It is our last Buchan Badge nautical session this afternoon and the kids are in for a treat. They are going to meet this guy, who some of you might remember, Donald the Port St Mary Dolphin. This dolphin lived in Port st Mary in the 70s, my Dad and Uncles used to swim with him. I have been lucky enough to get a collection of photos from my Dad and the Buchan Badge students will be seeing them and hearing some stories about Donald this afternoon 🙂
I have just finished making a Christmas tree from driftwood and fishing net found on the beaches, it’s for the Port Erin Christmas Tree Festival which starts this evening – the big switch on it a 7pm and the retailers are open for late night shopping too. Despite the storm force winds!!!
Our shop windows have been dressed with handmade Xmas bunting from ‘Jo three legs crafts‘. It is starting to feel like Christmas here 🙂
Also on this evening is the Rushen Silver Band, Father Christmas and the Rushen Primary School Choir near the Railway Station from 7pm…..
We now have Speedo Bubble Caps available. They are specifically designed to keep the head warm for cold water swimming. They are 100% silicone and come in two colours, black or white, they are priced at £6.00.
Our shop open Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 5pm.
Over 100 entries are expected at the Laser Radial Inland Championship this weekend, including three members of the Manx Youth Sailing Squad. Hannah Howitt, Izzy Sharpe and James Kelly compete at a national Laser championship for the first time.
All three young sailors have four years experience sailing in the Tera class. James was crowned RS Tera World Champion in 2010. They all moved into the Laser Radial class at the beginning of this season, having outgrown the Tera.
This is taking their sailing to the next level, they are now competing against the big boys, including current Olympic sailors and National Youth Squad members. This will be their first taste of senior racing and I’m sure it will be an exciting and inspiring experience for them all.
Veteran Laser sailor Mike Pridham will also compete at the Inlands, which are being held at Grafham Water, starting tomorrow. Mike has been assisting the younger sailors since they made the transition into the class.
All three youngsters are recipients of Sports Aid Foundation and the IOM Steam Packet are also providing assistance for the team to travel to the necessary training and events in the UK.
I wish them all the very best of luck and I hope they enjoy the exciting weekend ahead of them.
Today is officially the end of our sailing season at 7th Wave, all the boats are now packed up and turned over for the winter. A huge thank you goes to the team of young sailors who showed up with wellies and raincoats this morning to help with the packing up.
A day’s worth of work done in an hour!
We are now taking bookings for our 2012 Youth Sailing Weeks and already the courses are starting to fill.
There will be three courses at Easter. 2nd – 6th April is a Race Training week for anyone who has completed Stage 3 and is keen to have a go at racing. Last Easter the race training week was very well attended and a lot of fun. We strongly recommend this course to anyone who would like to be considered for the Manx Youth Sailing Squad in the future, it is also a great way of really refining sailing skills and building confidence.
9th – 12th April and 16th – 19th April will both be our usual Youth Sailing Weeks covering RYA Stages 1 to 4.
TT Week is 4th – 8th June. Please note that KWC, Buchan, state schools and English schools are all on half term this week as it is the Queen’s Jubilee. I expect this to be a very busy week so please, please book nice and early for places during TT Week.
Summer Youth Sailing Weeks start on 9th July and run each week until the schools go back in September. Last summer these courses were over-subscribed, so again please book early to guarantee your places.
The course fee is £270 which is inclusive of VAT. At this stage we ask for either a deposit of £70 at the time of booking or you can choose to pay by standing order with six payments of £45 from November to April.
To reserve your places for next summer please contact me. For sailors that have completed Stage 4 we will be offering the RYA advanced dinghy sailing courses which include Sailing with Spinnakers, Seamanship Skills, Day Sailing and Racing. If you need some advice about which course or level would be most suitable then give me a call on 836366.
NOTICE OF RACE – TOPPER CHALLENGE 2011
The Topper Challenge will be held on Sunday 30th October at Mooragh Park, Ramsey.
Eligibilty & Entries
Entries are invited from:
Ard Whallin Outdoor Centre
IOMYC
King Williams College
Maughold Venture Centre
MS&CC
7th Wave
Centres may enter one team of three people, competitors may only sail for one team. Entrants must be aged 16 or under on the day of the competition.
Closing date for entries is Friday 21st October please email teams / entries to jen@7thwave-iom.com
Venue & Format
Competitors briefing will be at 13.00 by the Mooragh Park Cafe. First race will start promptly after the briefing.
