Blogs

Boxing day 2020 and two and a half years since my last blog entry. The world has changed in that time and so have my own personal circumstances. at the end of 2016 I finished my final IT contract and started working full time as a freelance sailing instructor. It really was a refreshing lifestyle change. Roll forward to September 2018 and the opportunity arose to work for Allabroad Sailing Academy in Gibraltar. I am still a freelance instructor, although I now work almost exclusively for Allabroad.

Eighteen months since my last blog entry. I am slipping!

In December 2016 I finished what will be my last IT contract and am now sailing full time. I have had a very busy and succcessful first season and am half way through a similarly busy second one. Most of what I am doing is instructing, and I am pleased to say that I consistently get good feedback from my students.

I have also been developing my own skills and am now qualified as an instructor in the following:

Earlier this autumn I had the opportunity to teach a Day Skipper course up on the East Coast It was great to work with Hamilton Sailing and overall the course was a good success. I'm booked back with them for several courses next year. Meanwhile my own learning continues apace. I've recently completed an Advanced Powerboat course. I am also part way through a Dinghy Instructor course. Later this month I am also booked to do an Advanced Powerboat Certificate of Competence exam and to do a powerboat instructor course.

August bank holiday and the summer is, in theory, nearly over. It has been a busy one, with full time work and also trying to establish myself as a Sail Cruising Instructor. I have spent several weekends and a full week working for verious sailing schools. This has involved introductions to Solent Sailing, Stary Yachting, Competent Crew, Day Skipper and ICC. One of the more interesting and unusual was looking after a group of yougsters doing a Duke of Edinburgh's Award Gold Expedition in a yacht.

Last night I went to see the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Portsmouth Guildhall for a programme of Mussorsky, Scriabin and Berlioz. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, but it did set me thinking and wondering what sort of future exists for classical concerts in places like Portsmouth.

Comfortably installed for the annual Febstock weekend with friends. Much beer being drunk. Much good food and good music to come.

I've not done a lot to the site for a while. I really need to find the time. An update on the sailing front is that I have completed my Dinghy Instructor Pre Assessment the other weekend. it was good to be back in a dinghy for the first time in a couple of years, even if it was cold and windy!

I've added a new theme to the site for mobile users. It should work automatically from a mobile device. There's also quite a bit more content been added.

I've added an introductory page on offshore sailing. (More to follow). I've also created a gallery of pictures from the "Three Men on a Boat" Broads trip.

I've added stuff about the annual Three Rivers Race. Look on the Sailing menu.