Its nearly 11pm and I’m lying in bed in my lovely cabin on Nashira. When Alan gave us our briefing last night, he said he always tried to make his sailing trips fun, but then corrected himself, and added, “well, apart from things like yacht master prep of course” It was with this thought that I barely slept last night, but now the day is over, I really have to disagree!
It has been a full on day, up at 7am and ready to work by 8. We all had a civilised breakfast together then started on a full boat briefing. That finished, it was time for some close quarters boat handling.
Tim took to it very well, he has been handling boats for many years, and the super yacht he currently works on has a tender bigger than our boat which he uses, and it shows – well done Tim. Well, I’m a midwife who normally (when she is not pretending to be a skipper!) works in the midlands, and the biggest thing I get to drive apart from my ford focus is a hospital trolley! I’m rather too afraid at times of the throttle and my big end, but today has found me growing in confidence.
I now feel confident in handbreak turns (yes, you read right) and really rather enjoyed throwing a 36ft yacht around the marina this morning. I was asked to bring Nashira back to her berth, reversing in. I was grateful for the practice I put in yesterday, and brought her round confidently, to which Alan said “that was near perfect” I almost felt the joy Steven Jones experienced at their victory yesterday against Fiji in the world cup as I punched the air triumphantly! You can’t begin to imagine the joy I feel at finally feeling I can control the movements of a boat, it is lovely!
We then continued to “pontoon bash” as we tried different techniques at bringing a boat on in gales – bow end on and lassoing a cleat as well as mid ships slip lasoos – and its good to see how well they can work.
Our day continued with picking up buoys, then finally anchoring for lunch in Fishcombe. As if Brixham isnt beautiful enough, this little cove just off the breakwater is an absolute haven!
Not long to relax before we headed off towards Dartmouth, heaving to along the way, then tacking, gybing, and generally practicing sail trim.
Alan, as I have already mentioned, is a good instructor, but whats amazing is how he also managed to organise the weather for us! It was glorious when we were doing our close quarters work, and also during lunch. Now we are heading towards dartmouth, he managed to arrange a little fog so we could discuss sailing with poor visibility, then along came high winds and gusts which necessitated reefing.
With some little cocked hats on the way (three point fixes), and pilotage into Dartmouth, we relaxed on our journey up the river and picked up the very same buoy John and I had on Friday night. This time we did it by bringing the buoy along our starboard side, and relying on our propwalk and someone lying down on the pontoon with a line leading from the bow, the buoy was picked up and the line thread through by hand – it worked so well!
Our journey over, we sat and enjoyed a cuppa, but still the work continued, and, like a coiled spring, I awaited the next round of questions from Alan “tell me Jill, if you had two vessels sailing along with the boom across different sides of their boats with a risk of collision, what are the regs” “tell me the features of an east cardinal” and with a card flashing across my face – tell me what vessel this is, what the lights signify and its aspect” the questions kept rolling in, rolling in.
However, its time for dinner. I’m glad to say that my menu planning is now paying off thank goodness. Many men state they “can’t cook”, well, sorry guys, but I knew very little about diesel engines before this summer, but I can clean out the water filters, check the oil, recognise when the alternator belt is in poor state of repair and change a shredded impeller – so I’m sure a spaghetti Bolognese isnt beyond any mans grasp! John has said this, yet he sorts breakfast (including boiled eggs – which I think is cooking!) and Tim got on the boat yesterday saying exactly the same thing. So – I have presented them the menu and am delegating!
I put out the packets of chicken kiev, the bag of penne pasta, the pasta sauce, the packet of carrots and mange tout and gave Tim a galley briefing!
Thanks Tim – dinner was lovely, and John cleared away!
Alan has given us a lovely de-brief of the day and has given Tim and I individual feedback. I’m pleased to say that he thinks I have performed well today, and, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice, said he has rarely met a woman doing yacht master before who commanded the boat as well as me…….at last – being bossy is finally paying dividends!!
We have all worked hard today, so Alan felt we deserved a bit of RnR so over to the shore we went in the dinghy to the Ferry Boat Inn.
Lovely beer there I must say, but now my bladder is paying the price………..Goodnight, I think!
