Rob Scott is someone we have got to know well and now count as a friend as he has made his way along his sailing journey. Having chatted to him about what his journey has been like, we managed to twist his arm and get him to write about it so we could share it with you. Thanks Rob.
All my life I have dreamt of living near the water, and I guess my adventure started as a 14-year-old taking his RYA Dinghy Sailing qualification. Many years later after parents divorcing, getting married myself, having 2 children and a busy career, I found myself at the age of 50 wanting to do something else other than work and be a family man. I wanted an adventure of my own…. but I live a long way from the coast or any major stretch of water.
One of my bucket list items was to go on a large yacht at least once in my life and after a particularly stressful day at work my wife found me looking into sailing courses. I read some blogs and found myself dreaming more and more about a future on the water.
Within around 30 minutes I had read enough. I’d done the checks on a variety of sailing schools near me and my wonderful wife said go for your dream. I booked an RYA Competent Crew Course split over a 2-day weekend and a 3-day weekend.
It had been over 35 years since I had been on a boat, and I nervously arrived and introduced myself to Andy our instructor and the rest of the crew on the course made up of a married couple doing their Day Skipper and another couple joining me for Competent Crew. Well, the course was amazing and within hours I was hooked with dreams of the lifestyle I had missed, the challenges, the freedom and the sheer enjoyment of being in control of such a large vessel.
Learning the basic skills needed to be a crew member was fantastic and as with all things I try to do my best and learn as much as possible. In particular, the night sail on that first course was amazing. Although I only did as I was told by the Day Skippers, the freedom of the night, the danger, the stars and wind and total inability to see where we were heading and the comprehension that sailing at night brought a new skill level just filled me with excitement and further dreams of being able to do the Skipper bit. The end of the course came, and I left not only with a shiny new Comp Crew Certificate, some new friends but also the realisation that this wasn’t to be the end of my sailing adventure.
Almost immediately booked onto the next course, keen to learn and enrolled in a Shore based RYA Day Skipper Theory Course. I won’t lie the initial realisation that there was so much to learn, coupled with it being 30 years since I studied anything, and the fact I was running my own business and no time to study or energy to take in the new learnings began to give me doubts about my ability to progress. At the same time I also took the RYA Marine Radio Operators 1-day course whilst taking the Day Skipper Theory.
I remembered Andy telling me that ‘YouTube is your friend’, and slowly with many hours of study came the exam day. I passed the exams successfully and was then very excited that I could get back onto the next Practical Training – the bit I really loved!
The RYA Day Skipper course again with Andy as our Instructor and it did not disappoint. The night sail again was amazing with us planning and executing a 5-hour sail, ending in picking up a mooring buoy in the dark. Lots of other skills where we coordinated our ‘crew’, with man-overboard, gybing, tacking, close quarters boat handling, and navigation – putting things we had studied into practice in real-life situations. I learnt several things about myself; that I really don’t know the difference between clockwise and anti-clockwise as I continually tried to load the winches the wrong way round! Andy doesn’t miss a thing and was always there to help me and I finally got it.
There were several people on my course doing Day Skipper with me, which of course meant a mixture of skill and experience, but with Andy’s expert tuition, we all passed the course just fine. My journey had really begun and as I proudly drove home to show my wife my shiny new Day Skipper Certificate. But I was already thinking of the next steps.
Despite my wife having always said that this was (and to quote) “your hobby”, I booked a Nielson Sailing Flotilla holiday to the Greek Ionian Islands for the two of us (Sep ’22). It wasn’t until after paying for the holiday that I realised that in addition to me having my Day Skipper & ICC qualification, I also needed one of the crew to have some experience on a boat to fulfil the booking requirements. What to do? Andy Barnes to the rescue! I contacted him and we arranged a one-day introduction to sailing for Alison, where he covered the basics of the boat and what to do should I happen to fall overboard.
It turned out to be another brilliant day and I needn’t have worried that Alison wouldn’t enjoy it as she loved it. Andy left me with Alison on the helm under sail and went downstairs to the galley and as we turned a corner on the River Orwell the wind picked up and the boat began to heel over. I could not see her face at this point as she gripped onto the wheel and I thought in my head this could be the end of us sailing as a couple! I slowly edged around to the front of her and instead of a scared worried and anxious face I was met with a massive grin of exhilaration… so fantastic. She later told me she felt a huge sense of achievement being on the helm and enjoying it.
Alison and I went on our first sailing adventure and had an amazing holiday sailing around the Greek Islands in a flotilla. For me my dream, had become reality. I was in charge of a sailing yacht on my own. Of course I was nervous about whether I really had all the required skills, but the Nielson staff were amazing and super encouraging.
