(This course is designed to follow on from the Level 1 beginners course)
Course duration 12 hours over 3 weekends
Now you have learned the basics of the yacht operation on level 1 its time to reinforce your knowledge and give you confidence as crew and skipper. The course is about 80% practical and 20% theory.
Lesson 1 - beating, reaching and running!
Points of sail By now you will have the confidence to sail a short course using the other students as crew. Your tutor will demonstrate how to sail the yacht in close hauled, beam reach, gybing, tacking and running. By you will be confident to sail our yacht and perform these sailing positions. The exercise will help you plan a passage from A to B regardless of the direction of the wind. We'll take the mystery out of how sails work and how a yacht moves forward even when the wind id blowing against you. Marine VHF Radio Operation The ship to shore radio is used to speak to the coastguard, maritime radio, other vessels and your local yacht club during events. besides a legal requirement to have a licence there is a 'protocol' of operation which is important to know. Your skipper will demonstrate this on every trip. The VHF radio course is a separate 3 hour course, $65.00.
Lesson 2 - Berthing or mooring a yacht & setting an anchor
Under Power. One of the most frequent question student have is how to I put a yacht in a marina without damaging the vessels or others. We will show you the trick & tips to make landing this yacht at the marina without a bang or a bump. Marinas are normally crowded places and we shall give you the confidence to approach them safely.
Moorings& Anchoring. Picking up a mooring on a windy day with the tide running under you can be difficult and dangerous. We have a system of judging your speed and lifting a mooring with ease without the drama you often witness watching others. Regardless of the size and weight of the yacht our tested system works well. Dropping an anchor in the middle of a bay is a peice of cake, 3xthe depth in warp and you're done! Now try this is a crowded bay! We will show you how to pick a safe anchor spot, deploy, set and retrieve the anchor with ease.,
All of the above is combined with sailing activities to reinforce your points of sail over and over untill they are second nature
Lesson 3 - Genoas, Spinnakers, heaving too, MOBs
Good Point out training yacht has five front sails to choose from (Jibs) The largest canned the No.1 is called a Genoa. This huge sail is used for light winds for any point of sail, and yes you'll be using it! If you think that's big just wait until we get out the spinnaker!! This is huge! We could spend an entire week on the spinnaker but we take you through the basics of packing, deployment, points of sail and retrieval.
Our Weather & Water Understand when it's safe to go boating around Lyttelton and the Banks Peninsula. We shall discuss tides, waves and wind and how to deal with strong winds and choppy waves. Then more sailing practice
MOB under sail. Finally our skipper will demonstrate how to perform a MOB retrieval under sail if no engine is available, a must for any skipper and crew.
The above tasks are performed in no set order because of the variable weather. Your tutor will pick the topics for the day. Here are some typical examples.
First lesson: 10 knots Easterly Marine approaches Spinnaker Genoa
Second Lesson: Nor-West 20 knots Heaving too Mooring approach VHF Theory
Third lesson: Dying Southerly turning Easterly Points of sail (lots of practical sailing practice) Selecting sails Anchoring
What You Need We suggest trainers or sailing shoes, they must be comfortable with good grip. Sailing gloves and sun protection are provided. We also provide Coffee & Tea / Cold drinks & snacks. We often stop in Diamond Harbour for a ½ hour lunch. We suggest you bring a pack lunch. There is a toilet on board if needed. We keep a camera on board & will email your photos to you at the end of the course
Tutors: Dudley Jackson, Mark Quail, Peter Marshall
Jan 2011 (group bookings)
"Learn to sail continues to be a fabulous experience for the international students we send out! Dudley goes out of his way to make the students feel comfortable, confident and safe on the sea. He has opened their eyes to a whole new NZ experience. Thanks for sharing your passion with us Dudley, see you soon!" Erin and the Students of CCEL English Language School
Jan 2011 (private lessons on clients yacht)
“Thanks heaps for organizing our trip out with Mark yesterday. Steve and I had a fantastic time and picked up an incredible amount of information and confidence in a really short time. It really fast tracked our learning curve” Mike - Christchurch on their Hartley18
Jan 2011 (private lessons)
"Just to say thanks for the course. Mark is an amazing instructor and I enjoyed the experience. I really wanted to do it for the fun of it and I wanted a nice relaxed learning environment and that is exactly as it was!! I didn't feel in any way under pressure and that was excellent. It took me a while to really "get" it but I loved it all the same and I will be interested in looking at more courses with you.
