The seamanship skills course is all about How to handle a boat in all circumstances and solve problems afloat. The course will cover launching and recovering the boat in different circumstances, stopping, reducing sail, recovering a man overboard, anchoring.
Sailors on this programme will have completed a Dinghy Level 2 course as a minimum requirement.
This course will teach you all you need to know about sailing with a spinnaker. You’ll learn how to rig the boat, gybe and recover a spinnaker and how to sail the best possible course downwind. This course is usually covered in dinghies with trapeze so while not part of the syllabus per say, there’ll be some coaching on using the trapeze when heading upwind.
Sailors on this programme will have completed a Dinghy Level 2 course and have gained some additional sailing experience, for example having sailed with the INSC during their supervised sailing sessions.
The Day Sailing Course focuses on passage planning and decision making for small boat cruising. Over the weekend, we’ll cover preparing and planning for a day cruise, pilotage and decision making including adverse conditions. A typical course would see us sail west from Dun Laoghaire towards Blackrock on day 1. Day 2 will see us head to Dalkey Island for lunch!
Sailors on this programme will be quite experienced in a dinghy, having sailed with the Irish National Sailing Club for at least a few months after their Dinghy Level 2, or similar. Ideally, participants would have completed the Seamanship Skills course as well.
