sleeping on training boats

[BlueSkyNick]

One for the Instructors around here. The discussion came up amongst a few mates standing around a bar recently.

School profit margins are driven by filling the boat with punters.

Is it reasonable for somebody who signs up for a Practical course, Day Skipper for example, to be allocated their own berth or might they need to share a double with somebody else who is a complete stranger to them?

What happens if it is a mixed crew?

 

[SimbaDog]

If the need for sharing a cabin with a mixed crew came up I might consider a refresher course

 

[snowleopard]

I suspect that with the current trend to cram as many berths as possible into AWBs, particularly the two aft cabin layout, that this is going to be happening more and more. One of my crew on the ARC had turned down a berth on a Beneteau because he would have been expected to share a double with another bloke. (He wouldn't have complained if I'd asked him to share with our female crew but he didn't get the chance).

 

[shmoo]

If the need for sharing a cabin with a mixed crew came up I might consider a refresher course

I am not sure I would want to share a berth with a mixed crew. I would definitely ask whoever I was sharing with to come to a clear decision.

 

[Moodyjim]

It's a bit of a problem Nick, we just did two weeks on a school boat and I had to abandon the memsahib in the fore cabin to sleep on the saloon couch. I still didn't sleep much - but she did!!

 

[Boat44]

Did a course a few years back and we were packed in like sardines. There were a few mixed boats during the same week and the girls shared doubles etc.

I had to share a double with another chap (no girls on our boat ) There were six blokes on a Bavaria 36! With the skipper having one cabin by himself.

Is it reasonable given what you are paying? In my view no, I'm too old for that s****.

 

[blackdogsailing]

We would never dream of putting 2 strangers in 1 of our double cabins and at the very least I think the possibility of sharing a double should be made clear in the advert or contract.

Chris

 

[Deleted member 36384]

No - Separate

I was a full time instructor for many years with a West Coast Sailing School. No is the answer. Each student is to have one berth. The fore cabin is two berths and the saloon table double is a single berth. That was how we interpreted the instruction.

Normally the biggest person (widest) got the saloon berth. We sailed at a 5:1 ratio a lot but 4:1 is much better for a week.

Many courses were mixed genders. You just work it out. The girls usually had the fore cabin. I had a lot of courses with just one woman, every one gave her the respect and room she needed.

Back then a lot of boats still had pilot berths, so I always had my quarter berth and you could fit the 5 in no problem. We used Contessa 34's (great handling boat), Sigma 33's and later on Sigma 362.

 

[walker]

For me one of the things that made my first couple of sailing experiences (competent crew, then Day Skiper courses) memorable was that on each occasion I was allocated to share a berth with a really attractive woman who I had never met before.

Each time, we spent hours lying on deck in the early hours of the morning with a bottle of JD watching the stars. Each time, we retired down below and it might been the rugby club changing room for all the modesty that was preserved as we got changed. As it was, on each occasion the weather was fine so, as I always will if I can, I kipped in the cockpit.

I took and in fact still do take that as typical of a completely different attitude to such matters in the confines of a small boat. That may be naive, but as the vast majority of the sailing I do is with family I probably will never find out.

But even today I hang on to the idea that relationships in the confined quarters of a sailing boat are just different and the everyday nonsense is left behind. ...

Mark

 

[Fire99]

To be honest I'd hope people to lighten up a bit. It is a boat after all and I don't doubt it's hard enough to make money out of the courses.

OK mixed-sex doubles (with strangers) may be pushing it a bit. but sharing a 'twin' cabin with another chap isn't exactly gonna kill anyone.

 

[yelbis]

I have given this question serious thought Nick. On a training boat of usually 6 in total including skipper.... If its all fellas then sleeping arrangements are not usually a problem. If there is one or more females under the age of 85, then everyone including the skipper sleeps in the vee berth!!

 

[yelbis]

A singles dating, sailing school looks like a good earner!! Any investors send a P.M.

 

[jonjo]

but sharing a 'twin' cabin with another chap isn't exactly gonna kill anyone.

Quick someone send an email to the MD of TravelLodge, he is missing out on a profitable market.

 

[rjandhl]

We did our RYA courses some years ago on several "good old sea boats". My husband is over 6ft tall and does not fit into the forecabin berths on a Rival 36, consequently he was allocated a berth in the saloon and I shared the forecabin with a short brummie bus driver. We were all too tired and grown up to worry about it. A similar situation arose on a Contessa 32, he got the quarter berth and I had a pilot berth above the male instructor's saloon berth, all of which was OK until the pilot berth gave way and I landed on the instructor!
Pyjamas help to maintain a modicum of decency in mixed company!

 

[Twister_Ken]

And no one has yet mentioned snoring.

 

[fireball]

I had to share the forecabin with the only female onboard during our DazedKipper Prac ...

Just as well she was my wife!!

 

[curve]

I hate sharing cabins with anybody so if there is no other option I am always happy to sleep in the saloon.

 

[David_Jersey]

Is it reasonable for somebody who signs up for a Practical course, Day Skipper for example, to be allocated their own berth or might they need to share a double with somebody else who is a complete stranger to them?

What happens if it is a mixed crew?

Although I have no immediate plans to sign on for a course useful to know this happens. If this hadn't been raised I would assume my own bunk, not sharing a double with either a male or female..........but now I would check! Not because it worries me on principal, just on 3 practical aspects:-

1) Fat people they go splat when lying down and treble in size. 50% of a bunk is one thing. 10% is another

2) Snoring If someone snores on a small boat it's bad enuf, 6 inches from my ear is not something I would choose to risk.

3) Me - I have a tendency to be "restless" at night. Physically and Verbally. My David Beckham with Tourettes drowning in custard impression has scared the living cr#p out of a couple of partners when I forgot to mention this tendency Close proximity with someone I don't know too well when asleep seems to exacerbate things

If sharing with an unknown female I could get arrested

Having said that, I guess a crambed full boat equals cheaper course, so yer saves yer money and takes yer chances

 

[Deleted member 36384]

A singles dating, sailing school looks like a good earner!! Any investors send a P.M.

Woman only courses, gay courses, men only courses......just go looking and they are all on offer. The school I used to work for ran a couple of woman only courses a year with a woman instructor.

Dating school - a disaster, gropy old men and lustful old ladies all thinking they are onto a dead cert! Then all falling out. Not worth it.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Having said that, I guess a crambed full boat equals cheaper course, so yer saves yer money and takes yer chances

Normally schools offer the option of hiring the whole boat. That can be very cost effective for a family or group of friends.

The cost stays the same if the boat is filled by individual clients. If look at the course prices and do the maths its not a big earner on a single boat operation.

Hence the OPs point, if schools have to cut back on over heads by laying up a yacht, then the 4:1 ratio used as a selling point say 2 years ago, might be dropped for the maximum 5:1 ratio. I think the OP is right, there could be more full boats on some of the medium sized schools. Price dropping this winter for next year might be on the cards just so some smaller schools can get volume in 2010 i.e. fuller boats.