Skipper Refresher Course

Name: Skipper Refresher Course
Start: 2025-10-06T09:00
End: 2025-10-10T16:00
Location: Port Hamble Marina

Who is this for?

Already got a skipper licence and looking for a refresh?

Been a while since you were sailing and want a refresh?

Want to prep for your Coastal Skipper or Yachtmaster?

Not so confident about skippering alone (without your favourite co-skipper)?

This is for you!

It’s a course, but a relaxed one. We’ll cover the stuff you want to focus on.

What’s the objective of the week?

You’ll be learning new skills, refreshing some old skills, building confidence, and at the end of the week be an even stronger skipper than you were at the start.

Who is the instructor for the course?

I will be the instructor for this week, commercially qualified, professionally insured RYA Instructor.

Some of the skills we can practice

Parking

Pontoons, alongside and finger pontoons
With and against wind and tide
Med Mooring techniques
Line ashore
Ferry gliding
Sailing onto a pontoon
Single handed parking. It’s fun.

General power handling

Confined area turns
Using prop walk, prop wash and the pivot point to your advantage

Using warps and lines effectively

Springing off pontoons
“Spronging”, perfect for strong wind departures
Warping the boat around on the dock

Buoys

With and against wind and tide
Techniques in high winds
Sailing onto buoys
Single handed approaches

Anchoring

How to really pick a spot between boats
How to manage situations with other boats too close
Real tests of swinging room
Dealing with crossed anchors – we’ll practice it for real

Navigation

Complex navigation with shipping lanes, tidal constraints

Night sailing

Navigation, including pilotage in confined areas

Tidal bars, gates and overfalls

Sail repairs

Spinnakers

More effective hoists and drops
Inside and outside gybes
Dealing with a broach

Engine problems / basic maintenance at sea

Typical problems and how to deal with them (wrapped anchors, mast climbing, riding turns, jammed furlers, blocked heads…)

Heavy weather sailing techniques

How to deal with heavy weather if you’re caught out

We can agree our own “syllabus” before we go, it's only ZISC on board, with flexibility to tailor it to your skill and knowledge level.

Pre-requisite

A skipper licence of some sort.

What to expect

This will be a fun and instructive week of sailing, but also an intense course. We can pack in a lot of learning in 5 days. There is no formal syllabus or certificate at the end of this course. But you’ll be fully refreshed and fired up ready to hit the seas.

5-day course, Mon to Fri, onboard Sunday evening, finishes 16:00 Friday
ZISC RYA Qualified Instructor
Start and finish in Port Hamble Marina, Hamble, UK
Stay onboard the boat each evening
Small group, max four or five students
The boat will typically be 3 or 4 cabin, you may need to share or sleep in saloon (or pay for single cabin).
The Instructor is commercially qualified and professionally insured

Costs