You & Sea Courses
In addition to the officially certified courses that we run, we also offer a variety of home grown courses and clinics, designed to help you feel more comfortable & competent at sea.
If you would like us to run any of the courses below, or if you have a course in mind that you would like us to design and run, then please contact us.
Electronic Navigation & Radar
£25 per person on our boat Millbrook, £300 per day on your boat with a maximum of 4 students
This one day course has been specially created by the You & Sea team to provide a structured training course on the use of Chartplotters and Radars on any vessel. This course is run on Millbrook using the latest in Raymarine chartplotter software, Doppler Radar, AIS and MARPA.
The course is split into 2 parts with the morning spent planning and executing a short passage using the chartplotter., and the afternoon looking at Radar.
We cover a variety of subjects including, in the morning;
chartplotter orientation,
AIS overlay,
vessel headings vectors,
tidal information,
plotter accuracy,
use of waypoints,
building a route
a discussion on the limitations of plotters.
And in the afternoon:
screen orientation, Head Up vs North Up
relative motion,
interpreting the screen,
Gain/Sea/Rain clutter controls,
IRPCS,
AIS and waypoint overlays,
what shows up on radar and what doesn't
and using radar for pilotage.
MARPA
What is included? One day's training on board Millbrook, diesel & fees, use of lifejacket, lunch & snacks during the course
What to Bring? All the usual skippering equipment (pencils, erasers, notepad etc), soft-soled shoes, light wellies or waterproof shoes, wet weather gear (contact us if you haven't got any)
Motor Boat Handling
1 day course, £300 per person on our boat Millbrook, £300 per day your boat with a maximum 4 students
The Motor Boat handling course will go a long way to relieving those feelings of apprehension when the time comes to carry out a manoeuvre in a tight marina or in windy conditions. Your experienced instructor will explain the main factors that affect how a large motor boat handles under power, and armed with this information you will have the chance to put theory into practice in a variety of situations.
You will come away with a better understanding of how windage, tide, prop walk, rudder shape and prop wash effect your yacht and indeed can in many cases be harnessed to help you pull off a perfect manoeuvre. Subjects that are covered on the day include single engine driving, use of springs, Med style berthing, stern first berthing, confined space manoeuvres, down/up tide berthing, down/up wind berthing, use of mid-ship lines and also a few handy tips to use when coming into the marina with low crew numbers or single handed.
What's Included? One day tuition on our boat, diesel, use of lifejacket, lunch & snacks on board
What to bring? All the usual skippering equipment (pencils, erasers, notepads etc), wet weather gear (contact us if you don't have your own)
Passage Planning
£115 per person our classroom, £300 per day offsite
A 1 Day theory course looking into the intriguing world of planning a coastal passage around the West of Scotland. We use real life charts, almanacs and tidal stream atlas' to build a passage plan for you to take away and refer to time and time again.
The morning of the course is spent looking at;
the theory behind passage planning,
a refresher on tidal streams and using tidal atlas
pilotage techniques
the use of waypoints.
The afternoon of the course is spent producing a complete passage plan.
The plan can either be built using electronic chartplotter equipment on our laptops or by using large scale Imray charts that cover the whole of the West of Scotland. We have complete chart coverage around Scotland so if there is a a particular plan you wish to design then just let the instructor know.
Included - 1 day tuition in our classroom, RYA Passage Planning Book, notepad & pen
Pre-requisites: Knowledge of navigation to Day Skipper level
Understanding Weather
Classroom course £115 per person, £300 per day offsite with up to 6 students,
A 1 day course that looks into the weird and wonderful that we get in the UK. The morning is spent looking at the theory of weather, covering topics such as;
What are fronts
How they form
Types of cloud
Low Pressures / High Pressures
UK wind directions and the associated weather
Fog
Sea / land breezes
Terminology
The afternoon is spent interpreting synoptic charts including;
What they tell us
What are isobars
How to spot a change in the weather
The shipping forecast
The inshore waters forecast.
The last part of the course is spent looking at the various apps available including Windy, Met Office, XC Weather and Grib Files.
Pre-requisites: A basic understanding of weather, and weather forecasts, would be helpful