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SEAMANSHIP

PRACTICAL SPECIAL

5 RULESOF THUMB

FAKING IT!HOW TO CHOOSE AND FIT

GEAR TESTS

EW DEHLER 32 & USED NEWBRIDGE PIONEER TESTED

LED LIGHTSNAVIGATION+10 PAGES OF GEAR

REVIEWED

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Photo: Rod Lewis

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WIN! WIN! WIN!Old Pulteney Whisky p10

Farécla’s four step boat maintenance system p11

Digital Yacht AIS receiver and transponder p84

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78 Cruising to India – Mumbai

It seems that some of you found a new vigour and inspiration following last month’s running rigging debugging piece. I’ve been having a few email discussions with readers on their tweaks and custom fixes which are of the kind that all boat owners seem to undertake, sometimes within days of taking delivery of a boat, be she brand new or secondhand.

It’s a funny old world. Most of us would not dream of hacking our cars about to make them better suit our requirements, indeed, many of us strive to keep them as close to how they came out of the factory for as long as possible.

One reader’s boat is a two year old performance cruiser, bought from new at a six figure sum, and his latest improvement was on the face of it trivial, consisting of the insertion of sections of shock cord into his mainsail’s lazyjack system. It was the work of minutes, but it transformed sail handling for his boat. Doing these tweaks himself was not about money or saving money. The real point here is the pleasure that the process brought him as he used trial and error to get the right

length, gauge and elasticity of cord to make his lazyjacks stiff enough to control the sail while not being so tight that they cut into the draught of the sail when it is set full on a light wind day.

I was able to identify immediately with this feeling of satisfaction, as I’m currently scratching my head to optimise a set of barber haulers for the genoa on my own boat. Do I need them? Do I use open hooks, carbines or snapblocks? Do I put in pad eyes on the deck or use a moveable webbing strop to the coachroof handrails for more fore and aft adjustability? There’s only one way of finding out for sure; on the water and, come the spring, I’ll certainly enjoy this experimentation.

Could this level of ‘relationship’ we have with our boats be the reason that has led most of us to follow our forefathers’ example and attribute a gender and name to them? In our modern world, displaying such a level of personification to our car, fridge or even house could invite accusations of a burgeoning mental breakdown, yet somehow, with a boat, it feels like the right thing to do. Jake Frith

March 2011 Sailing Today 03

welcome aboard!

Contents

www.sailingtoday.co.ukwww.sailingtoday.co.uk

New boat test – Dehler 3256

marCh 2011 Issue 167

04 Sailing Today March 2011

90 Five rules of thumb investigated

26 Gear on test

win! 8450 Used boat test: Newbridge Pioneer

Just In! New gear20

Fancy a gas with Vass? Q&As p109

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This monthNews AND viewsSailing news 6

Readers’ letters 10

Riding light 146

View from the RYA 12

GeAR AND eQUiPMeNTBooks 18

Just in 20

Gear on test 26

Group test: LED Lights 40

Buyer’s guide: Synthetic teak 96

BOATsUsed boat test: Newbridge Pioneer 50

New boat test: Dehler 32 56

Your Boats: Butterfly 62

CRUisiNGLofoten Islands, Norway 64

Boat bites 70

Transatlantic with a Tiki 21 72

Vasco Da Gama rally: Part 4 78

Gosport 86

seAMANsHiPRules of thumb 90

Weatherclass: Why depressions form 94

PRACTiCALFitting a synthetic teak deck 100

Q&As with Nick Vass 109

WIN! WIN! WIN!Old Pulteney 12-year old whisky 10

Farécla’s four step boat maintenance kit 11

Digital Yacht AIS receiver and transponder 84

sUBsCRiBe AND sAve! 48

www.sailingtoday.co.uk

96 Synthetic teak – Choosing and fitting

72

Missed a copy? Call 01778 392496 Time to subscribe? Visit www.megabookstore.co.uk

my marINa

64 Norwegian good: Cruising the Lofoten Islands

Transatlantic with a Tiki 21

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Gear On Test

over many years of boat ownership, including a WEST epoxy-sheathed plywood yacht, I have come to take the consistent properties of the WEST epoxy system very much for granted.

