Experience is king. After learning the theoretical and practical skills, it is important for enthusiastic sailors to start putting some miles under their belt. The type of miles may however differ depending on the needs of our clients. For those sailors that need to build up miles at sea for a Coastal Skipper qualification, we have defined this offering.
This experience builder is an enjoyable balanced mix of making miles, visiting harbours and rivers, and at the same time learning to structure a passage plan, use pilotage, do calculations on height of tide, handling tidal currents, and sailing at night.
Experience Builder
"The Ria's of Galicia to Brittany in September 2024"
Description of this activity:
This experience builder adds a total of about 600 miles to your nautical experience, divided over several stops and including the Biscay crossing. The planning and dates are weather dependent.
Description of the passage : This passage ( approx 600 NM) is definitely a bucket list highlight : crossing the Bay of Biscay to Brittany, from A Coruna in Galicia, passing Finisterra and the Costa de la Muerte , starting in the Ria of Pontevedra, the heart of the Rias Baixas. Ask experienced offshore sailors; they will confirm that the Spanish Ria's are one of the most beautiful places to visit by boat.
This experience builder is rated 'advanced'. You are expected to be skilled and experienced at a minimum level of Day Skipper, preferably Coastal Skipper level.
The miles on this experience builder will be made both during daytime and night-time. A minimum 48 hours leg is certainly expected for the Biscay crossing from Spain to France.
During this experience builder, we will be using visual and electronic navigation aids including plotter for position fixing and navigation. You will have the opportunity to practice chart work with dead reckoning and estimated positions to find our way towards our destination as well as digital navigation, under supervision of our skipper/instructor.
We will be practicing watch keeping in shifts, allowing all students to experience sailing at night under a starry sky.
The responsibility to prepare and execute the passage plan for the mile builder will be allocated in turns. This will give you the qualifying experience as skipper on long passages during day and night.
This experience builder is classified by us as Advanced, and requires proper sailing experience. It is an ideal activity if you are preparing yourself for Yachtmaster, or if you need extra experience after having obtained your Coastal Skipper or Day Skipper certificate.
What do you get at the end:
Your miles and night sailing hours will be signed off in your personal logbook at the end of the experience builder.
What's included:
- Accommodation on excelllent sailing yacht
- Shared cabin
- Coaching in developing your skills by experienced skipper/instructor
Supporting courses:
We recommend following the RYA Yachtmaster theory course before departure. Our C-MASTERS Offshore Passage Planning course is also very useful.
Supporting books:
