On Saturday 23rd I headed down to Premier Marinas in Swanick to help with a practical workshop that was being run by Urban Truant RYA Training Centre. The aim of the day was to familiarise new skippers with their own boats and give them confidence using some new skills. The outcome at the end of the day was to build knowledge and confidence when manoeuvring and mooring in confined spaces and keeping safe on the water.
I was teamed up with a doctor named Jo. She and her husband Matt owned a lovely sports boat but most of the manoeuvring had been done by Matt so his skill had started to gap away from Jo’s.
Content on the day
- Use of a kill cord
- Low speed/high speed handling – aware of speed and angle-of-approach
- Manoeuvring in confined areas
- Leaving and coming alongside – mooring into and against the wind
- Reversing safely
- Understanding the propeller effect
- Use of springs and warps
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Premier Marinas
The day started with a briefing from the Premier Marinas team about a series of activity days they are holding in 2016. They will be holding a International Certificate of Competence day, which you can choose to sign up for on 18th June 2016 and finally organising a channel crossing in September.
What we did…….
Following on from that and an introduction to the days format by Russell Lake of Urban Truant we went off to start the practical morning session. I was shocked to find that there was no kill cord being used. I can’t stress how important it is to use one enough. Read all about why in this article. So, after buying a new kill cord from Force 4 we set out down the Hamble River to blow the cobwebs away.
We practiced turning the boat using the elements to help us before coming along side and leaving pontoons in various wind on/off combinations. Jo did really well as her confidence grew and before lunch she was able to dock like a boss and spring on and off with ease.
As she had two young children (4 and 6 I think?) Jo was keen to practice Man Over Board manoeuvres after lunch so we went to Southampton Water and practiced this at the end of the Hamble. After an explanation of the theory Jo successfully retrieved Bob, the improvised man over board, three times. So we headed back and finished the day at 15:30. A great success and I’m sure she will get lots of practice now!