My only grumble with WEST epoxy has been the quantity of the product I’ve wasted over the years – either by not using it quickly enough or by not being able to buy a small enough quantity of it for the odd couple of small jobs.

Well now it appears that WEST has heard my grumbles, because a neat 190ml tube of WEST Six-10 thickened epoxy adhesive landed on my desk a couple of weeks ago.

The beauty of this tube of gap filling, epoxy adhesive is that it is two tubes in one. Rather like the twin syringes of two-part glue you can buy,

where you can squeeze equal amounts out in a long line without one part contaminating the other, this large tube of WEST is actually divided into two compartments inside – one for the adhesive, the other for the hardener. The material is applied using a standard caulking gun, but the clever bit is that the nozzle provided (WEST calls it a Static Mixer) has two channels running inside with a number of tiny baffles that forces the two

components to mix together in the nozzle itself – eventually arriving at the end as pre-mixed epoxy adhesive ready to apply. No more measuring exact quantities, mixing in powdery fillers and sticky stirrers adhering to your fingers.

The adhesive will stick wood, metal, GRP and even concrete and takes around 40 minutes to first cure, fully hardening in 5-6 hours. The nozzle makes it ideal for creating narrow fillets without drooping or running and

remains malleable once applied until gelling after half an hour.

Verdict ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Did exactly what it is supposed to do, although it took a little longer to go off, due to the low temperatures on the boat at the time of year. Handy package, but having one nozzle means that you can only use each one once – so you’ll need to buy extra nozzles or squeeze the rest into a pot and mix with a stirrer or stick. DK

We LiKe• Convenient cartridge size• No mixing required

We dON’t LiKe• Not cheap

Contact: WEST Systemstel: 01794 521111web: www.wessex-resins.com

tube and nozzle makes for easy, mess free application.

Six-10 epoxy aDhesive £18.42 (190ml tube) extra nozzles £2.53 for two

as someone who has had to tape myself into a survival blanket to warm myself up aboard a small yacht after a hypothermically cold night in the Irish Sea (back in the heady days of sT issue 56), this product struck a chord immediately with me. It’s simply a foil survival blanket with built in arms and a hood, which can be fastened up at the front. It’s vacuum packed to keep it compact and aimed at all outdoor sports people. The entrepreneurs behind Surviva Jak appeared last year on BBC TV’s Dragons’ Den show, where smug tycoons patronise hapless inventors from behind a parapet of filthy lucre. This product though was one of the better ones, attracting investment from sour-faced

millionairess Deborah Meaden. When I had my survival blanket experience, I would have benefited from the Surviva Jak’s arms, fastenings and hood, because the constant rolling

of the boat made it difficult to remain covered by my blanket, so I must have lost heat. According to the manufacturers, Surviva Jak reflects up to 90 per cent of radiant heat and is windproof and waterproof. There is all the usual marketing nonsense with the yellow sticky tape fastenings referred to as ‘Visifast high visibility resealable fastenings’, but it seems to do the trick, making you feel very warm, very quickly when you slip it on. I reckon it would be well worth putting one for each crew member into your emergency grab bag and hoping you never have to use them. At £9.99 you can’t really complain if it’s going to save lives. While a traditional foil blanket is cheaper, it is clearly inferior. We placed sT’s

Advertising Sales Executive into the blanket for 10 minutes for our ‘test’. There were smiles all round when Joe survived, though our joy was tempered somewhat when he returned to full warmth and started coming up with more suspiciously advertorial feature ideas. JF

We LiKe• Compactly vacuum packed.• Clear improvement over what is currently available.

We dON’t LiKe• Can’t be repacked.


At a tenner this is a pretty good value insurance policy to have.Contact Survivaweb: www.survivawear.com tel: 01792 414039

joe in survival mode.

Surviva jak thermal blanket £9.99

RECOMMENDED

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UPDATE

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during this winter’s upgrade of Tinker, my ageing Jaguar 27, I decided to fit an electric bilge pump, reasoning that, as I tend to cruise singlehanded these days, the last thing I want to be doing should the boat be filling with water, is cranking a manual pump handle rather than calling for help on the VHF and getting the liferaft ready to launch.

