RYA Day Skipper training in a Classic Boat?

[mikepage]

Dear All,

Does anybody know of any RYA training establishments, preferably on the South East coast, that use Classic (wooden) boats in their Day Skipper training? I'd very much prefer to train in the sort of boat that I would like, one day, to own. Any ideas welcomed.

Best wishes,

Mike.

 

[Santana379]

Classic Cruising.

I did my Day & Coastal Skipper with them under owner/instructor Charles Telfer back in 1998 & 1999. My wife did competent crew and day skipper, and on each occasion we filled all the berths with other friends also on courses. That's not necessary of course.

The boat, Ragna R, is a 1938 Knud Reimers 53 footer - a very beautiful ex Army yacht (but not a windfall). She's so attractive that in Cherbourg harbour a Frenchman in a classic motoring by bowed to me, as I was the only person on deck. When I recounted this to the skipper he said "..and I suppose you looked all proprietorial" (which I had!).

Seamanship features more highly than than the number of arrows drawn on tidal vectors on the chart, and I have to say we still run our boat (a Maurice Griffiths, but plastic hulled) on the principles we learned on Ragna R.

She's Haslar based most of the time which I think fits your criteria.

The website is at www.classic-cruising.com

Little Knot

 

[ianwelsh]

I'd highly recomend Chris Sinclair at Select Sailing. Several of our members have done RYA courses on his yacht and they said it was a great experience
you can find him at
http://www.select-sailing.co.uk/

 

[T_S]

Hi Mike I took my CS Practical with Des Percel based at Burnham on Crouch. Thing is the course for DS or CS is not about handling a pacific type of boat, but how you plan a passage, navigate, MOB, docking etc.

To gain experience with what your looking for then look for people who are advertising for crew of that type of vessel!

Hope that helps......

 

[aqua_sax]

Hi Mike

Would be delighted to see you on Leopard - www.select-sailing.co.uk. Leopard is an ex Britannia Royal Naval College sail training craft, based on the Hamble, and we do the full range of RYA practical courses including Day Skipper. As Ian Welsh mentioned a number of Classic Sailing Club members have done Day Skipper on Leopard and enjoyed it (an passed!), and I have already had enquires from other members for next year.

Please feel free to get in touch - contact details all on the website above.

Regards

Chris Sinclair
Principal and Director
Select Sailing Ltd
RYA Training Centre

 

[ThomasBoard]

I had some ownboat tuition on my recently acquired classic yacht with Ron Lovelady in Portugal (Portimao Marina on the Algarve coastline). I can thoroughly recommend him, and he runs his seaschool on his classic schooner rigged Hillyard, offering all year round sailing in lovely (tidal) waters. He´s an ex Ocean Youthclub skipper, very relaxed style. It´s not South Coast, but you could do a course in the winter months for not much more than you would pay in the UK - cheap flights are plentiful to Faro International Airport, and from there it´s about 30 minutes taxi ride.

I would also recommend Charles Telfer as someone else said. I haven´t sailed with him, but he has generously given me much time on the phone when I was researching buying a classic and I would not hesitate to sail with him... if I was in the UK.

In case you´re curious, we live in Madrid in Spain but keep our yacht in Portugal at Portimao. We have a ´61 McGruer Yawl, 43 feet overall, in very nice condition... our first classic (last boat was a Bavaria!).

Best of luck,
Thomas