We had a blast - amazing scenery, great weather and the freedom to enjoy the sailing. I even impressed myself. Andy had given me tuition on ‘Med Mooring’ (as its slightly different to what we do in the UK), but even that went without a hitch. We had told ourselves that if we hated it, we wouldn’t do it again. But we returned to the UK full of amazing memories and dreams and pride in the fact we were probably the only ones of our friends and family who had experienced this adventure. It all turned out to be one of the best holidays of our life. Even the cold showers in the Greek Tavernas didn’t put us off rebooking for this year (2023)!
After the Flotilla I wanted to keep getting hours under my belt and despite struggling to find the time, I managed to help a friend do a yacht delivery of a Viko 35ft from Ipswich to Southampton over a 3-day passage. I also signed up to ‘Crewseekers.net’ and joined a couple a great lads on a 3-day sail around the Solent on a Hanse 385. Again, this was superb although I have learnt that a good amount of research should be done before jumping on boats with people you don’t know and without finding our more about the Skippers skills and experience and what safety equipment they have!!
Having become friends with Andy, when I heard he and his wife Kathryn were setting up their own sailing school (Academy Sailing), I offered to help him bring Dream Odyssey home to Burnham-on-Crouch from Portland, Dorset where she was currently berthed. So before I knew it I was on board! The boat was beautiful and not only was I getting the hours on a boat I was wanting, I also had the opportunity to learn a great deal from Andy.
The weather on our passage back was interesting. Despite a good forecast, fog came in so we I got to see radar in action and used sound-signals which actually got ‘replies’ from other small boats we had seen close to us on the radar and AIS. This wasn’t a training exercise but a real-life situation. What a learning opportunity!
Once we reached Gosport we picked up another crew member, a lovely lady called Dawn Smith who normally finds herself rowing across oceans setting world records. She was super experienced and so her stories and personality really made for an excellent few days as we continued to make our way back to Burnham-on-Crouch.
I think this trip really did cement the love and passion I had found for sailing, and it was not long after that I signed up for the RYA Yachtmaster Theory Online. So the shock of being back in theory learning mode and the significant step up I was facing left me with a question of my sanity. I have 6 months to complete the course and the online course whilst challenging does ensure that the theory is well set in your head. Sure I will get there.
I again spoke to Andy and when I saw he was running an RYA Coastal Skipper course in September (2023) I quickly signed up with him and Academy Sailing. Like all of the other courses that Andy has run for me it was superb. Challenging for sure as it was a significant step-up from the Day Skipper level, which gave me the skills to sail a yacht in familiar waters by day. The Coastal Skipper gives the training and certification to skipper yachts on coastal passages by day or night in unfamiliar waters. The course had 2 great guys both from very different backgrounds, experience and skills which was amazing as gave us the opportunity to really learn from each other not just sailing skills but managing other crew members.
The course was a week long and covered loads of new skills not covered by the Day Skipper. Sailing actual passages at night without digital navigation and relying on traditional chartwork skills and other navigation techniques was challenging and rewarding. So was man-overboard under sail and sailing to a mooring buoy. We also learnt a lot of practical based theory on the importance of ensuring the correct equipment was on board and broader yacht and crew management for longer passages.
The course was simply superb and the challenge of sailing across the Thames estuary in very shallow depths of water despite being 25 miles from land really did show the importance of such training. Even whilst on this course we heard a mayday call to the Coastguard for a motor cruiser with 5 people who had gone aground at speed, and with the boat sinking the family needed urgent rescuing. By the end of the course I was left feeling quietly reassured about my new skill level. Andy spoke a lot about the concept of the ‘Thinking Skipper’ which I really took to heart. The things we spoke about helped me develop a good approach to proper passage planning and so being able to navigate much more challenging passages safely and without fear.
I have so much to thank Andy and Academy Sailing for. Andy’s is always calm and always thorough (he doesn’t miss any of my mistakes!), and always incredibly supportive. He seems to have endless patience, so much experience, and an obvious passion for what he does. With his help, my dream of sailing a yacht became reality. I really can’t thank him enough.
Not only has sailing allowed me fulfil my dreams, it also provides me with amazing new experiences with like-minded people. I’ve made a lot of friends on my journey!
Next week Alison and I return to the Greek Islands, this time with friends on a larger yacht where I can be confident in my abilities whilst I continue to enjoy my sailing journey.
#sailing #learntosail #rya #competentcrew #dayskipper #coastalskipper #liveyourbestlife #followyourdreams #london #essex #academysailing
www.academysailing.co.uk
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