Sailing Basics for Skippers and complete rookies

I have received many comments about how to sail, where can I find more good information how to control sailboat and enjoy by. Honestly sailing is a hobby that you enjoy it when you learn more and have much more experience how to control boat. Good page that I have found on the web site about sailing basics is definitely skippercourse.com.

The web page gives you good advises and teach you complete basics about sailing and mention also some useful stuff for more experienced skippers. It is well explained in which direction can sailboat sail and how the boat is constructed. I am still amazed that you can sail with boat to almost any direction concerning the wind. You can sail almost against the wind or with the wind. All you need to do is trim the sail into the right position. There are many pictures on the mentioned page.

Basic of sailing are definitely knowledge about various sails. Small sailboats have only one sail from mast to the back of the boat. Usually most of the boat have two sails Front Sail (from mast to front of the ship) which is called Genoa or Jib and the Main Sail that is from Mast to the end of the boat called Main sail. There are various types of Main sail: Roll sail, Standard sail with lazy bag and not that often also roll sail on boom. For less experienced sailors it is advisable to use Roll sail, however if you want to get more from the sailboat then you should charter a boat with Lazy bag sail.

Preparing the boat and leaving the dock are definitely sailing basics. Those details are covered in details on the mentioned web site. What is the most important thing to do before you leave the dock. They have even basic check list to do before you leave the docks. Important thing from checklist: check weather, discuss with the crew, food and drink supply for the trip, navigation plan and of course secondary drive if there is no wind check power engine and the amount of fuel in the engine.

In my opinion site is really well designed and you will receive a lot of useful information. There are also good information about sailing schools especially one with RYA cerfiticate.

Day skipper theory: online

Is is really important to pass a skipper course, because you can control the boat on your own. However to do that you need to have a lot of basics and learn different situations where the boat (yacht or sailboat) can find itself. This is why every year more and more people enroll to various skipper courses.

Important question is where you can find all theoretical questions  for day skipper course before you go to exam or when you like to refresh your knowledge. It is better if those questions can be gathered on one place, online. Day skipper course last only one day but in that time you need to pass theory and practice of skipper knowledge.

Theory question consists of areas of navigation of the boat, map reading and orientation, lights on other boat and signalization, how good you know the engine and of course practical knowledge of knots and similar.

Practical course is more about handling the sailboat or motorboat in the sea. How you can manage to stop the boat and get in or out the harbor without the damaging the boat by hitting it to other boats or simply loose control of the boat. You can easily control the boat outside on the open sea where there is room for errors. If you do a wrong decision there is no yacht or sailboat which you can hit. But in a harbor or boats are closely together and you need to "squeeze" your sailboat into one particular space.

Skipper for a one person / individual

First thing to mention, observations below have become on my observations and do not specify all people or groups. Is it not unusual that one person rent a yacht or a sailboat for him self and beside boat it hire also a skipper.

Men of women who loves sea and probably does not have any one to go with them rent a sailboat for them self. Sometimes those individuals want to be on a boat for them self and need peace and quite away from any people.

In that spirit also time spend on the boat is function. Some people prefer quiet and do not speak with you/skipper most of time only when there is a necessary. However there are also people that are bored and would like to share with you every detail of their life.

There are a lot of cases when a rich widow or a husband that has lost his wife would still like to enjoy hobby that has share with his/her partner. When partner died, passion for the sport still exists and why not to enjoy this sport.

However I would like to mention when you are skipper to people of the opposite sex, people get lonely and sometimes they could expect more. In that case please keep the professionalism of the high level.

Skipper a yacht with a student group

First of all I would like to mention, as I have already mentioned, that here are written only my observations and are not always describing specific group. But in my opinion are most of the time true.

The youngest groups are teenagers but they do not go to sailing without their parents. However students do.  Student or people around 20-30 years go sailing probably because one of the participants is enthusiast and want to share his joy for yacht or sailboat with other friends. That person usually has all the knowledge to control the boat.

However there are times when students would like to go on sailing and do not have to sail. One of good example is party weeks that are organized for students. Company that is organizing that kind of trip is hiring skippers to take control over sailboat and look after participants.

You can get lucky and get a group of people that are not that wild. There were cases when people were parting on a sailboat during a day and have damaged so badly that helicopter was needed to transport them to hospital in time. Otherwise there are only some scratches and broken bones when people were drunk and were running on a unstable and not flat surface such is a sailboat.

Overall I think you should be careful and look over beside the sailboat or yacht also to your crew - students. In my opinion being a skipper to students is the most intense and exhausting part of being a skipper.

Being a Skipper to a yacht chatered by a few families

Various experienced that I have gain during my skipper Carrier is that you never know what kind of clients you would get. Sometimes you get along with one family and also a group of young friends and next time you just do not get along with some other group of people. However I have find out that there are some characteristics that are usual connected with a group or individual that is chartering a yacht.

Today I would share what kinds of characteristic have families. Usually family or few families charter a boat for their summer vacation. Probably kids go to school so they charter the boat during the holidays.

Skipper for a family

At least one parent or all them are interested in sailing and would like to spend quality time with their kids. However not all kids preferred sailing and are compiling that they would like to spend their holidays somewhere else, especially teenagers which would like to spend there holidays with the people of there age and are not happy when they need to spend it with there parents. Those kids mostly complain on leaning of sailboat and you need to travel around with your boat only with motor.

Parents could give you also some difficult times. When they want to impress there kids with there knowledge of sailing or how to control yacht and sometimes talking about gibberish that they do not understand.

However some families are just perfect to sail with. Kids are interested in sailing and parents are more then ready to help with the lifting sails and anchors. Be careful not to get wrong impression and mark nice family with bad badge.

