailing. Several 'newbies' had joined us for the racing fortnight, and we quickly settled into our crews and our allotted roles. main lesson I think was the importance of team work, I quickly realised that any one member of a crew, by cocking up, could lose any advantage gained by the crew as a whole. For me that was best illustrated by me dropping the kite too fast, and us ending up with a gigantic drogue anchor hindering progress whilst we drifted towards a lee shore! The only time I saw our skipper get a bit excitable! Anyway, no harm done and kite recovered undamaged, and lesson learnt.
Week 3, Cowes itself, 2003, hottest summer for years. What a spectacle. I loved every minute of it. But, I was fortunate, our crew bedded down well, despite disparity of ages and experiences and we were soon doing everything together, on and off the boat. On the other 2 boats, things appeared not nearly so settled with some clashes. No surprise then in our 'mini regatta' we came out tops, and indeed out of the class, came 8/23. pretty good really.
So what had been achieved? by day 50 of the course, from absolute novice, i had passed Comp crew, DS theory and practical, YM theory, and crewed on a relatively successful boat without cocking up (again), and had enjoyed myself thoroughly. Our belgian friend, of mature years, kept us all amused with his lothario antics. He was onto wife no 3, his current mistress kept him company for his YM theory course, and his wife for the racing! 'I loove then both so much I can't decide what to do' (!!). And kept us constantly amused on the boat by giving us tips for a successful love life, Belgian style. And also, he was jolly good as a tactitian, used to racing melges back home. Entry in my diary says 'must get on to a race boat when i get home eventually!' But much of this was due to our particular crew gelling well together under the auspices of a very good skipper. The experiences of some of the others on other boats was not so good. guess I was lucky.
So, about to start the third part. Some course members, after their Cowes experience, wondered whether they really had anythng more to learn. Australia was to prove that indeed they did, big time.....
So, on with my tale. This part covers day 27-day 50, the middle part of the course. This was all based in Cowes and under the direct auspice of Flying Fish, with directly employed FF instructors (rather than freelance). What a difference! All the FF staff were highly professional, friendly and competent. The 2 bosses of the company, one of whom I crewed for in Cowes week were approachable and really wanted to see their clients do well and learn a lot.
The first week was taken up with YM theory, nuff said. Competently taught, lots of homework, we all passed.
Second week, race training in preparation for Cowes. We were split into crews, on X332s and drilled in all the various arts of racing sailing. Several 'newbies' had joined us for the racing fortnight, and we quickly settled into our crews and our allotted roles. main lesson I think was the importance of team work, I quickly realised that any one member of a crew, by cocking up, could lose any advantage gained by the crew as a whole. For me that was best illustrated by me dropping the kite too fast, and us ending up with a gigantic drogue anchor hindering progress whilst we drifted towards a lee shore! The only time I saw our skipper get a bit excitable! Anyway, no harm done and kite recovered undamaged, and lesson learnt.
Week 3, Cowes itself, 2003, hottest summer for years. What a spectacle. I loved every minute of it. But, I was fortunate, our crew bedded down well, despite disparity of ages and experiences and we were soon doing everything together, on and off the boat. On the other 2 boats, things appeared not nearly so settled with some clashes. No surprise then in our 'mini regatta' we came out tops, and indeed out of the class, came 8/23. pretty good really.
So what had been achieved? by day 50 of the course, from absolute novice, i had passed Comp crew, DS theory and practical, YM theory, and crewed on a relatively successful boat without cocking up (again), and had enjoyed myself thoroughly. Our belgian friend, of mature years, kept us all amused with his lothario antics. He was onto wife no 3, his current mistress kept him company for his YM theory course, and his wife for the racing! 'I loove then both so much I can't decide what to do' (!!). And kept us constantly amused on the boat by giving us tips for a successful love life, Belgian style. And also, he was jolly good as a tactitian, used to racing melges back home. Entry in my diary says 'must get on to a race boat when i get home eventually!' But much of this was due to our particular crew gelling well together under the auspices of a very good skipper. The experiences of some of the others on other boats was not so good. guess I was lucky.
So, about to start the third part. Some course members, after their Cowes experience, wondered whether they really had anythng more to learn. Australia was to prove that indeed they did, big time.....
