Confessions of a sailing instructor # 3
October 24th 2006 06:38
A particularly windy (50 knot) day during a delivery
I have been lucky enough to be able to convert my old yacht into a sail-training vessel and by running my own school through the week at Lake Macquarie, I can still pick up enough work on weekends to be almost comfortable. Being able to teach Competent Crew and Inshore Skipper on the lake was not quite enough so now I am also taking small groups to the Baltic to sail and also to the Barrier Reef to race in the Hamilton Island series.
The hardest part of course is keeping decorum. When a bunch of Danish lovelys asked if they could take a swim during a particularly hot day I had no idea as I hove the boat to, they would strip naked! The water was cool and as they climbed back on board it was hard not to look at the goose flesh (and so on)
There will be a lot more work available as states decide that all boaters whether motor or sail have to be licensed. Somebody will be required to train them for their license. There are a lot of well-heeled early retirees who are in the market for their first yacht who know little about sailing but are planning a cruising lifestyle for their retirement. They expect to be well trained and bought up to speed on how to sail a yacht in a relatively short time. This is challenge for any instructor but it is being done by many.
Racing crew often need training. Many sailors become crew as a quick cheap and easy way to get out on the water and learn how to sail. Unfortunately many skippers don’t have time during races to teach, so the crewman learns how to use the port winch and maybe two seasons later gets to know how to use the starboard winch. This is a slow (but relatively good) way of learning how to sail and can be improved on by instructors that know their stuff.
I confess to being happy, suntanned and comfortable with my lot. I am not tired of sailing and I still look forward to the next lot of beginner students. Some students I have taught are off doing incredible things now. One has retuned from a summer cruise to the Antarctic, several are hitchhiking on yachts around the world and many have become integral to the race crews we see each day out on the harbours and lakes. I can recommend the life to anyone that wants to give it a go.
So with apology to The Banjo,
“I can feel the South wind blowing
And need the waves beneath me flowing.
I’m setting reefed main and number three
And no more of me will you see
Than a gurgling wake and a cheery wave.”
By Tom Nelson …
For more information
Y.A. 02 99224333
NSW Maritime 02 056 38511 (in NSW or equivalent in your state.)
TAFE colleges Brookvale, Ultimo. Tighes Hill (in NSW)
Any sailing school (try the yellow pages or look up training on the Y.A. site)
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