Spice of Life

If variety is the spice of life the last two sailing trips could not have been better; the first was in early September to a quiet corner of the Norfolk broads with three days of snoozing amongst the reeds and sailing in a nice breeze with good company. If anyone is heading to the broads for a sail I would recommend Martham boat Development Company as an excellent launch site and base, near to some of the best sailing areas. Be ready to operate at a slower pace than normal to get the best out of a trip.


For the next trip the word relaxing doesn’t appear, replaced with the words stress, competition, performance, assessments etc. It seemed a good idea to update and improve some of my instructing methods and the chance to go on a course with the RYA had arrived. So off I went, leaving DSC on Sunday lunch time pointing the car towards the south coast, I was expected at the combined services base on Thorney iIland at 9am Monday. Having to have a passport and passing through an armed guard post to go sailing seems a bit strange. The course was very well run by the top brass of the RYA; I don’t think it would be possible to learn more in a period of three days. We were treated to some of the most exciting dinghies in as new condition, each day started by setting the rigs for the weight of the crew and expected wind speed, mast rake set to within 20mm as we do at DSC on every Tuesday night Many mistakes were made but when it went well, boy, did the water whizz by with the dinghies making as much noise as the power boats. The coaches running the course proved they knew their stuff by only passing those weren’t in a state of confusion by Wednesday evening, so I didn’t come away with any more badges, but loads of ideas for the next attempt.

Yours Tim