Tinker’s bilge is rather smaller and shallower than I’d like, but it does provide a sump into which any incoming water collects. With just 165mm clearance it was important to find a low profile pump if it was to be the submersible type. Looking around at the many available, virtually all were mounted in the vertical plane, which meant their clearance height was too high for my sole board unless I chose a really low capacity pump, which clearly I didn’t want to do if possible.

During sailing Today’s last bilge pump test, carried out by James Turner in issue 148 (August 2009), he discovered the new Whale Supersub range of low-profile pumps from Irish manufacturer Munster Simms, to which he awarded our Premium Product label. I liked the clever design of the pump, the rotating/removable strainer and the in-built, float-free level-sensing circuitry. Furthermore, it has a reasonable output as well, compared to many other compact pumps. The name Supersub 650 stands for 650 US gals/hr – the equivalent of 40 ltr/min. That figure is quoted with no head of water or non-return valve and once installed in Tinker, with a head of 0.96m from pump to skin fitting and 2.15m of ¾in piping, we measured it at a perfectly reasonable 32 ltr/min, while drawing 3.5A of current from the battery when in full flow.

The ‘Smart’ part of the pump

is the sensor, which, unlike many other automatic pumps, does not have a mercury-based ‘tilt switch’ to activate it. Instead, Whale’s Smart pumps sense the presence of water using an electric ‘field sensor’. This mechanism, which has no moving parts, has a built in delay to avoid it being constantly triggered by a small, insignificant wave of water washing back and forth in the bilges. It is a three-wire device, so is intended for connection to a standard, two-way bilge switch for either automatic or manual operation.

Simply twisting the body to allow the pump motor to be separated from the mounting bracket and strainer made installation much easier and allowed us to align the pipe to exit at the preferred angle. Then it was a simple job to attach the bracket to the plinth with the screws provided and ‘push ’n’ twist’ the pump body

back into place. The exit pipe has to exit either horizontally or vertically, not at any angle in between, which is fine if there’s enough room to bend the pipe before exiting. In our case it meant ensuring there was just enough distance between the pump and sole board to enable the pipe to bend to the correct angle without pinching it. The unit works best with a non-return valve fitted, otherwise the contents of the pipe feed back into the bilge after the pump has stopped. We used a Whale non-return valve part no. LV1219 (£13.95), which, for the best effect, should be fitted close to the pump. As seen, it does appear to have a slight effect on output capacity, but very little.

The pump is provided with 6ft (1.83m) of cable, which is a rare bonus these days and means that it can be terminated well clear of any risk of bilge water contamination to the terminal

block. It would have been preferable, however, if the three wires had been in one single cable for improved neatness of installation.

The beauty of such a low profile pump is that it can be fitted in really tight spots, such as beneath the engine, where I have now terminated the manual pump. The reason for this is that I can pump the diesel and oil-contaminated water manually into a container, rather than

directly overboard. Of course, in the event of us taking on serious water offshore, I can still divert its output overboard and pump for England. The pump comes with a year’s warranty.

DK


This is a neat, ‘fit and forget’ unit that is easy to install, clean and maintain. Does pretty much what it says on the tin and has a good output capacity for its size.

We LiKe• Compact and easy to install• Long electrical cables• Easy to clean

We dON’t LiKe• Separate wires rather than three-core cable are untidy

Contact: Whale Pumpstel: 028 9127 0531web: www.whalepumps.com

Whale supersub smart 650 £49.99

Compact and easy to install, the whale supersub 650 shifts a healthy 32 litres per minute.

simply twisting the body allows you to to separate the pump motor.

The first decade of the 21st century saw a shake up of the marine industry, a process that was accelerated by the credit crunch. Builders who could not make ends meet either went to the wall, were bought for a song by venture capitalists or were swallowed up by bigger brands. The latter was the fate of Dehler, the established German builder that was taken over by fellow boatbuilders, Hanse.

