I am heading to the dark side!

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Sulley

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Ok I am going to have to admit that I am shortly off to the Solent to do a 5 day RYA Competent Crew course on a sailing boat! :eek:

I am not quite sure what has come over me and don't worry I am not abandoning the Thames. I'll be back to tell you about rag and stick things.

Should be fun at this time of year, I am packing my wet weather gear!

Please be gentle :D
 
You will love it. We did Dayskipper last October and had a great time with First Class Sailing.

Just make sure you get to spend the nights somewhere with a decent pub.
 
Crikey Sulley, I thought you were talking about something else for a minute!!

Good luck, and don't forget the photo's then... :-)
 
Get there early so you can bags one of the rear cabins. The instructor will take the other.
Chances are the boat won't be full this time of year which makes life easier.
My other advice would be to take several disposable hand warmers.
A little heat makes a huge difference.
Which School are you going with?
 
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Talulah said:
Get there early so you can bags one of the rear cabins. The instructor will take the other.
Chances are the boat won't be full this time of year which makes life easier.
My other advice would be to take several disposable hand warmers.
A little heat makes a huge difference.
Which School are you going with?
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I am going with Sunsail as they gave me a good deal along with my holiday. I must admit I already had my eye on the rear cabin!

I have a full set of off shore waterproofs, sailing boots, thermals etc thanks for the tip about the hand warmers :-)
 
Did my ICC out of Burnham on a Dutch Barge taking a load of twitchers and seal watchers around the sand bars. A very genteel way to be examined and nothing flapping overhead!
 
Talulah said:
Have some sympathy for the instructor. He doesn't get paid enough to eat out every night but it could be worthwhile to split his meal with the other crew if it means you can eat ashore.
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I wouldn't rush to eat out on the South coast. IMHO Plenty of overpriced nonsense passing itself off as 'gastro pub fayre'. Awful restaurants too. The Italian in Cowes high street is probably the worst I've ever encountered. Better to eat on board and whip up a chilli or curry. The Folly Inn is ok for the portion sizes and atmosphere on a Saturday night. Don't know how it is out of season... Have fun and keep warm! Take some bags of mini chocolate 'assortments' - always popular even with a glass of wine at midnight. :D
 
Couple of points here worth noting...

The location is wrong, very wrong, you need to swap it for somewhere where the following will apply.

When learning to sail and in particular anchor you must be able to watch and more importantly see the anchor hit clean sandy bottom..

The wet weather gear must be replaced with swimming gear and used first thing in the morning and after a hard afternoons sail...

Tea and coffee needs to be replaced with juice and rum...

The only time you need to get on the M3 is when heading towards the airport to catch your plane somewhere hot..

Just my thoughts....
 
Richard Shead said:
Couple of points here worth noting...

The location is wrong, very wrong, you need to swap it for somewhere where the following will apply.

When learning to sail and in particular anchor you must be able to watch and more importantly see the anchor hit clean sandy bottom..

The wet weather gear must be replaced with swimming gear and used first thing in the morning and after a hard afternoons sail...

Tea and coffee needs to be replaced with juice and rum...

The only time you need to get on the M3 is when heading towards the airport to catch your plane somewhere hot..

Just my thoughts....
Click to expand...


Oh for GOODNESS SAKE! Thanks Richard!!! Now we're going to get RumPrate posting those vile photos in here AS WELL!
 
Richard Shead said:
Couple of points here worth noting...

The location is wrong, very wrong, you need to swap it for somewhere where the following will apply.

When learning to sail and in particular anchor you must be able to watch and more importantly see the anchor hit clean sandy bottom..

The wet weather gear must be replaced with swimming gear and used first thing in the morning and after a hard afternoons sail...

Tea and coffee needs to be replaced with juice and rum...

The only time you need to get on the M3 is when heading towards the airport to catch your plane somewhere hot..

Just my thoughts....
Click to expand...

Richard now you're just being mean :p

That's for the 2 week sailing holiday I figured if I can do the solent in February, Greece in the sunshine will be lovely :-)
 
Talulah said:
Have some sympathy for the instructor. He doesn't get paid enough to eat out every night but it could be worthwhile to split his meal with the other crew if it means you can eat ashore.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice...

After this will be Day Skipper Practical which we haven't booked yet.

I have 30 years experience with all kinds of motor boats however this will be the first with sail! I am rather excited about it :-)
 
I am serious impressed with your fortitude. Alternatively, are you mad? I hope you have plenty of warm clothing.

Hope you have a great time in learning how to sail a real boat. Remember to shout and scream at the inconsiderate, passing MOBO's :D
 
Hope you have a great time in learning how to sail a real boat. Remember to shout and scream at the inconsiderate, passing MOBO's :D[/QUOTE]

At least he will discover what working your rocks off to go nowhere fast, dressed in ridiculously expensive stuff that skiers and disco queens would not be seen dead in...is like.
 
I survived! We had everything from snow, rain, cold and sunshine! We also had some pretty good wind and got the boat really going, as a mobbie when the boat heals over the first couple of times I felt quite uneasy.

IMG-20130214-00193_zps6533ed18.jpg


Here I am obviously in my ridiculous stuff Oldgit, I am also a girl :-) Kept me warm and dry.

IMG-20130215-00200_zpsf9eebe92.jpg


The boat for the 5 days

IMG-20130215-00198_zps2d8355a6.jpg


I really enjoyed it and it was interesting to be on the rag and stick side. It also showed me that some motor boats really are completely inconsiderate and some are lovely. We did motor sail sometimes and had the motor cone up, of course we had a RYA instructor on board ;). I don't think I have crossed the Solent so many times in 5 days,

So next step is day skipper practical.....
 
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