Almost at the end of another week. I can't believe how fast it's all going. I've been ashore all week doing the Day Skipper theory course. A good thing really, considering it's been raining since last weekend! I found the course quite tough but very interesting - it was a lot of chartwork, plotting courses and learning about tidal streams and tidal heights. I had the exam yesterday and passed, which means that after the Day Skipper practical course next week, I will be able to skipper a yacht, in daylight, in familiar waters. Whatever that means. Still, that's the first rung on the ladder, so I'm moving in the right direction.
We obviously went out and celebrated our success and were just going to go to a local pub. Things here are, however, never that simple. After several pints and several seconds deliberation, it seemed only right that we should grab our passports and walk over the border to Spain. A good time was had by all, although having finally got back to the boats at 0500, when I got up at 0830 I seriously doubted it had been worth it!
I've moved onto another yacht today, a 46' Moody called Rincewind. She's the biggest yacht in the fleet, so if I can learn to sail her and moor up without breaking anything, everything else should be...er....plain sailing. I guess. All the yachts handle very differently so I'm sure it's not actually that simple! She's basically a cruising yacht so isn't particularly suitable to a sailing school environment but it's all good experience. She is well equipped though and even has a microwave and wine rack fitted. What more do you need. There's a huge rear cabin with a double bed and en suite, a double fore cabin, a bunk room and something called a pilot berth, which is essentially a wide shelf you lie on about a metre and a half long. There's a hole in the bulkhead at the end of it for your legs to go in. Very odd. Fortunately someone else has chosen to take that. Yep, that's what I said. Chosen. Naturally the skipper has the palatial aft suite, so I'm back in the bunk room. We've had a bit of a change in crew today as well. Peter's our new skipper, Louise and I are still on the same crew but we've lost Tom and are now with Mel and Ross. Everyone's nice so it makes no difference really.
We've had today off, for the most part, and the sun has been shining all day, which was very welcome. Bacxk in the classroom tomorrow for a course on weather, which should be interesting. No idea where we're off to next week but I'll be sure to post an update next weekend. I may even get some more photos. I may even feature in one or two just to prove that I am actually here and not making it all up!
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