Saturday 10th October
Another good days sailing but with a fairly in auspicious start! There wasn’t a huge amount of wind in the morning but well all got stuck in and enjoyed ourselves. I was able to practice new techniques like sailing without a centreboard and sailing with only a jib. This was interesting and as usual it’s good to learn new skills. In the afternoon however we decided to take out the much bigger Ludic training boat. All five of us went on it and we got the spinnaker up; each of us got a turn at the helm which was great because we were all given the chance to sail a boat with a spinnaker; fast! This was hugely fun and I hope the everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did!
Saturday 17th October
This was possible the worst start to a day’s sailing I have ever had! The day started very still and misty; in fact it was so still the mist and water melded into one. We spent the morning on land brushing up on our theory; this was both informative and useful because it gave us a chance to remind ourselves of what we had forgotten! In the afternoon we got to try out our teaching skills with the Sailing Club sailors; we took them out to play various games. This was slightly difficult at the lack of wind meant that we had to paddle ourselves around the course! It was however fun and informative and I really enjoyed it.
Saturday 24th October
We had a completely different experience today! The wind was very strong; certainly between 5 and 7 on the Beaufort scale and very gusty! While the other sailors stayed on land the sailing academy students took to the water (albeit two to an RS Feva with a reefed main sail). It was, however, one of the most exhilarating things I have done in my life. After just sailing for the sheer enjoyment of it we decided to perform the ‘picking up a mooring’ manoeuvre. This went better for me in high winds than it had in the lighter winds on previous weeks.
After lunch we stayed on land because the wind had picked up further and no one would have been able to keep a boat upright. On land we had the chance to practice another important skill for instructors: keeping people amused when they can’t go out because of the weather! We played various team games and really enjoyed ourselves.
