STCW 95

Back to my UK Yacht Master trip.

After I did the two week yacht master prep course, I moved off the boat to a nice B+B in Cowes.  I took STCW 95 for a week.  That's the commercial vessel safety course.  We did one day of life raft training, two days in a fire simulator, a day of First Aid and then finished off with Safety and Security.

Here's some pics:

Southern Straights

I sailed in Southern Straights this weekend.  Southern Straights is a yacht race in my local area.  About 50 Miles West, then back to Point Atkinson.

I sailed with the Vancouver Sailing Club aboard their Beneteau 36.7 ClaraALLEGRO.  We left friday and spent the afternoon drifting east until the wind filled in around sunset.  We had 17 knots or so upwind by the time we were headed back west.  Then another drift back into the finish.  Very challenging sailing with an interesting group of guys.

Here's some video:

Yacht Master course

My previous post was a video about the whole trip.

Here's a bit of the story of the first part of my trip, the Yachtmaster prep and exam course at Flying Fish based in the town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

I flew from Vancouver direct to London.  The day I landed I checked into a hotel and slept for part of the afternoon.  Dinner and then bed again.

The next day I took the train to Southampton and then the Red Jet passenger ferry into Cowes.  The Red Jet is exactly what we should have in Vancouver.  Fast, no wake, shallow draft and capable in a moderate and high sea state.  The town of Cowes was lovely.  It's the first time I have been on a UK high street.  During that two weeks we sailed to both ends of the Solent and up to Southampton.  We did a lot of crew overboard, a lot of nav, and a lot of theory prep.  We also visited some very nice pubs in the evening.

Here's some pictures:

Cool Boats I saw in the Solent

During my trip to England to get my Yachtmaster qualification I saw so many cool boats it wasn't funny.  The Solent really is the home of Yachting.

Here's some pictures:

2 Mini's

An Artemis 20 Adaptive keel boat.

A passenger hovercraft

"T2" the British AC 45

"M33", "Victory", and "Warrior" at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

A DUCK WW2 landing craft

"Cutty Sark", the fastest tea clipper ever.

A Mod 70 trimaran

"Avenger".  The first planing dinghy ever

Cool huh?

Getting ready for Southern Straights Yacht race

I am getting ready for Southern Straights yacht race.  Southern Straights is a keel boat distance race hosted by the West Vancouver yacht Club.

I am racing on the medium course, which starts at Dunderave Pier on the north shore.  We then race up to the Sisters Island light, about 50 Miles West and then back to finish off Point Atkinson. I am sailing on a Beneteau 36.7 called "ClaraALEGRO".  The start is the morning of Friday the 27th at 1030 and we expect to finish Saturday before lunch.

The race can be followed from the following link:
http://www.wvyc.ca/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=392776&ssid=314640&vnf=1


Here is a time lapse of our practice sail on Tuesday the 22nd.

New Hugo Boss Stunt

Alex Thomson and the Hugo Boss team have done a spectacular new stunt.

This year they have pulled Alex, on his kite board behind the boat.  Using the combined kite and open 60 they have pulled him up to twice the mast height.

Here's some video:



and behind the scenes:





And the two previous stunts: