Alize Winter Newsletter

Ahoy,

First congratulations to all who have completed courses this year. From Start Yachting all the way through to Yachtmaster. It has been a pleasure to sail with you and see your confidence and awareness grow.

Without the continuing support of returning students and charterers, not to mention the new blood every year, it would be impossible to continue with the competitive pricing Alize Sailing School can offer, which gets people afloat who wouldn’t normaly.

The RYA is still pushing for us to use electronic navigation aids more than ever and I agree that they have their rightful place in the nav area. However this school will be insisting that every one, from comp crew upwards will be fully capable of producing an EP and Course to Steer when under way, as well as being familiar with the GPS and Chart Plotter.

As usual it has been quite demanding when students arrive without completing a shore based course or have forgotten the content. This will not put me off. Not all of us are natural scholars and very often achieve high standards of seamanship when given the right opportunities.

More women then ever have been joining us this year, especially for Day Skipper courses. I for one hope this trend will continue.

The school will be run on the same basis as previous years, ie. first come first serve.

Those who wish to complete longer passages offshore, can take advantage of our cruises to Amsterdam, Belgium and France. Alize sailed to all these in 2010 and the highlight was Sail Amsterdam, which comes round every five years. More square rigged ships than you have ever seen and literally thousands of people on the water in all kinds of craft.

As I write the snow is falling and spring feels a long way off.
So I wish you all a very happy festive season and happy new year.

Best wishes as ever,

Jack