Issue date
Well, the incredible run of fine weather we have had has finally taken a small pause, but there is no pause to action out on the water!!! . The summer of 2015 – 16 will go down as the best ever at Wellington Ocean Sports, with the largest number of participants getting involved that we have ever had. Demand is high, but there are still places available on our up and coming courses. As we all know, in Wellington you can get good days any time of the year (and bad days too truth be known), and we have many exciting course scheduled over the next few months. Take a look!!!
Casual Sailing
We pride ourselves on the number of follow on opportunities offered to our learn to sail students. These opportunities include further courses, yacht club membership and a variety of casual sails. These casual sails include - Friday night rum races, Saturday racing, Wednesday night racing during the summer, Sunday afternoon racing during winter and a variety of sails designed specifically for learn to sail students.
This month we have two casual sails available. Firstly we have a boat entered in the Commodores Trophy Race this Saturday which is the last race of the season. Secondly we have designed a learn to sail refresher session that is being held on Saturday 21 May. Get in quick if you are keen!
Racing Crew
Our next Racing Crew course commences on Sunday 12 June, it runs over 4 consecutive Sundays and will compete in the first two races of the RPNYC Winter Series. Nothing improves your sailing skills quicker than racing. Having to actually get the boat from one fixed point to another (as quickly as you can) is great for focus, and speeds up the learning process. Also the advantage of doing this course as opposed to simply going racing is that over a four day period we will take you step by step through hoisting, lowering and trimming spinnakers, all with the aim of making you a “competent crew on a racing boat”. This course will also give you greater confidence when taking up RPNYC member crew requests.
Cruising Crew
For those wanting to get involved in cruising our next Cruising Crew course commences this Saturday. Cruising Crew follows on from the Learn to Sail Keelboats course and provides an opportunity to consolidate and build on your knowledge and skills. It also allows you to develop seamanship skills and covers navigation, weather, rules of the road and includes a night sail. Cruising Crew leads on to the very popular Cruising Skipper course.
Cruising Skipper
Our next Cruising Skipper course is being held over the weekend of 7 to 9 October. This Marlborough Sounds based course will see you progress to be a “competent skipper on a cruising boat”. So take the next step now, and continue the journey to running your own cruising experience. The Marlborough Sounds are a fantastic part of the country to explore and we have an undertaking from Compass Charters, which they will charter to anyone that has completed our Cruising Skipper course.
Coastguard Boating Education
*****BREAKING NEWS******
Coastguard Boating Education courses have now been approved by NZQA as access training towards obtaining the new commercial qualification of “Skipper Restricted Limits”. This will alleviate the need for students to attend a Polytechnic block course. This is a fantastic development for Coastguard and now means commercial recognition and applications for their courses.
Wellington Ocean Sports offer a wide range of Coastguard Boating Education courses.
Boatmaster
For those wanting to formalise their theory based boating education, Boatmaster is a great way to do this. The Boatmaster course is a 30 hour, theory-only course providing in-depth knowledge of all aspects of boating safety. Whilst this is an excellent stand-alone course, the Boatmaster course is also a pre-requisite for the ‘Coastal Skipper’ course. We have the course running here at Wellington Ocean Sports Monday and Wednesday evenings from 4 July to 3 August, 5:30pm – 8:30pm. Booking available here.
VHF Radio Operator
The VHF Course is a 6 hour, theory only course, providing the necessary knowledge require to obtain the ‘Marine VHF Operator Qualification’, which is the minimum level for anyone to legally operate a fixed or hand-held marine VHF radio. This is a great stand-alone course, but is also a pre requisite for the ‘Coastal Skipper’ and ‘Offshore Skipper’ courses. This course will be on Monday 6th and Wednesday 8th June, 5:30pm – 8:30pm.
Advanced Sea Survival
Wellington Ocean Sports is running an Advanced Sea Survival course the weekend of Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 August and places are now available for booking. Advanced Sea Survival is a comprehensive theoretical and practical course required by crew competing in offshore races (category 1). The course is equally applicable for anyone considering a cruising passage.
