MUMBLES KEELBOAT HIRE SAILING CLUB
HIRING A SAIL BOAT
The aim of the club is to get as many people sailing quickly, safely and cheaply as possible. Annual fees and hire charges are used entirely to maintain the club boats in safe and seaworthy condition. Like all sailing clubs the club is not a commercial organisation and makes no profits. Hiring a yacht costs just £10 per day (yes, £10 per day!). The one off joining fee is £250 (whatever your previous experience) and includes the cost of training/evaluation in twenty essential areas over five days in order to use the club yacht - that's only £50 per day for professional training on a 3 to 1 trainee to instructor ratio!).
Joining the Mumbles Keelboat Hire Sailing Club.
Your one-off compulsory £250 joining fee pays for your five day club induction course during which you will be continually assessed with regard to your performance in twenty essential areas. It is sometimes possible for experienced sailors to demonstrate the 20 points described below quite adequately and to learn club procedures in just a few hours. The club needs to evaluate each prospective member's competence in twenty essential areas and to demonstrate to each prospective member the correct club procedures - regardless of his/her previous sailing experience. The essential areas referred to above are known within the club as
THE TWENTY POINTS
1. WIND AWARENESS (Always aware of from which direction the wind is blowing)
2. THE THREE MAIN KEELBOAT SAILING ESSENTIALS - (Boat balance, Steering a straight course along a transit between two different distant marks to counter tide or leeway, Sail setting)
3. RIGGING & REEFING (Preparing for sea and stowing)
4. ROPEWORK (Figure Of Eight, Bowline, Double Sheet Bend, Round Turn & 2 Half Hitches)
5. KNOWLEDGE & USE OF BOAT TERMS (e.g. tiller, mainsheet, halliard, kicking strap.....)
6. ANCHORING (Warps, anchors, depths, swinging arcs, tides, wind changes, soundings, sailing backwards)
7. ROWING (Techniques used to propel and control a pulling boat's direction)
8. CONTROL - CREW CARE - MANAGEMENT (Awareness and quiet confidence)
9. LEAVING & RETURNING TO A MOORING (Boat speed and positioning)
10. RECOVERING BUOYS (Stopping a boat head to wind, dead in the water at an exact spot)
11. COMING ALONGSIDE (Combined with 'heaving to' and the basic 'Hove-To' safety position)
12. SAILING A BEAT, BEAM REACH & BROAD REACH (Setting sail to different points of sailing)
13. SAILING TIGHT CIRCLES (A true test of seamanship)
14. GIVING PROPER COMMANDS WHEN GYBING & GOING ABOUT (Safety aboard)
15. USE OF TILLER EXTENSION (Advanced techniques)
16. MAN OVERBOARD DRILL & BASIC 1ST AID (Essential safety requirements)
17. BOAT HANDLING & SEAMANSHIP (Basic common sense afloat - smartness as opposed to clumsiness)
18. AWARENESS OUTSIDE THE BOAT (Knowing what's happening about and where you're heading)
19. STOWING & GENERAL BOAT CARE (Everything in its proper place)
20. AURAL ANSWERS TO FIVE 'SETS' OF FOUR AURAL QUESTIONS AT THE END OF THE FOUR DAYS, ONE MARK AWARDED FOR EACH 'SET' OF FOUR QUESTIONS ( - examples below)
SET ONE - SAFETY
Weather forecast today?
Tide time today?
Explain when and why the tide will flow fastest today? (Twelfths Rule).
What does the acronym 'A.B.C.' refer to in First Aid?
SET TWO - NAVIGATION
What does "P.O.W.'s have no rights" refer to in sailing?
What are Cardinal Marks and Lateral Marks?
What mast head signals mean stay away from me?
What are four acceptable ways of attracting attention at sea?
SET THREE - BOAT BITS
What is a gudgeon?
What length of anchor and warp do you use in relation to depth when anchoring?
What are the three corners and three sides of a triangular sail called?
What are the different significances of a jib collapsing and a jib flogging?
SET FOUR - SAILING
What 3 things must be centred on gybing?
What does "Pull, clamp, throw, kick" refer to?
What does close-hauled mean and why would you choke-a-block?)
What is "Lee-Oh" short for?
SET FIVE - ROPEWORK
Can you tie a Double Sheet Bend? Demonstrate please.
Can you tie a Figure of Eight stopper knot? Demonstrate please.
Can you tie a Round Turn and 2 Half Hitches? Demonstrate please.
Can you tie a Bowline? Demonstrate please.
One mark awarded for each set of five correct answers.
Each of the above twenty points is scored on a scale of five marks equating to -
LEVEL ONE
0 marks - (times 20 = 0%) = Landlubber (no score at all - this has never ever been 'achieved')
1 marks - (times 20 = 20%) = Novice Crew Standard (below 20% - this has never been 'achieved')
LEVEL TWO
2 marks - (times 20 = 40%)= Competent Crew Standard (between 21% and 40%)
3 marks - (times 20 = 60%) = Reliable Crew Standard (between 41% and 60%)
LEVEL THREE
4 marks - (times 20 = 80%) = Novice Helmsman Standard (between 61% and 80%)
5 marks - (times 20 = 100%) = Competent Helmsman Standard (between 81% and 100%)
Club members who attain more than 80% are free to use the club boat on their own (or with their own friends or family) within the confines of Swansea Bay. Club members who attain 80% or less are given a list of Competent Club Helmsmen with telephone numbers. These helmsmen are deemed by other club members to have attained 'above eighty percent' and have kindly consented to go aboard each time with novice helmsmen and crew until such time as they feel that these novices can also become elevated to above "80%" status, i.e. when they can be trusted to use the club boats safely, manage novice (improver) crews confidently and to return both to their mooring and the crew to the slipway without upset. Newly promoted 'above eighty percenters' will be always be asked if they would spend some of their time 'bringing on' novices in the way that they were 'brought on' - that's why the club was formed!