5 reasons to hire a Skipper beside your yacht

Why is Skipper job important and why you should hire a skipper if you already know the basics of controlling the yacht? Find out what are 5 reasons for Skipper:

1. You should definitely think to hire a skipper beside your charter yacht when you do not have any experience with controlling of the boat. Skipper will take care of the sailboat or any other boat and will take you to your desired destination.

2. If you do not have many experience and would like to learn more about practical ways of sailing you should think of hiring a skipper. First of all you should not risk your lives and nevertheless it is pretty expensive if you damage the boat. You can ask Skipper anything about controlling the yacht and different rules on the sea. Skipper has usual many experience and can easily teach you a lot more then they did in skipper courses.

3. When you are sailing to a place that you do not know, maybe some new area or different country, you do not know where are all good beaches and bay to visits. Skipper is usual a local person that has been and explore all various bays and beaches. You can use a Skipper knowledge and he can be your personal guide to various hidden spots that only locals know about them.

4. A lot of people go to a yacht or sailboat to party. And when the party start usually there is no one who can be sober enough to control a boat. There were many cases when powerboat hit the mainland or different sailboat. This is not responsible only to yourself but you can harm others and there were also cases of deaths. So rather think about a skipper to control your boat when you are having fun.

5. On of the reasons when people are hiring skipper is just because they need a company. People would like to go sailing or cruising with a yacht but they do not have no one to go with. So they hire a skipper to give them a company and control a boat.

RYA (Royal Yachting Association)

As I have already mentioned on this blog RYA (Royal Yachting Association) is one of most world wide recognizable institution where skipper gets their knowledge about sea and boats. I would like to explain a bit about this worldwide organization.

Organization was founded in the year 1875 and was first named Yacht Racing Association. Institution was established to standardize rules to racing yachts. Later on the name and reputation from RYA spread and was named to Royal Yachting Association in the year of 1953.

RYA would like to spread the reputation even more. So they have a lot of activities and courses that you can participate. With this courses they would like to spread safety and awareness, raise standards and rank highly globally on various fields. RYA goal is definitely to be the upholder of boaters rights.

They are involved in many sports that are somehow connected with water: Sailing, Windsurfing, Motor Cruising, Sport boats, Personal Watercraft and Powerboat racing. I would definitely advise you to go to one of those courses and try to get the most from it. It is not just the prestige of the famous courses, but they also prepare you to various conditions and took care for the safety.

Organization RYA is organizing also racing events. As a RYA member you can participate in different programs such as Volvo RYA Champion Clubs, RYA Powerboat Racing, Skandia team GBR, Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship and other programs.

Different/Various Skippers

There a various skipper jobs and at the beginning you need to go through the same basic training but later you need to specialize for one area that are the most competent.

So in the beginning as I have already mentioned you need to pass basic course for controlling boats. This license gives you permission to control boats till 25 meters. However most of the skippers do later also specialization for various jobs that they will work at. You can specialize to sailing skipper, yacht skipper or powerboat skipper.

Powerboat skipper

Person who will like to control powerboat needs to control boat at high speeds where there are just a few milliseconds to act and do what is wrong. There is not any time for errors and errors could be fatal. Powerboat skipper is person who usually drive also racing boats and have a lot experience. There knowledge is not just "push the throttle to the metal" but also in what kind of conditions you can go faster and in what conditions you need to slow down.

Yacht Skipper

Usually those skippers have some other sailors that help them out with controlling big yachts. That kind of skippers are specialized in maneuvering big yachts, doing leisure yacht trips or sometimes a bit faster with a giant yachts that are not usually as maneuverable as you would thought. Yacht Skipper does the most work during the anchoring or getting in or out the marina, otherwise the riding with yacht is much easy to do.

Sailing Skipper

If you are sailing skipper you need to have a deeper knowledge of winds and how does the wind affect sailboat. Sailing skipper jobs is the most difficult when you are by yourself with lifting sails and tighten them up for the best positions while you are controlling the sailboat and checking that the wind is and how will it change. It is job that you can not predict the situation of the wind and you have to be on a constant watch. There are a few signs to see if there are refills of wind, but more of that in later chapters.

All of Skippers need to have a good basic knowledge of lights on boat, engines, ties and especially navigation if all modern devices broke down.

Skipper

I am a skipper and would like to explain what does skipper does. Being skipper is job where you control sailboat or yacht with a help of someone else or by yourself. Being skipper is a responsible task where you are responsible not just for a boat but also for all the people that are currently on the vessel.

Training for skipper is not easy. Depending on the country where skipper is located, skippered needs to pass basic skipper courses. Some countries have only theoretical exams where you become skipper for vessels as long as 25 meters without passing the theoretical exam. There are also countries where you need to pass separated courses for radio communications.

However one of the most recognized skipper courses in the world is UK RYA (Royal Yachting Association). There goal is simple and in my opinion pretty well thought of making standards for skipper license all over the world. The offer various courses for sailboat, powerboats, yachts, dinghies and so on and have already made a good name.

Skipper

However skipper is not just a "driver" of the boat. Skipper needs to take much more responsibility, sometimes you need to be also a guide, communicative person that can handle a different strange situations or person that can fix a boat when this is needed in bad weather.

Being skipper is not always easy. You need to get along with various people. From people that do not speak at all during the sailing or people who prefer to talk all the time and are sometimes more then annoying. And sometimes you are in a company of people that you do not like away from your friends and family for more then a month or two during the high season. However being a skipper is not always good.

But there are also times that weighted all bad moments with endless sunsets in an interesting company on the sailboat. Being skipper is more then a hobby, it is a life.