Jan 2011 (private lessons)
I really enjoyed it and I will be telling all my friends about your sailing school after it. I think its important to always let people know when something is great, we are very good at telling people when things don't go well :)" David, Christchurch
Jan 2011 (private lessons)
"Mark is a great teacher, very relaxed but gave us loads of information and i've learnt loads about sailing. He got us involved right from the start, which gave us confidence to sail the boat straight off, even when it was really windy on the first day! It could have felt quite scarey but always felt in control and it was really exciting" Sally, Christchurch
Jan 2011 (Learn2Sail full course) "We thoroughly enjoyed our 16 hour course, which was well adapted to a couple with widely differing levels of sailing experience. Dudley is an excellent tutor, with plenty of tact and enthusiasm. He also made sure we were well prepared for what we were likely to encounter on our planned sailing holiday and was very helpful with background information. Highly recommended" Richard & Gerry, Rangiora.
Feb 2010 (Learn2Sail full course)
"The time I spent on (the training yacht) 'Good Point' while on the Basic Sailing course where four of the most enjoyable afternoons I have ever had. I am looking forward to going on the advanced course." Stuart, Christchurch
Nov 2010 (Learn2Sail full course) "We would recommend Learn2Sail to others interested in giving sailing a go. We were complete novices before doing the beginners course and have learnt a great deal under Dudley’s guidance. His patience combined with his enthusiasm provides an enjoyable and stress free training environment on Good Point" Jane and Keith Christchurch
December 2010 (private lessons)
It was fantastic!!! Im really delighted i went. Mark was an amazing teacher. It was really good fun and I've learned lots!! Dave, Christchurch
Oct 2010 (Learn2Sail full course)
"What a brilliant introduction to sailing! Dudley is a patient and thorough instructor and he even managed to sort the weather out too! We encountered a poor puff of wind to strong gale force conditions over our 16 hours on water. This enabled us to gather good practical skills for when we venture out on our own! This is a course we would highly recommend to 'newbies' wanting to learn sailing." Helen Troy & Julian Crawford, Christchurch
Oct 2009 (Learn2Sail full course)
“Our thanks go to Dudley and the friendly crew of learn2sail. Their enthusiasm and passion has proved infectious and the knowledge gained has seen us grow in confidence. What started as a taster course for us has evolved into to a purchase of our own trailer yacht with the invaluable assistance of Dudley. We now cross paths regularly on the water and the friendliness extends with a tip here and a piece of advice there. If you are considering sailing tuition then look no further, we thoroughly recommend the team at learn2sail" Steve and Aileen Clark. Christchurch
Mar 2010 (Learn2Sail full course)
"I have wanted to make the transition from small sailing boats to keelers for some time. The learn to sail training from Peter and Dudley was friendly, stress free and great fun. It gave me the confidence to select and own my craft and know what additional learning to undertake to operate it safely" Richard Jones. Diamond Harbour
October 2010 (private lessons)
"Mark provided me with a great introduction to sailing. I think that the one-on-one experience worked out well. This I found it to be very enjoyable. I appreciate Mark's attitude of providing a full experience of sailing in Lyttelton. This included taking the dinghy out to Good Point, the Hector dolphins, as well as a look at Diamond Harbour, Camp Bay and Little Port Cooper. Mark's enthusiasm for sailing and his style of instruction are very much appreciated. This was an experience that has given me a new perspective on Canterbury, New Zealand and the World. I do expect that I will be involved with sailing in the future do to Mark's introduction. I have learned a lot in the past few days and I will be sure to recommend your school to others." Michael. Christchurch
September 2010 (Learn2Sail full course) "My friend and I had some sailing lessons with Dudley (and his wife Michaela) before going on a sailing holiday in the Mediterranean. Dudley was very accommodating when we were arranging days for the lessons, which is a great start. The lessons were fantastic and certainly left us excited about sailing and very well prepared for our holiday. Dudley was very knowledgeable, enthusiastic yet calm (especially during our jetty approaches!) which made us feel relaxed and able to have fun while learning. We both thoroughly enjoyed our afternoons on the water and learnt that sailing is great even in the middle of winter. I would recommend learn2sail without a doubt to anyone that would like to give sailing a go." Clair Chch
October 2010 (group bookings) We take our students sailing with Learn2Sail as a team building exercise. It gives them a break from studying and is a great opportunity for them to experience something new, work as a team to sail the yacht, and see Lyttleton harbour from a different viewpoint. Our students really enjoy it, if you are looking for a way to give students a new experience, with team building and sightseeing included then this is a great way to do it. Trevor Mitchell. Avonmore Tertiary Academy, Christchurch.
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