Sailing on TV
Sailing programmes are rare on UK television despite our success as a sailing nation. So when something good comes along we should make the most of it. On Tuesday 16th at 9pm there's an hour long documentary on Virgin One charting Richard Branson's attempt to cross the Atlantic in a 30 metre yacht with his son & daughter. Looks like a must see and will no doubt be repeated periodically if you miss it first time. RYA Sea School
Our 2009 sea school programme is now live on the website and there are dozens of dates available at all levels. You can choose from the traditional 5 day mid week format or mix and match weekend courses to suit your exact requirements. Best of all, if you book before the end of the year we'll give you a 5% discount on the listed prices. For full details click here. Weather to Sail
The weather is critical to your sailing experience - too little and you end up motoring, too much and you or your crew could be frightened out off sailing for good. We're pleased to recommend a specialist course organised by one of our Yachtmaster candidates and run by professional Met Office trained professional meteorologists that will help you extend your knowledge and understand the practical application of that knowledge to improve your sailing. The next course is 17th January and more details are here including how to book. Lost property
Its amazing what people leave behind on yachts when they have finished their charter or course. The most frequent item is loose change, which might suggest that they really didn't clean the boat as they should, but that's another matter. Underwear is another favourite that seems to find its way under mattresses and can embarrass the next client if our cleaners don't find it! We always try to track down owners, but sometimes it isn't always clear and currently we have a Seiko watch missing its owner. Is it yours? Fastnet 2009
Our Fastnet campaign has been amazingly popular this time and we now have nearly two full boats ready to take part next year. In fact there is space left for just one single person (or possibly for a couple). We have kept the price really low at £2,500, by allowing you to arrange first-aid and sea survival courses at your own convenience. Training weekends commence in April as follows: 17/19 April, 9/31 May
This is followed by RORC qualifying races on 12/14 June, and 26/28 June with an optional extra qualifying race on 24/26 July. The Fastnet race itself starts on 9 August and we expect to return from Plymouth on or around 16/17 August. Click here for more details or to book your place. Christmas
We would like to wish all our customers a very happy Christmas and just remind you that we do have yachts available for bareboat charter over the Christmas period. Take advantage of cheap rates & quiet waters - email or give us a call. | Charter-a-berth
Do you know that Solent Sail runs charter-a-berth cruises to a range of destinations every month. We use our two 46' yachts to take up to 10 crew with a professional skipper to destinations along the coast from Weymouth to Brighton and across the Channel. The 2009 programme will be posted shortly, but it will include at least one cross-Channel trip every month (weather permitting) that you could use to gain mileage and experience perhaps as a Yachtmaster qualifying passage. The picture below was taken on a charter-a-berth trip this year. Can you guess where and when? See here for the answer (it may surprise you).  Winch tip
Sometimes when a self-tailing winch is installed or serviced, the pre-feeder is positioned to one side. As a result, you can find that when the line comes out of the groove, it ends up where you don't want it - on the side deck. This is inconvenient at best, but can result in the tail dropping over the side with the potential to get caught in a spinning prop. However, re-positioning the pre-feeder so that it drops the line safely in the cockpit is literally a 30 second job that saves so much time, you'll wonder why you never did it before. Have a critical look at your winches next time you sail. 
Fastnet Rock
Here is the Fastnet rock in the 2005 race. Ironically just as half the fleet retired in 2007 because of too much wind, there were also a significant number of retirements in 2005 due to too little wind. The yachts just ran out of time or food!
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