Skipper Refresher Course

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

• Course fee £800
• Includes boat rental, instructor, marina fees, fuel
• Includes free breakfast and lunch
• Excludes dinner and drinks ashore. We will mostly eat dinner shore.

Get in touch with any questions, Grant

For more info

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone / Whatsapp: Grant +33616480212