The Topper Challenge is a team racing event, all teams will race each other, the winning team shall be the team scoring the greatest number of race wins.
Courses, sailing instructions and rule amendments will be announced at the competitors briefing.
Boats will be provided.
It has been a busy summer this season with more young sailors joining our Youth Sailing Weeks and more adults taking the Dinghy Level 1 course than ever before. Our new Youth Powerboat Handling course also proved very popular and we ran a good number of RYA Powerboat Level 2 courses for the grown ups.
Looking ahead to the next few months, Saturday Club sailing sessions for juniors will continue until the end of October, then we have a full shorebased programme planned to take us through into the new year….
Youth Navigation Courses at Half-Term
During October half term we will be running a new two-day basic navigation course for youngsters aged between 11 and 16. This promises to be an interesting course which will introduce concepts including compass work and direction finding, latitude and longitude, basic chartwork, chart symbols, buoyage, position fixing and much more. As usual we will ensure that this course is pitched at an appropriate level for younger sailors. Theory elements for Stage 4 and some of the more advanced courses can be signed off after successful completion of the course. The course will run from 10am until 5pm each day, the course fee is £120 inclusive of VAT.
VHF Short Range Certificate
Courses for adults start in November with VHF courses on 5th November (full already) and 3rd December. The VHF course provides you with the knowledge, confidence and necessary legal documentation required to operate a marine band VHF/DSC radio. There is a short assessment at the end of the day. The course runs from 9am until 5pm, the fee is £99 inclusive of VAT. There is an additional fee of £30 payable to the RYA for issue of the licence.
RYA Essential Navigation and Seamanship
On 12th & 13th November we are running the RYA Essential Navigation and Seamanship course from 9.30am until 5.00pm each day. This is a great course for those who use small boats for coastal journeys. You will become familiar with basic chartwork, position fixing, compass use, interpreting tidal and weather information, some seamanship skills, GPS use and more! No previous boating experience is required. The course fee is £169 which includes all course notes, training charts, training chartplotter software and VAT.
RYA Dayskipper Theory
Dayskipper Theory starts on Saturday 19th November and runs on Saturdays (all day) and Thursday evenings until 10th December. This course is a comprehensive guide to essential aspects of navigation, chartwork, pilotage and seamanship. For details of the full course content please contact me. The course fee is £289 per person which includes all course materials and VAT.
RYA Yachtmaster Theory
In the new year we will be running the Yachtmaster Theory course over six Saturdays from 14th January to 18th February. This advanced course equips skippers with the knowledge required to make offshore and overnight passages and takes your theory knowledge to the standard required for the RYA Coastal Skipper and RYA Yachtmaster Offshore practical exams. Prior knowledge to RYA Dayskipper Theory standard is an essential pre-requisite for this course. The course fee is £289 which includes all course materials and VAT.
If you would like any more information or wish to book a place on any of our courses please contact me. Our shop is open 10.30am – 5pm Tuesday to Saturday right up until Christmas so you can pop in for a chat, call us on 836366 or email me.
What should have been a quiet day turned out to be rather exciting.
It started with a call to Dad who was in a very busy PSM lifeboat station, it turned out they had a party of guests and needed a crew to take them out on the boat. So at 1pm we took the boat out for an hour.
At 2.45 students from the Buchan arrived at the station for a pre-arranged visit a part of the Buchan Badge scheme. The students were great and had loads of really good questions about the RNLI and both the ILB and ALB on station. We were mid-conversation about rescues when our Mechanic Gordie came in and said “we’ve had a launch request”. So the Buchan Badge pupils were treated to watching both boats launch on service!
The shout was to a 26ft yacht who was off Pooil Vaaish with a lobster pot well and truly snagged in the propeller and around the rudder. Two crew members Mike and Tom Keggen went aboard the yacht and secured the tow line which was transferred to the yacht by the ILB. The yacht was then towed into Port St Mary by the ALB. At 5.30 the boats were back on station.
6pm home for a cup of tea!
7th Wave is delighted to be working with the Buchan School on their new extra curricular ‘Buchan Badge’ scheme.
We are providing advice and activities for the Nautical Element to their badges. Last week we ran two knot tying sessions and this afternoon the Form 3s have been at 7th Wave enjoying a kayaking session.
Great fun was had by all! Hoping the weather holds so we can get the Form 4s sailing next week (fingers crossed)….
