18/03/13 - Day Skipper Course - Kinsale

18th March 2013
Day Skipper - Sovereign Sailing - Michael
4*C - F3 winds G4 - Sunny

This morning I felt very pessimistic, which is not like me, I am usually an optimistic character but with the way Michael spoke to us all last night, I didn't feel optimistic about anything.
We were up at 7:30am to get through more of the course content like Mike had told us the night before. We cleaned up the boat, checked the oil and the water filters.

Then everybody went up on deck and we learned how to set up a bow spring and how to set up a stern spring.
You would usually use a spring when there is an onshore wind and you need to prise the boat off the pontoon. Whether you use a bow or stern sping is dictated by the direction of the stream.
If the stream is from astern, use a bow spring, if the stream is from ahead, use a stern spring.

We also learned how to come in to a berth / on to the pontoon when the wind is blowing you off shore. When this is the case, you aim the boat 45*-50* to the pontoon, keep the power on enough so that you can't get blown back wards. Then pop it in to neutral when you are coming close, say 1 meter, and turn in quickly.
Getting the lines on quickly is vital for this to work well. So you must let your crew know your plan before you approach and ensure that everybody is comfortable and understands what you are asking them to do!

Stern Spring notes & notes on Coming on to a Berth against the wind.

Delegating to your crew clearly is vitally important. If your crew don't know what you are doing then they will not know what they need to do. Make sure you give each person a job & state clearly who is doing what;

"Martin...could I have you up at the bow with the bowline please? When we approach you will hopefully be lasoing the cleat nearest to that blue power box. Can you see that? But if you can't reach that one, lasso whatever you can".

"Liz...could I have you on the beam line and I want you to lasso the cleat first to bring the boat in. Get it under the cleat on board as quick as you can and put your weight on the rope!"

"Dave...could I have you on roaming fender at the bow please and could you also shout distances to me as we approach? I will also need you to keep an eye on the stern of the boat once we are in because you may need to move fast, without running, to get the roaming fender in at the stern too."

After lots of practice, bringing the boat on and off the pontoon, we had a tea break. It had been a very busy morning and I felt I had learned a lot.

We then went back out and we did lots of 3 point turns (turning the boat in a tight space). Here you use the elements to your advantage.Before you decide what you are going to do, think about the elements, is the wind/tide going to carry you?
Turn the wheel hard to port or hard to starboard, then 3 seconds on full power until you feel the 'kick' (you'll know what it is when you feel it!) and then straight into neutral and quickly into reverse. Only just in reverse though, you don't want full power on reverse, just so it is moving. Watch as the boat turns, watch your bow and your stern and make sure you have a roaming fender on look out incase you come in to contact with anything as you turn. If the boat stops turning, you give it a little bit more forward and then again, neutral and reverse until you get her pointing where you want.
When I was doing my turn in a tight space, I was really nervous, because there was pretty boats all around us and I didn't want to damage anything! haha! Also, I didn't like the feeling the boat gave when it did 'kick' on full power. I think I wasn't prepared for how it would feel and I felt like I had done something wrong! I am glad that I went through it twice with Mike though, because I was absolutely comfortable the second time I did it.

Tongue out - Concentration Face!

We then went through how to reverse into a berth. On this particular boat, you can come on to the other side of the wheel so you are looking astern. Line the boat up with the berth you want to go into and put the boat into reverse. Keep an eye on the wind and tide, do you need more/less power on reverse to get you in safely?
Make sure you know the boat's prop walk (which way does it like to go when you put it in to gear, port or starboard?) Adjust your plan accordingly to allow for this should you need to bring her in to forward again. Just before you are in the berth, come back around to the other side of the wheel and make sure you watch your bow at all times. You should be fine if you have come in very slowly but you may also need to give a wee bit of forward to stop her hitting the stern off the pontoon, also make sure you have roaming fenders at the ready incase this happens.

Once everybody had had a go at this we stopped for lunch. Yummy soup and sandwiches were much needed! This course is tiring!

We then went from Cross haven to East Ferry. Myself and Liz took it in turns on the helm. We were heading into the wind, and it was nice sailing at Force 3 Gusting 4. We tacked the whole way in to east ferry! It was the best sailing we had done yet on the course! Really enjoyed it and we were keeled over nicely and getting our best course to windward quickly after each tack! Even had a little dance to the radio! :D

Liz doing the Liz helm shake!

We had to watch our depth coming in because it gets very shallow very quick so when we were tacking, we had to keep going as far over as we could and then tacking really quickly and repeated this until we were in. Mike then brought the boat on to the pontoon and we all lassoed the cleats. We tidied up the ropes on deck and then went below deck for some dinner.

Tidying ropes up.

Liz made the scrummiest stew for dinner! Never needed a good meal more! Fionan decided to grab his shower gel and go for a wash in the marina! Interesting washing method!

I couldn't believe my ears when Mike told us all to start plotting pilotages! I was ready for my sleeping bag and had no idea he was planning on doing a night passage with us tonight.
Martin and I plotted the pilotage out of East ferry and in to Cross haven and Fionan plotted the middle section of the journey!

We eat our stew and waited for it to get dark, making final amendments to our pilotage for the night ahead. Then, when dark fell, we put on all of our gear again and made our way out of east ferry on Martin & I's pilotage. Our pilotage worked perfectly and got us out of East Ferry safely. We were then on Fionan's pilotage, for the middle section of the journey. There were so many lights around us that it was really difficult to spot the ones we were supposed to be looking for. One of the buoys that we were looking for actually had a completely different flashing sequence to what it said on the chart. This is one of the reasons why it is always good to have a course to steer incase things just don't seem to be matching up to what your chart told you.

We learned another valuable lesson tonight about being aware of other lights around you. I was trying to explain to Martin about where our next starboard marker was and I said "you see the row of street lights over there...well it is just down in front of them..." and Martin said "Ohh yeah, I see it now..." so we started to head for our next markers.
Only when we passed this point, we realised that what we had thought was a row of street lights on the land, was actually a row of windows on a huge big tanker ship with the lights on! Scary how things look so different at night in the dark!!!

I felt pessimistic this morning but as the day progressed I felt I did too. I tried to ignore Mike's negativity & inappropriate comments and concentrated on getting the information I needed out of him!


Points of Environmental Interest...

When we arrived at East Ferry this evening, Mike pointed out to use that there is a current pulling out on the right hand side of the bay. This is the reason why when we came in, Mike turned the boat around so that we would be facing in to the tide for mooring. It was amazing because you could see it so clearly up the coast line. A different movement of water completely to the rest of the bay.