Hanse was smart enough not to mess with the brand and has let Dehler play to

its strengths, producing a limited number of fast cruiser-racers that are built to last. The Dehler 32 is the latest launch and the choice of Judel/Vrolijk as designers shows a desire for a fast hull.

Pitched as ‘a quality yacht for competitive skippers’, the 32 is a welcome addition to the smaller end of the market. Few yachts position themselves as out-and-out racers or solid and slow cruisers

– instead they occupy the massive grey area, claiming to offer both performance

and comfort. This is certainly the case with the Dehler 32 and the three keel options, ranging from 1.98m to 1.43m, indicate that she is being pitched at a range of markets. Further options enable owners to fine tune their yacht’s racing capability. A Performance Pack costs £20,200, while other extras, such as side ports in the aft cabin and heads, will be considered essential by most buyers. Excluding them from the standard fit out is either disingenuous or shows a welcome

That’ll be the Dehler

>>


NEW boaT TEST

Caught on camera

Dehler has always been known for producing quality yachts with a pleasing dash of performance to them. Miles Kendall stepped aboard their new 32-footer to see if Dehler continues to delight.

That’ll be the Dehler

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Caught on camera: Dehler 32 boat testDid you know we’re now videoing our new boat tests?

Created by our media partners Yachting TV, this web video, and others like it coming soon, will give you a real insight into the sights and sounds of an sT boat test.

Visit www.sailingtoday.co.uk to view this test.

Visit www.yachtingtv.co.uk for this and more sailing cruising videos.

Caught on camera


dehler 32

Washboards drop cleverly into the

bridgedeck. A nifty storage solution.

LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) have been around for several decades but, up until recently, were only ever used as indicators on panels or displays. Over the last ten or so years, however, people have begun to realise the eco-friendly properties of the humble LED – particularly in applications such as car and boat lighting, where power consumption and reliability are of the utmost importance.

LEDs are nearly ten times as power-efficient as standard filament bulbs, as well

as being considerably more resistant

to vibration and impact, so they appear to be the ideal solution for a sailing yacht’s navigation lights. Using a tenth of the power means not only can they be left on without the worry of flattening your batteries, but also the wiring required to power them can be considerably reduced in size, reducing weight aloft where masthead and steaming lights are situated. It is worth mentioning at this point that if you intend to keep the same wiring and just change the lamp unit to an LED one, the circuit protection fuse or breaker must remain the same, as it is there to protect the wiring, not the device.

Almost as important as their low power needs is their reliability. When a masthead tri-colour bulb blows it means a trip to the top of the mast to change it – something few yachtsmen are likely to want to do on the move. Being far less vulnerable to the typical jarring the masthead is likely to experience in rough sea states, LEDs are far less likely to blow during a bumpy passage. In fact, most of the top quality units are quoted as having a 50,000 hour lifespan! For this reason it’s not surprising they are currently quite a bit more expensive than the incandescent bulb types, but this is

A gradual transfer from filament bulb to LeD-lit navigation lights is taking place, which has raised a number of questions about conformity and suitability. Duncan Kent put a selection of lamps and clusters to the test to see how they would perform against their incandescent equivalents.

group TEST

Easily LEDWhich LED navigation lights work the best?

lopolight • hella • aquasignal • nasa • lopolight • hella • aquasignal • nasa • lopolight • hella • aquasignal • nasa • lopo


most likely to change once LED navlights become the norm, which they inevitably will within a few years.

Since the introduction of fully-approved LED navlights, some sailing yacht owners are now questioning the need for a tri-colour lamp at the masthead at all – and they have a point. After all, bi-colour and tri-colour lamps were originally invented simply to save power, using just one bulb rather than the three required for deck-level lights.

But now that LED lamps are available that consume a tenth of the power of incandescent bulbs,

why not dispense with the tri-colour and go back to deck-level side and stern lights?

