Newsletters – Solent Sail 08443 573673

August 2014

Last minute RYA courses this weekend

Fancy learning to sail this weekend?
We have a couple of spaces available
Friday evening 1st to Sunday 3rd Aug
Now only £150
An excellent opportunity to start yachting for absolute beginners, to start working towards the next level for the more experienced or to refresh your skills if you haven’t been out on the water for a while. Our price includes accommodation, food/drink on-board, instructor, fuel and mooring costs. To book click here and don’t forget to select your discount.
Or how about a later weekend?
There are still spaces available:
2-day weekend
Friday evening 15th to Sunday 17th
To book, click here.
A 3-day bank holiday weekend
Friday evening 22nd to Monday 25th
To book, click here.
2-day weekend
Friday evening 29th to Sunday 31st
To book, click here.

Longer mile-builder trips

If you want to go further afield, we have two great trips planned:

Two-day trip along the Jurassic coast to Weymouth
Friday evening 15th to Sunday 17th
Only £240
An excellent way to build miles, see new places, refresh skills, meet new people or just enjoy being out on the water. Our aim is to sail west to the picturesque harbour at Weymouth, home of the 2012 Olympics. To book, click here.
Or a four-day trip to the Channel Islands
Sark, Guernsey, Herm, Alderney
Thursday evening 21st to Monday 25th
An annual trip around the Channel Islands taking in as much as we can see in 4 days over the bank holiday. Our aim would be to sail across over night on Thursday evening and straight down to Sark where we take the dinghy ashore to explore this amazing island devoid of cars. On Friday evening we head to Guernsey for the night. Saturday is a lazy look at Herm and then on Sunday we travel up to Alderney passing through the infamous Swale channel. There will be time to have a walk around the island and dinner ashore before we depart early next morning for the sail home. Of course the exact schedule depends on the weather and tides, but we’ll do our best to see as much as possible. To book, click here.

Or to see a list of trips/dates later in the Autumn
click here. Sailing knowledge

10 top tips for good pilotage into a narrow and/or shallow channel:

1. Enter the channel to one side of the middle. Then if it suddenly shallows, you know where the deeper water is. If you are in the middle, you don’t know where to turn.

2. If possible, keep to the up-tide or upwind side so that if you touch the bottom you’ll be pushed off.

3. Try to enter on a rising tide so that if you do get stuck you should float off after a while.

4. As you enter, keep an eye on the depth and note the shallowest point. When you arrive, note the depth again. As time passes, compare the current depth to your 2nd reference depth and this will tell you precisely how much water there is over your 1st reference point.

5. With lead in marks or transits, always check the bearing to the charted figure with a hand bearing compass. This will confirm the ID of the transit.

7. With sectored lights, use the boundary between the white (centre) and the green or red to keep yourself just to one side of the channel’s centre line for the same reason as 1. above.

8. If you get stuck, engine reverse is usually best as it will take you back to where you know the water was deep enough to float.

9. You can lighten the boat by emptying the water tanks or, if you have the dinghy in tow, disembark the crew.

10. To lift the keel, move all the crew to the bow to reduce the draught over the centre of the boat. Or induce heal by all leaning out on one side.

Can you think of any more. We’d love to hear.
*Solent Sail Ltd, registered in England No. 2798092 at 5 Hilltop Road, Kings Langley, WD4 8NS*

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*08443 573673 or 01923 263008*

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