We're doing today a passage through the swellies at low water slack. The really
important things here are timing, the right time for when the water between
the two bridges forming the swellies passage is slack water and that occurs at
certain time. Second key thing is the depth of water and we have to make sure
that we go between these rocky sections but also that we can go at times when
the depth of water is okay for us to go. So we can only do that at certain
only a couple of days a month. So today we're going to go through under the
bridge and miss out a rock that's just here by following another route and then
in between the big rock called Cribbin Rock and the shoreline and the
following the looking back to check the leading lights that are under this bridge
and then turning to go between the swellies rock and the shoreline and then
out into some deeper water. And at the same time again making sure
we miss the rock here by checking that we can still see that rock and we are at
what's called open so we completely miss the rock there as well. So there are
three or four key points places along here to keep an eye on as we pass
through. So it makes it quite a tricky passage and we do we'll do it with the
tide slightly against us so that we will have help slow us down not go too fast.
Okay and we'll be able to see this rock. We may be able to see this rock.
I'm Catherine Watson and this is called Horizon Sailing. The idea is that we
provide sailing tuition and experiences for families, friends and work
colleagues. The boat itself is based in North Wales, Conwy, North Wales and it's
got the chance of sailing in a beautiful area around North Wales coastline. What
does sailing bring to individuals or teams? Is there any relationship to
sailing and work and business? Sailing a sailing yacht requires a coordination of
all sorts of types of activities. Usually there are several people on the
boat, someone has to steer the wheel, people have to pull ropes, someone has to
go in front, someone else has to navigate. So there are several types of
activities and it's really important to coordinate the actions of everyone to
make sure the boat sails to its best performance. So in this way there is such
a combination of activities and skills required that these are like running a
business where there is strategy, there are people who need to manage resources,
there are people who need to plan ahead, people who need to be working out what
happens when things aren't quite going to plan so that we need to always review
what is happening. So sailing is like a business with all the components of
planning, delivery, reviewing and re-evaluating what needs to happen. So
all of these together make a boat work well and similarly they make a
business act to its full value. And tell me what have you got planned for this
trip? What's the voyage plan? The outline sailing plan is to provide work on a
sailing trip which goes around Anglesey in north Wales. Not only does Anglesey
provide beautiful coastline areas there are lots of complications to do with
tidal features and rocks and outcrops and lighthouses and for business purposes
as well as for sailing purposes this requires quite a lot of planning of what
you need to do. So we need to work out when to go, what's going to happen with
the wind, how we're going to get from A to B and what time you might expect to
get there. And all these things together provide a passage plan and this is in
effect the overall strategy or plan for the trip. Now tell me as an OIA instructor
what skills can people expect to learn with you? When on a sailing yacht there
are a number of things to work out. It's important to be able to plan to manage
the boat properly and so to manage the sails we have to adjust the sails to
suit the wind conditions that might mean sailing in a particular direction to
to manage the wind. Also it might mean having to change the amount of sail
reef in the sail if the wind picks up otherwise the boat might be overwhelmed
by too much wind. It's always important to think about how the boat performs at
its best. Many of the other activities are about how to change direction in
sailing. So sailing into the wind, across the wind and with the wind all
require different sail configurations. So sailing is sailing itself, setting
the sails is a really important aspect. Another aspect that we work on for
courses is how to manage situations of safety. These are critical in a boat so
if someone falls overboard it's really important, certainly around UK waters, to
get them out of the water as quickly as possible. So we learn methods to pick up
a person, potentially a person who has fallen overboard and that's called
man overboard recovery drill. Another activity that we work on is moorings.
That is about how to come up to a mooring buoy that often are set into
sections along coastlines and in attractive areas and the idea is that
you sail in towards a mooring in order to be able to stay there or rest there,
stay overnight perhaps and this forms an alternative to needing to anchor. The
important thing about sailing into a mooring is that you've really got to
work out what the tide is doing and what the wind is doing. Both really affect
the way that the boat goes and the very slow speeds through the water. So you
have to make a judgment about which way is the wind blowing, which way is the
tide going and tide is king. On a different tech, tell me about the
beauty of sailing, what's the attraction of sailing and yachting? Sailing a boat
requires such a wide range of skills, techniques and abilities and experience.
It's about operating quite a complex machine in a natural environment which
is constantly changing. The waves, the wind, the tide are all changing. Other
vessels that are in the area affect what you're going to do. So it's really
important to pay attention to the to the whole of the idea of running a boat. Now
what really makes me interested in this is it's not just about running the boat
itself. There's a lot of physical activity, there's a lot of moving about.
It's you're out in the open air, you have good views of the area all around and
really also what works is when there are several people together and you're
making the boat work and there's a way of working together, everyone needs to
pull together to keep the boat working right. And then in addition to that
someone else has to do the looking after, bringing the drinks, preparing the
meals, making us all prepared to be able to continue to do the activity.
Catherine just tell me about your experience, your considerable expertise
as a clinical psychologist. How does this help you in your role?
