Up early, not much breakfast. We did some last minute tidying of the boat, slipped the lines and headed up river to pick up our torturer for the day at Noss marina. We rafted up against another boat momentarily whilst Andy Wright stepped aboard. Andy introduced himself, validated all the prerequisites for the course (losts of sea miles, night hours, various training courses etc.) and then went through the plan for the day. Night sailing was part of the examination, and of course, it was very close to being the longest day - and that's what it turned out to be!
The first task was some basic boat handing under engine. Reversing through narrow spaces, rafting up against other yachts, and picking up buoys. All fine, although my buoy pick up was a little ragged.
David was then requested to prepare a passage plan to take us to Brixham, a few miles up the coast. All done perfectly, as you might expect, from the master navigator. Conditions were not good. There was very limited visibility, bordering on fog (definition required David), and there was no wind! When a speed boat passed us at speed in these conditions from behind, and no one saw it, there was an oh dear moment when we thought we would be marked down. Our radar was not picking this boat up - no reflector, so other than stopping the boat an listening we were likely to miss it. The last section you see below heading somewhat away from Brixham was a valiant attempt to get Liquid Asset sailing which we did albeit very slowly.
Track of Liquid Asset during Yachtmaster |
Buoy Pickup under Sail |
As you may be able to discern from the photograph we both made it. It was a tough long day, and we were celebrating with a flight of malts at 3am. More later.