The students (pictured): Geoff H, Grace, Julie, Jake, Tony W, and Simon
We all met up at the club on Saturday morning for the theory part of the course, an introduction to the RIB and equipment, boat handling theory, passage plan organising, 'rules of the road' etc,.. a tour of the boat and to help prepare the boats and hitch them up.
Then to Teignmouth. The launch - as we'd anticipated - was interesting! At low (spring) tide, with the tide still on the ebb, Mir was nearly grounded; and Hubble needed help over the mud and shingle into deeper water. There was a gentle SW/westerly breeze. Beyond the point it was a bit choppy, but not too bad.
After navigating the harbour mouth and the sand bars, guided by our teachers we took turns at helming the RIBS, basic manoeuvring, and reading the waves and adjusting our speed accordingly. When we weren't 'driving'. I want to say we drank rum and sang merry shanties - but actually we picked up more interesting knowledge of boathandling, practised knots, and kept a lookout. Back in the estuary we practised manoeuvring in sheltered water, getting the boats up to the pontoons off the river beach and nudging the marker buoys. Retrieval (which we took turns at coordinating) was straightforward. A most wonderful surprise awaited us ashore - Anne had cooked up sausage sandwiches!! We finished washing down the boats and rendezvoused at the club.
On Sunday we met again at the club to get the boats out and returned to Polly Steps. Launch was far easier than the previous day, and we were off again, soon heading past Pole Sand to practise more boathandling skills like deploying anchors, picking up divers (we used a weighted float), man overboard drill and the Wilkinson turn.
Back at the shed we sorted out the boats and debriefed. The course was brilliant - very well run and taught, a fine introduction to boat handling. Now need to practise.
