Today I'm depressed too

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Today I\'m depressed too

I wiil be doing my day skipper practical tomorrow, at the tender age of 69. My son, an even tenderer 23, was supposed to be doing it with me, being driven up from Lincolnshire by my ex.
I got a phone call from her this morning saying he had overdosed on his antidepressants, and there was no way he could come up here.
It turns out he had only had enough to make him dozy, and is now OK, but he was so worried about being clueless at yachtie terms that he chickened out.
400 quid down the drain, but at least he now seems a bit happier, and will come up for a couple of weeks.
Not the best of days!

 

[islandsailor]

Re: Today I\'m depressed too

sorry to hear that hope all gets better soon

 

[exfinnsailor]

Re: Today I\'m depressed too

Tell him not to get to stressed its not that difficult .. Have a great day youself .. We did ours in Gibraltar .. Worst bit was trying to get through a rock strewn entrance to a bay .. Most of the rocks were underwater .. We were under sail .. In a F4 .. Used a hand compass with a two back bearing off a lighthouse .. The closer you get the more tacks you have to put in .. The people on the beach must have thought we were mad .. Nice big expanse of blue sea and some idiot tacking backwards and forwards on ever shorter tacks .. Hope you have guessed by now that the rocks and bay did not exist .. The Lighthouse was real .. The crew were worn out .. But we passed ..

 

[nimbusgb]

Re: Today I\'m depressed too

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Tell him not to get to stressed its not that difficult ......

[/ QUOTE ]

No offence, but that approach is useless!

 

[westernman]

Re: Today I\'m depressed too

The day skipper is good fun to do - you will learn a lot (and not just about sailing either).

Whatever the outcome it will have been worthwhile and fun. Certainly not an exam to get worked up about. Anyway - he still has plenty more time to pass!

 

[saltyrob]

Re: Today I\'m depressed too

Hi Phil,

I have a friend in a similar situation who despite being capable suffers from anxiety when in circumstances that are outside the comfort zone,i.e test situations.It has taken quite a long period of calm patient support to build up a bedrock of knowledge and experience so that they have gained confidence.Its difficult and understandable for people who do not have first hand experience of these problems not to realise who debilitating they can be.Can I also recommend The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook ,by Edmund Bourne.It is useful to all parties and contains practical advice.

Rob

 

[Searush]

Re: Today I\'m depressed too

£400 seems a lot today, but is not much against peace of mind. Confidence is a funny thing, when you ahve it it's nothing & not valued. When you lack it, it is the worst thing in the world.

A paper certificate doesn't make you a better sailor, but the course & experience may. Pass or fail is not important, but the opportunity to learn is. Hope you can help him to understand this. Good luck & best wishes.

 

[Sailfree]

Re: Today I\'m depressed too

Can't comment on your situation but SWMBO & myself did DS in Gibraltar and both enjoyed it but instructors comment that the certificate only stated that everything necessary had been demonstrated to her notthat she knew it was a bit of a put down.

We did YM together at our club but SWMBO recognised that she had relied on me a fair bit so repeated it on her own at a sailing school.

SWMBO never fancied doing the YM practical. We started the Oceanmaster course togther but she found the maths too hard and we agreed that she drop out if it was not enjoyable.

I think doing these courses with relatives/partners can cause extra stress as its not just taking an exam but also not doing as well as your relative or as well as is expected of you.

We sail for fun I think its important that we also ensurte that training is fun which i think would be a lot more difficult if it became compulsary.