Weekend 1
Safety briefings, pontoon bashing (an aptly named term) together with helming to the various points of sail were our initial tests. We had numerous man over board drills (at times Keith must have been tempted to try it for real with one of us). He provided a list of golden rules to follow (shout; point; heave-to; mark the spot on the DSC; check for lines in the water; approach to windward; and three days later (in our case) pick up the M.O.B.

As you go through a seemingly endless list of things to remember it dawns on you just how responsible the skipper’s job is. Keith makes it all interesting and practical. Essentially he coaches you to think about why you doing it, how you’re doing it and gives you enough leeway to get yourself into trouble without ever being danger, even with Pete Dunn on the helm.

Keith also picks up on things you mention. Having been spoilt on pre-prepared Sunsail boats I’d never manually swapped a sail. On Sunday morning that was corrected.

Weekend 2

It began on Friday evening with a devious lesson in anti-passage planning: Keith had set up Steph to go shopping in Lymington to see how the would-be skippers would react!! Keith hinted we could get some night hours under our belts. Here’s where our personalities came to the fore. Gung-Ho Parker and Seniour Eduardo Moran were happy to plan the trip. Maureen ‘not sure we should’ Highfield had one of her numerous correct moments. She went further and was quite correct in considering the issue that both tide and wind would be against us getting back the following day. Oh and the was a small point in that it would take us until around 2am to get to Lymington. At that point Steph decided she didn’t really want to go shopping, and Keith then imparted more wisdom that passage planning requires you to think about getting back as well….

Saturday gave us a theoretical and very practical example of a cold weather front. Wet and windy sailing that provided some good navigation and helming practice in poor weather with a reasonable tide and strong wind.

In the evening the subject was crew bonding. Eduardo provided a bottle of Patxaran a sort of very nice Basque cough medicine. This started a very pleasant evening in Yarmouth, which included a mini presentation of Coastal Yacht Master practical to Steph ‘Super crew’ Williams. Post the meal at the King's Head, Yarmouth, we became shipping hazards on the tables at Salty’s bar.

Our final Sunday provided further opportunities for passage planning, boat handling and a very successful spinnaker run. A really nice touch was when Keith held 1-2-1 discussions with us individually to go through our strengths and weaknesses, and highlight what we each needed to do to develop our skills and fulfil our personal aspirations.

The great thing about this sailing experience was watching others and yourself work together and learn. As a practical experience it was a real eye opener. Control not power, and continual adjustments make for a good and safe sail……… As for the skippers we already have at HOEOCA, you have my respect.

Thanks to Keith Harding from Stephanie Williams; Peter Dunn; Maureen Highfield; Eduardo Moran and Mark Parker for a couple of brilliant weekends.