Cruising-2-Racing '24

A practical course for established cruising sailors to discover and participate in 'yacht racing'

If you have been cruising for several years and you are now looking for a little bit of "je ne sais quoi" in your sailing, then yacht racing might be an avenue you might like to explore ... Whilst the jump up from cruising into racing might seem a challenging one, we are offering to provide a course comprising a 3 hour theory session at the clubhouse followed up with a 4-day weekend practical 'on-board' session based out of the Hamble which we are confident will provide a mix of theory and skills to help you make the transition into yacht racing.

The theory session will be held at the sailing club on Saturday 3rd February 2024 between 10:00 and 13:00 - the course aims to cover some of the knowledge and skills that can be done away from the boat.

The practical session will be on a chartered First 40.7, a well known cruiser/racer from an established charter company on the Hamble. The charter period covers a 4 day weekend from Friday 10:00 am 16th February through to Monday 16:00 pm 19th February

The practical session will step up our learning about the boat and its equipment, sailing with 'white sails' through to spinnaker handling and trimming. We will base our sailing in the Solent generally, but with 4 days available, we are quite happy to extend our area to Poole for example (depending on weather and tides). We will of course enjoy one of the nights in Cowes, based in one of the Cowes marinas.

The crew will total 8, of which 2-3 will be experienced Shustoke Offshore Group racers, and 5-6 cruiser students.

Entry into one of the Sunsail Weekend Racing events and/or the Round The Island Race (RTIR) will be the next logical step. To find out more about these programmes see the Racing Programme.

Costs

1. The theory class is free to Shustoke SC members and £40 for non-members. In the case of non-members, I'm hoping they will take out Yachting Associate membership (£29) and get the theory class for free !

2. The practical session, includes the yacht charter, 3 nights in a marina, fuel and food on-board (breakfast, lunch, drinks and snacks) and will be charged at approximately £250 per person - the final amount will be based on the actual costs incurred.

Deposit and Balance Payments

In order to secure your position in the course, a non-returnable deposit payment of £75 per person is required on booking. An interim balance payment of £150 payable early in January to cover the boat charter. The final balance covering marina, fuel and food costs will be settled shortly before the practical session commences.

Please note that deposit payments relating to the boat charter can not be refunded, unless the charter company cancels the charter contract, or part thereof.

Insurance Excess

As in all boating, there is an insurance excess, and in this case it is £2000 (tbc), which as a crew we jointly accept and carry. This means, that if we have a bump and lets say £320 of damage is incurred, then assuming a crew of 8, we would each chip in £40 to pay off the excess cost. If that bump were to cost £3200 to repair, then our liability would be limited to £2000 jointly, so the cost would be £250 each.

Course References

Course members can access the exercises and reference material at this location.

Course Status

The above course is now open for bookings please get in touch with Geoff Johns, the course organiser.

Last updated 16:45 on 27 January 2024