Learning the ropes

[Wansworth]

The lateJonathan Raban wrote that he engaged the services of a retired naval Commander for two weeks to instruct him in all things nautical so he went from a complete beginner to being able to set off on his round Britain cruise back in the 1980s.Raban taught him self the navigation in the evenings whilst the commander instructed in engine maintenance,checking the bilges and steering by compass aboard Raban 32 foot motor sailer.For a beginner this could be a sort of fast track to getting out on the salty main.His book Coasting is well worth a read by the way.

 

[justanothersailboat]

Hmm, I didn't get on too well with Coasting - and I had expected to as I quite enjoyed Old Glory.

Being taught personally, one to one, by someone who really knows their stuff can be rather good though.

 

[LittleSister]

Being taught personally, one to one, by someone who really knows their stuff can be rather good though.

Though you don't learn what they don't know, and might even pick up a few bad habits!

(I am not against it, though.)

Hmm, I didn't get on too well with Coasting - and I had expected to as I quite enjoyed Old Glory.

Have you tried 'Passage to Juneau'? I think it's an amazing book, on the face of it an account of another sailing trip, but really about life, the universe and everything, all expertly and beautifully woven together.


P.S.
The image below is nothing to do with this thread, but I can't work out how to delete it!

 

[justanothersailboat]

Funny you should say that LittleSister, Passage to Juneau was on my to-read list, I happened to get hold of Coasting first and after that I forgot about Juneau, I should get over that and try it. Thanks for the reminder.

And I did say can be... then again, the moment you realise you've outgrown the ways someone taught you, can be rather fun too.

 

[Wansworth]

I was taught to steer a coaster pretty dam quick by the skipper who had a fund of acid comments about a jumped up yachtsman

 

[johnalison]

I did most of my learning either on the Broads where if you didn’t do it right you hit something, or in my Firefly where the penalty for failure was getting wet.

 

[DownWest]

Did my learning in dinghys from 3 or 4 yrs onwards, then racing cruisers in the 60s. Mostly on the East Coast after the Lea. My mother was delighted when us children became heavy enough to crew..so she didn't.. I seem to remember we got chosen by weight for the wind of the day..

 

[LittleSister]

. . . in my Firefly where the penalty for failure was getting wet.

Been there, done that!
(Firefly sail number 1961 (not the date - built 1957 IIRC), 'Scampi', sailed single-handed and with wettings on various occasions. Character forming! )

 

[Wansworth]

Unrelated,I noticed Firefly sailers had better luck with err the opposite sex

 

[justanothersailboat]

Well lucky them!

Back to the original topic, I don't recall getting much of a sense from the book as to whether what the retired naval commander taught, was really the right lesson for English coastal cruising. I suppose it must have been as he did fine.

I do remember reading a bit where Raban complains about the shining new white fibreglass boats of mere weekend sailors and thinking that nearly all those boats are "MABs" today, some of them are "classics", and that I am perfectly happy to be a weekend sailor in a fibreglass bathtub, thank you very much. My boat may even have been one of the ones he complained about (right place, right time. I hadn't even been born yet!)

 

[Wansworth]

Like tourism that in many places has altered the very thing that was the attraction as yachting became affordable and popular the silent anchoragesbecame overcrowded and marinas swallowed up marsh land or moorings.We are all part of this progress…….luckily most boats stay tied up and the week days are still fairly devoid of wretched white bath tubs…….or as in the wonderful rias of Galicia almost empty even though the sun is shining and there is a steady breeze

 

[winch2]

Learning for me came from ole dad every other weekend 50 yrs ago in his Folkboat. In fact I didn't sail a "proper" twitchy dinghy until I was 35 which was an experience....But was I really taught as such?, More a proces of osmosis really. He did something and I sort of remembered, appears to have worked.. morelesss.

 

[Daydream believer]

My father bought me a 12ft clinker gunter righer dinghy. Me & my mate set it up on the beach & waited ages for dad to turn up. When finally he did he asked why we had not gone sailing. I said that we were waiting for him to take us out. He said thayt he did not know what to do & we should get on with it. so at 11 years of age we just pushed it out & went sailing. He then built a silhouette (which he never sailed)& at 12 my mate & I took it for a weekend cruise. The story about it won me a competition. I sailed it for a while but got bored of it. At 16 he bought me a hornet & I joined Stone SC & I have been a member for the last 61 years.
He bought me a new Stella for my 21st & that was the start of my cruiser racing days. But I also had dinghies & sailboards.

 

[DownWest]

Aged 11, I asked my father about having my own dinghy, having cut my teeth on the Fleetwind and Cadet (bought for us kids to take part in races at the local club)
He said ' Build one' So I did.. Quite literally designed on an envelope. He supplied the ply and I managed it in a week, in time for our anual holiday in Cornwall. Little c/board boat like an Oppi. Made the sail out of a parachute section... Not great to windward, but all my own and huge fun.

 

[Wansworth]

Aged 11, I asked my father about having my own dinghy, having cut my teeth on the Fleetwind and Cadet (bought for us kids to take part in races at the local club)
He said ' Build one' So I did.. Quite literally designed on an envelope. He supplied the ply and I managed it in a week, in time for our anual holiday in Cornwall. Little c/board boat like an Oppi. Made the sail out of a parachute section... Not great to windward, but all my own and huge fun.

What a great Dad you had

 

[Daydream believer]

What a great Dad you had

Life was not all sweetness & light & I still have flashbacks which scare me.

 

[ylop]

The lateJonathan Raban wrote that he engaged the services of a retired naval Commander for two weeks to instruct him in all things nautical so he went from a complete beginner to being able to set off on his round Britain cruise back in the 1980s.Raban taught him self the navigation in the evenings whilst the commander instructed in engine maintenance,checking the bilges and steering by compass aboard Raban 32 foot motor sailer.For a beginner this could be a sort of fast track to getting out on the salty main.

am I missing something? Paying someone for 14 days of solid instruction including learning in the evenings on theory? Isn’t that just a high intensity version of the RYA approach but with someone less qualified in instructing and perhaps less experience of handling small boats short handed (or with crew who do not do exactly as requested)….

I’m sure if you someone with no previous experience offered an RYA school the right money then for 14 days instruction you could get from no previous knowledge to able to hop from port of port…

 

[Wansworth]

Life was not all sweetness & light & I still have flashbacks which scare me.

Yes,If only parents remembered their childhoods

 

[Wansworth]

am I missing something? Paying someone for 14 days of solid instruction including learning in the evenings on theory? Isn’t that just a high intensity version of the RYA approach but with someone less qualified in instructing and perhaps less experience of handling small boats short handed (or with crew who do not do exactly as requested)….

I’m sure if you someone with no previous experience offered an RYA school the right money then for 14 days instruction you could get from no previous knowledge to able to hop from port of port…

No doubt,but his commander was there on the spot inFowey

 

[Daydream believer]

Yes,If only parents remembered their childhoods

Perhaps not. A speaker from the NSPCC, at one of our Round Table events, said that children who are cruely treated, often treat their children in the same manner.