A number of commercial vessel Captains have even commented that they would prefer leisure craft to use deck-level lights anyway, as masthead lights tend to get lost in the background when viewed from a ship’s bridge – especially around busy areas and harbours. It’s important, though, to ensure deck-level navlights have a sufficient vertical viewing angle for them still to be clearly seen from the height of a commercial vessel’s bridge.

led navigation lights

CoLrEgS As we very regularly see sailing yachts incorrectly lit after dark, this might be a good time to remind folk of the correct navigation lights for vessels under way after dark. Please remember – a sailing vessel that is using it’s engine to power it along, with or without sails as well, must comply with the rules for a power vessel under way.

uNDEr poWErVessels below 7m LOaeither a single, all-round white light (minimum); or the same as those for 7m-20m yachts (preferable).Vessels between 7m-12m LOaeither a single, all-round white light above port and starboard sidelights; or a white steaming light above port and starboard sidelights and a stern light.Vessels between 12m-20m LOa

A white steaming light above port and starboard sidelights and a stern light.

uNDEr SaILVessels below 7m LOaeither a single all-round white light (minimum), or the same as those for 7m-20m yachts (preferable).Vessels between 7m-12m LOaeither a tri-colour lantern at the top of the mast; or deck-level bi-colour and stern light; or separate, deck-level port, starboard and stern lights.Vessels between 12m-20m LOaeither a deck-level bi-colour and sternlight; or separate, deck-level port, starboard and stern lights.

Note ~ There is also the option to have an all-round red light over an all-round green light at or near the masthead, but this is rarely used these days on yachts under 20m LOa.

RuleS & RegulationS

lopolight • hella • aquasignal • nasa • lopolight • hella • aquasignal • nasa • lopolight • hella • aquasignal • nasa • lopo

225°

112.5°112.5°

135°

Steaming

Sailing vessel under power

upto 20m LOA.

light

Sternlight

Side lights

Length (Loa) 7m-12m 12m-20mtri-colour 2nm 3nmmasthead/steaming light 2nm 2nmsidelight 1nm 2nmsternlight 2nm 2nm

VISIbLE raNgES For NaVLIgHTSFor sailing yachts between 7m-12m LOA it is becoming common (but not necessarily correct) practice to use an all-round white light at the masthead (usually designated as an anchor light) as a combined steaming/stern light. This is probably why some of the manufacturers aren’t making an LED masthead (Aka steaming light with 225º visible arc) for mounting forward of the mast.

For this to be correct, however, the all-round white should be visible over 2nm, which some aren’t, so check carefully before you buy.

what not to do. a yacht motorsailing should be showing the lights of a power vessel – in this case the steaming light, side lights and stern light. the tri-colour at the masthead should not be lit as it is here!

When ST Art Editor Stewart Wheeler opted to clad his

Westerly Centaur’s deck and cockpit

with a modern, teak look PVC compound, we enlisted the help of Permateek expert Leigh Coda (above).

Faking It: synthetic teakThe development of synthetic decking has given many sailors the opportunity to smarten up their yacht at a fraction of the cost of laying a real teak deck. This has meant that, while there can be few who would ever dream of laying a teak deck on a boat in the Westerly Centaur’s price bracket, the advent of synthetic teak decking has given cruisers a much more affordable means of getting their boat decked out.

So successful have these products proved to be, that one of the main dilemmas is working out which company to go with: Permateek, Dekkit, Flexiteek, Fore Deck, Tek Dek, Dek King, Isiteek, Atlanteak, the list is endless and baffling. Basically though, most of these products use PVC, cork or epoxy based ‘planking’ strips, which are first glued and sometimes welded together and then laid out and glued onto the deck.

All these products benefit from being relatively

cheap and low maintenance. A hose can be used to wash them off, while stains can be sanded out.

Stewart opted to go with a combination of the DIY Dekkit for the relatively simple cockpit and clad the foredeck and side decks with professionally fitted Permateek. For this stage, we had Leigh Coda, a Permateek representative, on hand to help us out.

“Permateek and Dekkit are much the same,” he explained: “The difference is that Permateek is a professional product only available in pre-made welded panels, which is best suited to more intricate patterns, with a more professional finish to edges, mitring and welded seams.

“In the case of this Centaur, I wouldn’t generally recommend doing the foredeck and side decks yourself, as that’s relatively complicated.

