TopCat Cruising School and Seanavigate.com

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DAY SKIPPER PRACTICAL COURSE

What is RYA Day Skipper all about? Well, it's a great holiday afloat, with loads to learn while you're at it. Some of the subjects covered follow in brief;

1, Preparation For Sea. We can't just pull up the hook and get going. There are engines to check, gear to stow and crew to brief.
2 Once we're away, you'll learn how to control the scurvy crew when reefing, mooring, anchoring and in all sorts of different situations.
3, Navigation. Not just the stuff you learnt in that shore-based course, but how it really works at sea. Very different!
4, Pilotage. The hardest part of navigation. Getting the boat into strange harbours is a large part of the course.
5, Weather. Governs the small boat sailor. You must understand it.
6, Rule of the Road. Can be learnt from books at home first, but applying them at sea takes a lot of practice.
7, What do we do when the sails tear, the engine coughs and dies, or God forbid, the toilet blocks! As a skipper, you have two choices - call for help, very embarrassing and unnecessary, or get on with fixing it when you've learnt how.
8, Emergencies. In our sailing careers, no matter how careful we are, things go wrong. How do we recover a man overboard? What if someone gets injured and we need a helicopter? There's a fire? There are many more.
9, Parking is something we spend loads of time on. More damage is caused by bad manoeuvring in marinas than ever by crashing into rocks.
10, If the engine packs up, can we get the boat in without it? You will learn to moor, anchor and sail in confined areas - probably the trickiest bit of the whole lot!

Please note that you should be able to sail to competent crew level before attending this course.

Day skipper is exactly what it says. By the end of it, you will be able to take out a small cruiser by day, in local waters and in good weather as the skipper - and practice what you've learned safely.

Booking Form & Prices

To contact TopCat e-mail to : Jim Duerden (Principal)

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Last modified: January 26, 2010

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