Trainees get stuck into sailing

The boat handling weekend started on the Friday night where Team Arvika met up with Jill and Charlie at the Spinnaker Bar in Chichester Marina, all ready for the weekend ahead. Team Arvika, consisting of three ladies and Mike Gorvett, were particularly pleased with the fabulous new toilet block in Chichester Marina, especially the piped music and heated floors.

The training weekend started with clear blue skies and not a hint of the predicted rain. Peter Newbury very kindly provided all trainees with a series of exercises in advance of the weekend. We don't know about the other teams, but Team Arvika of course came completely unprepared!

The day was therefore spent completing the various tasks including calculating tidal heights, course to steer, planning a short passage, anchoring and most importantly an artistic task of drawing the house closest to our anchor point.

All tasks were completed with various levels of competency but with lots of enthusiasm. Charlie's artistic skills require particular mention, with his beautiful and very detailed pencil sketch of the house.

Special thanks also to Harm for saving the Rear Commodore Training's hat, lost overboard whilst putting up his anchor ball.

All boats reconvened at Swanick marina on the Hamble, who very kindly located us close together which was very helpful for getting the Pontoon party going. The evening ended with a lovely meal in Velsheda. Team Sour Kraut lived up to its name by being late for dinner.

There were lots of prizes for all the trainees who had completed the tasks, generally of the wine variety. Sunday brought another beautiful day with a downwind leg back to Chichester harbour which was a great opportunity to fly the spinnaker. Arvika got a sheet caught around the radar and had to winch new member Sally up the mast mid- sail to sort it out.

The return to Chichester was achieved with minutes to spare before the tide became too low. Overall the trainee weekend was a great opportunity for newly-qualified dayskippers and new members to practice their skills, meet people from the club and generally have a lovely sail.

Particular thanks to Jill Moffatt for organising the weekend and Pete Newbury for writing and marking all the tasks.