What's the best way to build skills and confidence?

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sammers52

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I've just completed my Day Skipper practical and have done a lot of dinghy sailing. I'm now keen to get out and try my new skills but I am a bit nervous of chartering a boat without someone more experienced with me. Would flotilla holidays be OK for a beginner or does know of companies that run cruising holidays with an experienced skipper who can pass on their skills?
 
Hello Stammers52

Congratulations on the Dazed Kipper.

A very wise Instructor said that the DS was the hardest cert in the RYA syllabus as you move from doing to taking command.

Going out with somebody who is more experienced is great, but you need to make sure that you are quite clear who is in command at any moment in time. I often sail with people who are more experienced and we take turns in commanding and if things are going base-over-apex discuss what is happening and why (actually, I do this with everybody onboard), but the final decision is with the skipper of the day.

Contact the crusing holiday companies directly and discuss your needs, I've not been on one.
 
sammers52 said:
I've just completed my Day Skipper practical and have done a lot of dinghy sailing. I'm now keen to get out and try my new skills but I am a bit nervous of chartering a boat without someone more experienced with me. Would flotilla holidays be OK for a beginner or does know of companies that run cruising holidays with an experienced skipper who can pass on their skills?
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Just get out there and have a go is my advice sammers52. If you don't have your own boat find people to crew with. Charter boats where and when you can. Start with small trips locall and build from there. There is no set way, the more you do the more you know and enjoy it and feel in command/comfortable. enjoy the mistake as much as you can - we don't do mistakes/looking silly in this country well and it makes no sense. It's also how you learn best along with listening to people's advice/stories.
 
Choose your area with a bit of thought and as a Day skipper you'll be fine on a flotilla.

I would choose sailing holidays as they seem to be a bit more relaxed where some of the others seem a bit gung ho. (I don't know if they still do it, but they used to have a sacrificial strip of wood screwed to the bows so that if (when) you hit the quayside at very worst all they had to do was replace the strip of wood - or more usually point out that that was why they had a strip of wood there and suggest if you still felt guilty you could always buy themn a beer).
 
sammers52 said:
Would flotilla holidays be OK for a beginner
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A recent Dazed Kipper will be above the standard of many flotilla participants :). You should have no trouble whatsoever floating around Greece or Croatia.

You could also charter in the UK and are unlikely to come to any harm - but by all means get a flotilla or two under your belt first if this idea scares you.

Pete
 
Flotilla sailing is generally completely un-challenging, if you have a dayskipper you won't learn a thing, esp in the Md with no tides. Get hold of a boat and do what you learned on your dayskipper course, you're qualified, now practice it. The anticipation of the first time will be a challenge but tell yourself you've got the ticket, so you can do it. You'll be gagging to get out there the second time!
 
My wife and I passed last year. We've just got back from a three week cruise with the family on our boat. I think the key is to know what you are comfortable doing, we err'd well on the side of caution, light winds, easy 30 mile hops between nice marinas with whom we'd already booked a place. We still had our share of dramas, a broken engine to be exact, we dealt with them because we knew what to do and did it. We had a great time and are looking forward to pushing ourselves a little further next time. Highlights - Dolphins off Granville (loads of them under the boat and all around us) and the very early morning sail out of St Malo under a full moon on a huge spring tide. Just go for it - don't be afraid to ask for help (advice is free and you don't have to take it!).
 
sammers52 said:
I'm now keen to get out and try my new skills but I am a bit nervous of chartering a boat without someone more experienced with me. Would flotilla holidays be OK for a beginner or does know of companies that run cruising holidays with an experienced skipper who can pass on their skills?
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Flotilla holiday is ideal. You are actually in charge of the boat but as others have said, you'll be one of the more knowledgeable skippers. You get the confidence that the flotilla skipper is letting you know if there are any major concerns for the day and the lead crew are just a call away if you need help, but you get to skipper the boat.

Going straight to bareboat charter is not something I'd suggest for a cautious person with DS but not much experience. There's a bunch of things that won't have been covered in a DS course (med mooring, anchoring with lines ashore, choices to be made when the town quay is full). Better to get some tips under the auspices of a flotilla lead crew.

Skippers for skippered med charters don't tend to get paid much. Who you get, their level of experience and/or knowledge and their willingness/ability to communicate their knowledge to you might be luck of the draw. Plus you won't necessarily get the sense of achievement with someone else in charge on deck.
 
sammers52 said:
I've just completed my Day Skipper practical and have done a lot of dinghy sailing. I'm now keen to get out and try my new skills but I am a bit nervous of chartering a boat without someone more experienced with me. Would flotilla holidays be OK for a beginner or does know of companies that run cruising holidays with an experienced skipper who can pass on their skills?
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Unless you are able to go out with fellow club members, ring almost any sea school up on a Thursday pm or Friday am & get a low rate for a vacant space on a school boat.
There will always be one & don't pay top dollar.

This will allow you to go out with a variety of skippers/instructors, with an opportunity to crew for other DS candidates or even YM candidates. Much better learning opportunity, until you have your own boat.
 
Buy a small cheap boat and go sailing. Nothing quite like it being your own boat and all your own decisions.

Then come on here and ask why things didn't quite go to plan. :)

That's what if did / do.

Nothing beats actually doing it.
 
PhillM said:
Buy a small cheap boat and go sailing. Nothing quite like it being your own boat and all your own decisions.

Then come on here and ask why things didn't quite go to plan. :)

That's what if did / do.

Nothing beats actually doing it.
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Or even a dinghy (waits for flaming), get afloat any means any how and see how you get on learn form others mistakes its much cheaper :o.

