Summer Wednesday evenings are now a distant memory.  So what do sailors do midweek when the boat is stored away for the winter and the sails are dried and stored.   One option taken by 15 EDYC members is the shorebased Yacht Master course.  For 21 weeks two hours every Wednesday evening until next March, fifteen of us will be meeting up , close to the old sailing port in High Street, at James’  plush offices..  Last week we all sat the collision regulations exam so I am writing this whilst we are all in trepidation of hearing the results of the first exam many of us have sat in years.  The pass mark is only 80%.  I suppose it is not too bad if you only hit 20% of the boats you encounter.  Still confused – Do the collision regs rule 5 apply to a single yachtsman – why not a married one. We now know at night how to turn our sailing yacht into a trawler when viewed from starboard and into a fishing boat when viewed from port.
So tonight we move from sound signals, lights and passing to navigation and we should be armed with dividers, Portland Course Plotters, 2B pencils and rubbers (or should I say erasers).
An interesting course and a great way to spend cold winter Wednesday evenings in the company of your friends form EDYC.
Thanks again to James for hosting us at his office and Trevor for organising the course.