Notes from a Sailing Newbie
I joined Yeadon Sailing Club having completed an RYA Dinghy sailing course at Leeds Sailing Centre around 18 months ago. At that stage, I started regularly attending the Tuesday night training sessions at the club. This was a great opportunity to meet other club members and improve my sailing skills in the club boats.
I’ve never been the patient type though and I soon took the plunge and purchased my own boat. I wanted something cheap that I could sail single- or double-handed. The Mirror seemed to fit the bill and I bought one advertised on the web. In hindsight, I rushed into this purchase but it proved a very forgiving boat to learn in.
During my first year, I got interested in racing at the club and I found this greatly improved my sailing skills. My fellow racers were very accommodating of my limited racing skills and knowledge. I was made to feel very welcome on the ‘racing scene’ and moved my sailing to the Wednesday night race series.
I’ve taken a couple of other sailing opportunities which I’ve really enjoyed. The first was to attend two Mirror open training sessions at Ripon. I learnt a lot and got to sail somewhere new. The second was to visit Grimwith Reservoir for some further race training with other members from the club. Sailing on such a large piece of water was a great experience. I’ve never hiked out for so long; my legs were killing me.
I was advised at one of the Mirror training sessions that the best way to improve is to set goals. My goals for this year have been to change class to something a bit faster (no offence to my Mirror sailing friends) and to avoid being the last boat home in that class. With this in mind, I’ve purchased a Laser and taken part in a few races. It’s early days for my Laser sailing but so far so good.
Earlier this year, I completed the RYA Day Skipper Theory course. This gives you the basic theoretical knowledge for navigating your way around familiar waters in a ‘big boat’. I was keen to get some practical experience so I booked a weekend skippered yacht charter from Hartlepool to the Farne Islands, Northumberland.
I arrived at Hartlepool Marina and, after a safety briefing, we stowed our gear and set off. There were nine of us on board Black Diamond, a 10-berth, 45ft ocean-racing yacht. We had a very light Northerly wind ‘on the nose’ and, unfortunately, this meant we wouldn’t be seeing much of the sails for our 65-mile journey up to the islands.
We travelled through the night using the engine to make good progress. I was on the 10pm till 2am watch along with three others. It was so calm it was eerie and a patchy fog creeping in didn’t improve things. I hit the bunk at 2am and awoke to a full English breakfast. We ate this on deck while lying at anchor between the Inner Farne islands. It was a beautiful morning: calm, sunny and interrupted only by the sound of sea birds and seals on the nearby islands.
After a hearty breakfast we motored clear of the islands and hoisted the cruising chute. The wind was still very light, so we tried a few sail combinations to try and get some extra speed but we had little success. Later that day we arrived at Royal Quays Marina, Newcastle and enjoyed an evening meal and a few drinks in a local floating restaurant.
We set off the next morning to make our return trip to Hartlepool. Unfortunately, the wind direction had changed 180 degrees and was now hard on the nose as we headed South. Once again we made slow progress reverting to the engine on several occasions. This gave us an opportunity to practise some position-plotting on paper and with the boat’s electronic chart plotter.
We arrived in Hartlepool and waited for sufficient tide to pass through the lock into the marina. We used the time to practise some man overboard drills, which is great fun trying to stop a 45ft yacht accurately. I enjoyed the trip a great deal and I’ve already got another one booked for later in the year.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my last 18 months of sailing and I’d like to say thanks to everyone who’s encouraged and helped me along the way.
Richard Barker
Laser 131945