My background as a clinical psychologist has provided me with a lot of ways of
working with people who have so many unique ways in which they act and learn
about the world themselves. Everyone brings their own contribution not just to
a boat but to each other in the world. As far as sailing is concerned and the
teaching of techniques on the boat, I particularly pay attention to whether
people like to learn the sailing techniques by doing them, just getting on
and doing it and seeing what happens, whether they prefer to be helped through
the breakdown or what the task is and to talk through it first so that they
run it through a rehearsal of that in their mind and then they can follow it
through. Or thirdly, a different approach is when people like to be shown what to do
so that I provide them with the guidance and detail of the steps of the
way. So there's a three main methods of helping people learn the techniques of
sailing. One of the other additional parts to the techniques is the importance
of communication with each other on the boat, how people need to use short phrases
when you've got the wind taken into account and also to trust each other on
the boat. Recently I had an experience of a husband and wife. The husband as
usual, as often is the case, was doing most of the instruction to do with
managing the wheel, he was doing most of the guidance on the navigation and I
was suggesting to the wife that she learn a bit more about how to navigate so
that in unfamiliar areas he could begin to trust her, to give her, for her to
give him the right kind of information on which to then base his, the actual
direction he was going to be sailing in. So this was really an important aspect to
teach the couple how to communicate differently with each other on this
particular aspect of sailing. With the couple in particular, we were able to
work out that the wife particularly was keen on breaking the task down, thinking
through it, working it all out, doing it, practicing it and then rehearsing
again, going through it in her mind as to what the different steps were. And in
fact, it worked out a really, it was really complicated maneuver, a man
overboard and she was able to really accurately rehearse and tell me back
what the steps were. Her husband, as a different method, was prepared just to
do the activity and then just see how it worked. And he used all different
aspects of how the boat functions, different sails, different aspects of
the engine, all sorts of different features of the boat in order to reach
the same objective. And finally, just tell me about your yacht as a
Starlight Tester Roster. Just describe and tell me why she's such a good
job to learning. What makes her special? Tester Roster is a Starlight 39 and
although she's quite an old boat by modern boat standards, 20 years old, she is
very stable in kind of wave and wind conditions when a lot of boats might not
consider going sailing. And as a result, it works very well by keeping
stable. It's a very comfortable ride for people who are less certain, less
familiar with sailing on rougher waters. The boat itself has also got, is well
insulated so that when you're inside the boat, you often just don't hear the
waves and the wind when you're outside. And so it's all very comfortable indeed.
We've got on board, we've also got, we have toilets for everyone, we have a
cooker, a fridge, really good navigation systems, communication systems with
the Coast Guard and elsewhere. We've got satellite devices, we've got a range of
safety devices that make sure that everyone is safe and comfortable in the
boat as well as should the worst happen, that we are well prepared for
surviving, managing, even, should we need to be, get into the water.
Kathy, just tell me about communications and conversations and how they help the
learning process on Tester Roster. When sailing a boat, there are real phases of
activity. Everyone joins together to pull the sails up, to get the boat going, to
carry out manoeuvres, to pay attention, to really getting the boat working
properly. And then what seems to happen is that there's a bit of relaxing from
this. In normal cruising mode, there's a relaxing from all the activity that's
happened. And in these pauses for effort, there are also times of reflection. I
often find that there are lots of conversations that occur between members
of the crew. And this particular time, I have been able to incorporate into my
way of providing the sailing experiences by allowing for time for
conversation, acknowledging that people have phases of activity and these pauses
for reflection. And in these pauses for reflection, it's possible to talk about
all sorts of matters that could be personal, they could be things that
which are just normal conversations that people have about family and friends
and everyday life. However, what I've also done is how to build such pauses of
reflection and focus them on, for example, business issues. So I prompt people
into having conversations about how their business is doing, also include
sometimes on the crew, a coach, a business coach, who can work with
colleagues, coaching colleagues, who are also on the boat and they can have
extensive conversations about current business issues. And in this way, it's
possible to have conversations about work while it's not at work, but yet
completely separate from and away from work. And this provides a real
opportunity for reflecting, not just on how you are thinking and working
through business issues, but it's also a chance to do that for a short period of
time. What's your most memorable occasion sailing and what biggest learning
point have you had? One of the most triumphal moments for sailing was on
finishing the Three Peaks yacht race. This was in June 2012, when I was
sailing with, I was skippering the boat with my son and a friend of his. And
there were three people who were sailing the boat and we also had two runners.
And the idea is that we sailed start the boat, sailing the boat from mid Wales
up to Fort William in Scotland and the runners run up the mountains of
Snowden, Scarfell and Ben Nevis and the whole event is called the Three Peaks
Yacht Race. The major triumph about this event was being able to overtake about
10 yachts whilst we took a narrow channel that we judged we had the right
kind of current for. And we just managed to sail very well under Spinnaker
for several hours and with my son also navigating as an expert yachtsman,
international yachtsman, he could navigate very carefully the currents and
watch them and see and spot what was happening on the water. So I was using
his incredible technical skills for seeing the water and planning what to do
and the tactics of how and when to jive the Spinnaker. So when we arrived at
Fort William it was just a really incredible feat and effort and pleasure to
have been able to sail.
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