More time afloat is best never turn down a sail (unless you are thinking it will be unsafe)..

Also see my signature out on Thursday for few hours if you are free...
 
Another vote for get out and sail.

Vary the sort of sailing you do. Sail anything you can within reason.

Just because you've got a skipper's ticket it doesn't mean you always have to be skipper. A mate who can grow into taking a watch can be very useful, especially if they realise they don't yet know it all. That'll give you experience without throwing you in the deep end straight off. Most of the major probs I've had to deal with as skipper I first encountered as crew and it is amazing how much easier it is when you are confident you can just fix it the way skipper X did the last time.

As others have said, Flotilla holidays & sailing school weekends are one option, albeit not so cheap. A bit more skippering experience and you should be able to charter more comfortably - some places will probably let you charter now even.

Don't buy your own boat until you've really got a bit more experience. I've met too many who have rushed out and bought their own boat after only a little experience. They generally plateau quite early on the learning curve. They can learn to muddle through by being extremely cautious but you'll become a far better seaman far quicker by learning from a range of experienced skippers before you put yourself in the position of learning on your own.
 
Just get out there. As in most fields of life, you'll learn the most and the best when it's most up to you. Don't put yourself in situations too far ahead of your ability: a respect for the sea is a healthy thing. But by staying within your comfort zone - by always going out with someone more experienced than yourself - when the **** hits the fan, it'll be he (she) who takes control, and what did that do for your experience and your confidence?

Just get out there. You know enough. Now it's about experience. You can do it. It's not rocket science.

And in sailing, if in any field of life, you never stop learning - so there's no room for complacency.
 
Flotilla, bareboat or just finding someone to crew with will all further your skills. Before you think about skippering the boat though the point Melody makes in one blog is excellent. Make sure you have at least one or two experienced crew and no complete novices unless you have people capable of looking after them. Apart from that go knock yourself out. I guarantee you won't be the best or the worst out there no matter what you do.

What I would say is don't push yourself too hard at first - you can get plenty of sailing whilst still enjoying your self without trying to go round Cape Horn but are less likely to have an incident that may damage your confidence in the early stage of "big" boat handling. As you've probably realised that incident is most likely to come at close quarters and low speed rather than out sailing - you already know what a standing gybe can be like.

Personally I love flotillas and it means your expensive charter has much more chance of being successful. People on hand to fix things or show how something works/what you're doing wrong (this usually is something like you can't get the fridge to work, at which point you are shown the circuit breaker you'd forgotten about, or something like that). You'll also have less to worry about sailing in a strange area (how to moor up, etc. more than how to sail), sorting out weather forecasts in a foreign country, where to go and when to get there to be sure you can get in, etc. - you can just enjoy the sailing. Don't think of it as formation sailing - in reality you simply have an agreed destination to head for and you can wander off on your own if you want as long as you get to where you're supposed to within a reasonable time to join up for the evening. You don't have to join in the party games or even socialise if you don't want though it's one of the best bits for me. The flotilla lead can even advise you on a place to go where you can have a quiet meal for two if you want. You can get the same thing if you do a skippered charter but it means you're not the skipper of course plus a family will have a "stranger" living with them, albeit a very nice one in my limited experience (and it is more expensive as you.

If you have new or nervous crew some companies offer a day or two tuition while you sleep on the boat at the base - this can be used to give you some more advanced training and to make sure you're all happy with the boat and each other's skill levels and capabilities. It also give the crew a chance to (hopefully) see the the instructor has complete confidence in you to handle the boat.
 
sammers52 said:
I've just completed my Day Skipper practical and have done a lot of dinghy sailing. I'm now keen to get out and try my new skills but I am a bit nervous of chartering a boat without someone more experienced with me. Would flotilla holidays be OK for a beginner or does know of companies that run cruising holidays with an experienced skipper who can pass on their skills?
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Just do it, its a hire boat!
I started with no skills at all on a 28 footer, me and the wife, never looked back. Still no clue like 99.9% of sailors....
 
Another vote for get out and sail as often as you can.

Im learning to sail on a Flying Fifteen, crewed on a Nic 43 last year but this year its just me and a mate on our own boat.

Leanring curve is steep, we have good days and bad days but we are always well prepared and not afraid to head for home if we feel uncumfortable. Indeed in our club regatta on Saturday the wind picked up alot and we decided to quit while we were still alfoat, rather than swamp the boat as we did a few weeks ago. The other fifteen where still out, but you have to make a judgement call based on your knowledge and experience. If you fail (as we did a few weeks ago) you have to take it on the chin and get right back out there.

Another thing which is good to have is a regular crew or be a part of a regular crew on a boat. That way you understand eachother well. Some crew will use the colour of the rope/sheet to tell you what they want or need eased on/off, some use the proper terminology, so switching between boats can be confusing. A crew which sail regularly together often work without being spoken to as they know what eachother are thinking.
 
Daedelus said:
I would choose sailing holidays as they seem to be a bit more relaxed where some of the others seem a bit gung ho. (I don't know if they still do it, but they used to have a sacrificial strip of wood screwed to the bows so that if (when) you hit the quayside at very worst all they had to do was replace the strip of wood - or more usually point out that that was why they had a strip of wood there and suggest if you still felt guilty you could always buy themn a beer).
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Given bows-to is rare in the Med, if the bit of wood was screwed to the bows, someone didn't know their stem from their stern!

(Though I did find exactly that misprint in a Collins dictionary years ago; I still have their letter thanking me for pointing it out!)

Mike.
 
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