Be Excellent To Each Other

Hello all!

Does anyone here sail? My Brother-in-law was thinking of taking up dinghy sailing, and asked if I fancied it. It looks fun, so I'm tempted. I'm a dreadful swimmer, but seeing as you're lifejacketed up to the nines that shouldn't be an issue. Any one done this? Do people have ribald yachting anecdotes to tell me?

http://go-sail.co.uk/topper.asp

Toppers are simply awesome.

Gosh no, I don't do water. Bobbing around in a swimming pool is my limit, but I can't swim as such.

Weirdly, and this is probably related to why I hate water, I don't float.
Everyone floats people tell me, you just need to relax. Bollocks to that, some people just don't float, and i'm one of them, i've tried a hundred times.

I have several friends who own racing yachts — I've been out a couple of times and to be frank found it tedious beyond belief, not helped in no small part by the number of braying fucking yahs the sport seems to attract. It's hideously expensive at this level though, with a decent 36ft yacht setting you back north of £100k and about £15-20k to keep the sodding thing in the water.

though I'm a very good swimmer as I forced myself to learn as I can't float particularly well.

Me neither, but I'm still a pretty good swimmer when I'm in shape. I never liked the front crawl, though, which I suspect is due to the not floating thing.

Aye, if I want to stay above the water I have to keep moving forward at a pace, slow down or try and stop and tread water and i'm straight under.
Too much like hard work.

If you stay underwater long enough, you'll float. Ten minutes ought do it.

Too soon

I sail a bit, my workmates has a 'Laser' boat that takes two people to work it. Can be good fun, even when you fall in.

I can swim happily, but boats I just don't get on with. Too unwieldy for my liking. I did, however, once take a boat up the Thames on a weekend where it all started flooding, and had to do a u-turn into a 'parking space' because you have to moor up facing downstream. Completely nailed it.

Most dead people sink. (depending on how fat they are and how salty the water is) They come back up after a couple of days due to gasses and chemical reactions.

Lasers are fun, too.

I like speedboats and such like, driven fast rescue boats and water ski boats and stuff like that plenty. Yachting has just never appealed for some reason, probably because you need to actually learn stuff in order to be able to drive them.

One person steering and the other constantly rebuffing the crowd of excited cats chasing you around?

A varied bag of responses!

Thanks all. The little ones I'd be using certainly ain't cheap, but fortunately they're no where near the cost of the bigger ones.

and now I am looking on ebay for mirror dinghies thinking to myself My that is a reasonable price. would I need to do a towing test to tow it on a trailer it weighs less than 3 quarters of a ton?

When did you get your licence?

97

If you passed your driving test after 1 January 1997 and have an ordinary category B (car) licence, you can drive either:

a vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes or 3,500 kilograms (kg) Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM (with a combined weight of up to 4,250kg in total)

a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as it is no more than the unladen or ‘kerb’ weight of the towing vehicle (with a combined weight of up to 3,500kg in total)

Ace. Thank you.

How did I miss this thread?

I did my level 1 single handed about 18 months ago. My advice is to make sure you have enough upper body strength. You need quite alot to of strength to right yourself when you capsize. It's not the boat that is the problem but if you are so puny you can't support your own weight to haul yourself about that you'll hit problems.

I'd do level 2 now I have improved my upper body strength. But not at Calshot where I did my level 1. It's miserable down there. If you do a course, go somewhere nice and less exposed to do it.

Ahh, that was good fun! Did my Level 1 last weekend. Got the certificate, although the criteria for passing appears to be

1.) Were you on a boat?
2.) Given (1.), are you still alive?

So I'm not going to be attempting any round-the-world cruises any time soon.

Going to keep trying it though and attempt to get my level two later on. Whilst most of the time I'm flapping back and forth like some whoreson scurvy bilgerat, the feeling when you actually get it right and it's zipping along is pretty awesome.

Well done!

How many times did you fall in and how many times did you need to be rescued?

I'd love to do my level 2 but no fucking way am I doing it where I did my level 1. Just too exposed for my liking. OK we had a really windy day (which the RYA handbook said beginners shouldn't be out in).

Meanwhile am booking half a day of kayaking when I am in Wales in a couple of weeks. Just me, Mrs Chinny and an instructor for 3 hours. Should be fun!

Only a few times!

The wind wasn't too strong, but it was fairly gusty, so it took be by surprise on a couple of occasions, leading to some precarious "Omigod how isn't the boat tipping over" leaning right out backwards moments.

Datchet is a pretty big reservoir, but I'm glad I did it inland and not on the coast. I'm not sure I would have wanted to go straight out to sea, no matter how calm or sheltered it was.