Full Description
This is the official handbook supporting the RYA Day Skipper Sail Course and is ideal for anyone looking to brush up on their knowledge to this level. It gives great practical and detailed advice on key skills, expanding on the course companion notes.
Being a good skipper is not difficult; it requires essential skills, knowledge, experience, patience, good communication and at times a sense of humour! This book is engagingly written and highly illustrated with the aim of equipping you with that essential knowledge and set of skills to help you build up your experience.
It leads you through practical advice on Day Skippering in three logical sections:
Practical Skills
Navigation & Passage Making
Safety
It covers all the theoretical and practical aspects of the RYA Day Skipper Sail syllabus and gives you all you need to know to take a small yacht on a short passage safely.
In addition to the practical advice on aspects of Day Skippering, extensive focus is given to safety planning skills such as life-saving signals, simple engine repair and preparation for bad weather.
Contents
Foreword 4
Introduction 5
Section 1 - Practical Skills 6
Nautical Terms 6
Parts of a Boat 8
Preparation for Sea 10
Basic Engine Checks 12
& Spares to Carry
Safety Briefing & 14
Safety Equipment
Handling the Boat 16
Coming Alongside 26
Knots, Cleats, Winches 34
& Jammers
Basics of Sail Handling 36
Raising & Lowering Sails 38
Boat Handling under Sail 44
Special Mooring & Leaving 54
a Pontoon
Picking up a Mooring 60
Anchoring 66
RYA Day Skipper Handbook - Sail 3
Section 2 - Navigation & 72
Passage Making
Navigation & Tides 72
Passage Planning 88
Navigating on Passage 100
Skippering the Passage 106
Buoyage & Lights 110
Practical Pilotage 118
Weather 122
Section 3 - Safety 130
Safety Equipment 130
Man Overboard 134
VHF Radio & How to 138
Send a Mayday
Flares & Other Distress 142
Signals
Fire & Gas 146
First Aid 148
Using a Life Raft 154
Preparing for Rescue 156
Going Ashore in a Dinghy 162
Preparing for Bad Weather 164
& Fog
Going Aground! 166
Simple Engine Problems 168
Collision Regulations 170
Lights, Shapes & Sounds 176
HM Coastguard in the UK 180
Index 182
