Ever wanted to feel the exhilaration of the wind blowing in your hair as you hit the high seas? Ever wanted to learn how to sail, close to home? If so, then the Gibsons Sailing School has got you covered.
Learn-to-cruise sailing courses are continuing this year in Gibsons, and now is the time to sign up.
Incorporated in 2006 as a recreational boating school, Gibsons Sailing School offers adult sailing courses on cruising sailboats from Gibsons Landing harbour, March through October.
Five-day, live-on-board courses will be given by instructor John Roper on the 12-metre, comfortable cruising cutter Mistress or by instructor Greig Williams on the 12-metre, high-performance cruiser/racer sloop Sailing Still, with a maximum of four adult students per course. Successful participants will receive the internationally recognized certificate and logbook issued by the Canadian Yachting Association.There are no prerequisites other than good health, enthusiasm and interest in learning how to handle a seaworthy sailboat, to be able to enjoy safely cruising the B.C. coastal waters in a most ecologically sensitive way.
According to Roper, because a sailboat is built to be easily driven by the wind and needs only a small efficient diesel engine, the fuel consumption is reduced by up to 90 per cent over a similarly sized power boat. "Like a hybrid car, the sailboat has an alternative means of propulsion and provides the pleasure of cruising while conserving the earth's resources," said Roper. "We're in our third year. The first two seasons were good and we saw an increase in the participants last year with 102 student days. We'd like to see the same this year."
Roper said living on board and cruising from port to port in a seaworthy sailboat, you can learn the safe operation of all the vital equipment, how to plan your voyage, how to manoeuvre under power for docking, how to apply the "rules of the road," how to raise and set the sails, how to obtain and interpret the weather forecast, how to navigate to a destination using charts and the Global Positioning System, how to anchor for the night and how to live comfortably on board, experiences that are key to your future boating enjoyment.
Roper is a retired professional engineer with a lifelong love of the sea and ships and is in his 25th year of teaching safe sailing. Williams has sailed many thousands of miles in the South Pacific.
"It [sailing] has been a major thing in my life," said Roper. "To share that with other people who want to learn these skills is very rewarding."
Visit www.gibsonssailing.org for more information or to book your course.