“On the other hand, the cockpit is pretty simple, so that makes the ideal DIY project. The beauty of

How to lay teak effect deck


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Step-by-step guide

our system is that you can do what you feel confident with and then get us to help out with the rest. It’s a good way to keep the costs down.”

This is a handy wheeze, because it means you can do all the easy tasks, such as templating and actual deck laying, but when it comes to the tricky stuff, you can get the experts in to lend a hand. Most of the other manufacturers have a similar product line-up with a professionally fitted product alongside a DIY alternative. So, with a little help from the experts, here’s how we blinged up a Centaur.

step 1: PreparationYou’re going to be gluing what is essentially a flexible panel onto your deck, so you need the surface to have no

1

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perMateek decking


work in sections – foredeck, side decks, cockpit. measure area with a large overlap then cut out the tracing sheet to size. it is essential to get the template accurate.

Removing Treadmaster

Tools:PencilSharp Stanley type craft knifeSanding block with 60 and 40 grit paperMetal straight edge or rulerWeights and/or masking tapeSanding block with 60 and 40 grit paperFloor roller or rolling pinCartridge or sausage gunGlue spreader with 3mm teethWeights/bricks taped upOffcuts of timber, such as ply or MDFGaffer tape and double sided tapePower sander (If you intend to flatten non-slip areas)

Time:Preparation time: Less Treadmaster removaltemplating: 1 dayBuilding and cutting:Cockpit: 1 daydecks: 2-3 days

Costs:6m² of decking cost £594.00adhesive £115 for Permateek to make the decks from template supplied works out at £125 per square metre: £750 total. for professional fitting for the Centaur would be roughly £300 working out at £50 per square metre Permateek can now supply a full kit for the Westerly cockpit ready to fit including adhesive for just £295.00 plus p&p. Both Permateek and Dekkit are available from any of the Permateek distributors, a full list can be found at www.permateek.com.

Skill level: Cockpit only: Intermediate. Full fit: Expert.

ah, the dreaded treadmaster: Hugely effective, but so effective it’s almost impossible to remove. Whether its been glued down with contact adhesive or two pack epoxy, it’s incredibly tenacious. On this Centaur, it had turned a kind of unappealing sludge colour, so Stewart decided it had to go. You can glue Permateek over moderately uneven surfaces, but this was too much, so Stewart set to work with a hammer and chisel to try to get it off. An hour or so of bashing his thumb and swearing as he chipped away inch by inch persuaded him that this was not the best method, so he turned to another handy tool, the Half Moon Knife, used by carpet fitters. This scythed through nicely, but after another couple of

hours of manual labour, Stewart was casting around for something that little bit less labour intensive when Leigh from Permateek, who has removed more Treadmaster and old teak than he cares to remember offered to lend him his trusty Fein Tool. The vibrating blade on this tool took all the pain out of the remainder of the job, making very light work of a very laborious job. You could remove the glue with this tool, but there was a risk of gouging the glassfibre, so Stewart opted to sand the remaining glue off. Another trick here is to gently heat the epoxy with a hot air gun and then plane it back with a mechanical plane. Alternatively, a mechanical scraper such as the Bosch PE180E power scraper will work well.

2 DAYS

5 DAYS

Chisel + hammer = swearing + blood. Half moon knife (£25 from carpet shops).

Leigh likes to strip with his Fein Tool. We’ll test Fein’s uses in a future issue.

http://www.permateek.com

Salalah should have been where our convoy ended, but the pirates hadn’t finished with us yet. As we prepared to leave, a call came through from the UKMTO to tell us a ship had been hijacked 30 miles off the coast of Oman, bang in the middle of our proposed route. We were asked to stay for a few more days while they investigated the danger.

With no further attacks occurring in the vicinity and an intense Omani naval presence, we took the decision to head out of Salalah on 5 April. The taskforce requested we stay together until well away from the danger zone.

Once again we sailed together in convoy, checking in with the taskforce every six

hours, maintaining radio silence and using minimal navigation lights.

Before making the plunge eastwards, we spent another night at anchor in a pristine bay. Ras al Hallaniyah, part of the Kuria Muria Islands, lies 125 miles north of Salalah. Knowing this would be our last chance to enjoy the deserted shores of Oman, we spent the day snorkelling and beachcombing among the white sands, beneath the dramatic red rock of this barren coast. We relished a few hours of unadulterated fun before the familiar threats of piracy, storms and equipment

failure forced their way back into the forefront of our minds.

Regular readers will be acquainted with Liz and Jamie’s exploits as they thread their way through pirate infested seas from Turkey to India as members of a cruising rally. Having made it to within 60 miles of their destination, the last thing they expected was the Indian navy to T-bone their yacht.


CruISINg

Arabian SeaCrossing the

to Mumbai

I n d i a nO c e a n

A F R I C A

E U R O P E A S I A

Marmaris

Sharm Luli

Sadla Island

Salalah

KochiMumbai


vasco da gaMa

>>

bluewatercruising52 Sailing Today april 09

Earlier this year, when it was announced that I would be moving into the role of RYA Training Manager and Chief Examiner, my predecessor, James Stevens, took me to one side to congratulate me and winked as he informed me that I was about to step into the best job in sailing. It’s true!

I have the pleasure of being responsible for a team of 23,500 instructors across almost 2500 RYA Recognised Training Centres in 44 countries around the world. This team delivers training to more than 200,000 people across disciplines varying from yachts to dinghies, personal watercraft to motor cruisers, canal boats and windsurfers.

No two days are the same. One minute I find myself involved in training a new group of Yachtmaster examiners and the next I am overseas discussing the expansion of RYA training into another country. Best of all, I still get to play on boats of all shapes and sizes from dinghies right through to commercial vessels of all sizes.

I was lucky enough to be born in Australia. I have spent most my life on, in or under the water. If it floats it interests me and a big part of my sailing career has involved teaching people to sail through the RYA training syllabus.

In my role as an instructor, I have always had a huge respect for the RYA and its central tenet of education not legislation. I think it’s safe to say that ever since Bob Bond laid down the first foundations of the current RYA training syllabus way back in the late 60s, it has had a profound and positive effect on the way in which recreational boating has developed as a sport.

Whether you’re a Day Skipper or Yachtmaster and proud of it, or have never taken an RYA course in your life, the RYA’s training scheme has been invaluable in ensuring that going sailing in the UK is not some kind of legislative headache and this, coupled with recreational boating’s admirable safety record in this country, makes our scheme something

to be cherished. The various RYA Training schemes are generally in

very good shape and have benefited from the care and attention of the many people who have passed through over the years as instructors, coaches and general supporters of education on the water. As a consequence there is little that requires ‘fixing’ at present. However, as with any organisation, it is absolutely essential that our courses and training materials remain up to date and relevant. The next couple of years will see the continued updating of publications as well as the introduction of some new course offerings.

The biggest development has been in the area of E-Learning with the introduction of the RYA’s first fully interactive online course in Essential Navigation

and Seamanship. This is just one of a number of exciting offerings that will be provided via our new E-Learning platform. It is truly cutting edge in terms of the flexibility it provides students to learn from their own home, in their own time. I am very excited about it and early indications are

that the boating public is captivated by it. It offers people new to boating, or those who are perhaps a bit rusty, a fantastic and convenient means of gaining the information and skills they are looking for and a means of unlocking their potential.

I feel very passionate about training for cruising sailors and am eager to continue to ensure that RYA Training provides top quality courses, to promote safety and enjoyment on the water. While the bulk of our training centres are in the UK we will continue to encourage the growth of RYA Training internationally.

Over the coming months I look forward to keeping you informed on current developments in cruising, both in the UK and overseas. Safe sailing and all the very best for the 2011 season.

Richard FalkRYA Training Manager and Chief Examiner


CoLumNIST

Richard falk sT’s man at the RYA keeps us abreast of the ups and downs of the latest safety and education issues around sailing.

the beSt Job in Sailing?

Ever since Bob Bond laid the foundations of the

RYA training syllabus, it has had a profound and positive

effect on boating

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