Skipper Course

GENERAL INFO

Meeting place: Seget marina Baotic first day at 09:30

Course content: Our Skipper course is an introduction to navigation, meteorology and the basics of seamanship for a competent skipper and crew-members. This practical course is conducted on board of a cruising yacht (10 to 16m) in order to achieve the basic skills of pilotage, navigation, seamanship and boat handling up to the standard required for day-skipper on a small cruising yacht. Our course includes both theory and practice.

On the first day, we will start for 2-3 hours with the theory before we will leave the marina. In the following days the theory will be done during the sailing respectively practice. Either we will return every night back into the marina Trogir or we will make a round trip for the duration of the course, staying in other marinas or anchoring in bays. The actual decision will depend on the weather situation and the preferences of the participants. Also one sailing in the night is foreseen.

COURSE THEORY

Navigation: Basic concepts, signs and abbreviations on nautical maps, lighthouses and lights, lateral signs of manageable routes or channels, cardinal signs, signs of solitary danger, special signs of new danger, course and azimuth, compass, course determination, wind effects on navigation, vessel position determination, variation, deviation table for deviation.

Meteorology: Winds in the Adriatic Sea, Wind scale and sea scale.
Sea collisions prevention & regulations: Rules of navigation and avoiding collision on the sea, sound signals, vessel lights, vessels marking, signs of danger.
Motoring: Basic concept, controlling of engine running and data, Adriatic Sea ecology.
Seamanship: Anchoring, knots, outfitting, man overboard, maneuvers, docking, sailing off.
Radio: Working with the VHF equipment, spelling table.

COURSE PRACTICE

Safety & collision prevention: Handling & stovage of general and personal safety equipment, fire precautions and fire fighting, emergency usage of VHF & distress, steering and sailing rules for collision prevention; Sources of meteorological information broadcast.

Ropes & anchoring: Learning of most common knots and their usage; anchoring preparation & practice with safety considerations.

Mooring practice: mooring in harbors and marinas

Navigation: Definition of position, course and speed; standard navigation terms, true bearings and courses; charts, chart symbols and usage of parallel rules, dividers and plotting instruments; electronic navigation; using of hand bearing compass

Boat handling & engine work: Steering effectively on all points of sailing; reefing and sails handling for prevailing conditions; fuel filter, water filter & impeller exchange.

Preparation for the sea: Boat preparation and checking; securing and stowing of on-deck & below deck gear

Nautical terms: General nautical terminology.

Recommended gear: Note pad & pen, warm clothes/thermals, non marking soft shoes, hat, sailing gloves, personal toilet kit and towel, sailing boots, sunglasses. Please pack your gear in a soft, squashy bag since suitcases are not suitable. Clothing should be warm and comfortable, and should not restrict movement. Quick drying fabrics may be beneficial and several thin layers are better than one thick.

Safety: The instructor gives all crew-members a full safety briefing shortly after arrival. Please listen carefully and do not hesitate to ask questions if you are unsure of anything. All safety equipment is provided.

Parking & transfers: Guarded parking place within the marina is charged 8,00€ per car/per day. It should be settled on the last day of the skipper course at the marina reception. Taxi transfers can be organized from Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar and Zagreb airports. Please provide our office with your flight details and we will find the best available options.

Minimum number of participants: At least 3 persons should confirm a single course in order to perform a skipper course. Please check with our office about the already confirmed course dates.

Arrival details: Please inform us about your arrival schedule to the marina – depending on your arrival schedule, we can allow early embarkation on the yacht (e.g. already the night before the course). Our representative will meet you upon your arrival to the marina. We will need your passport for the registration on the boat’s crew list and you will then board the yacht for an introduction to the other crew-members and the boats equipment followed by the safety briefing.

Terms & Conditions

Freewave is committed to organize skipper course according to programme on it’s own sailing boats. Instructors are Croatian sailors with multi-annual sailing experience.

The yacht is fully insured against accidents and third party liability, but responsibility is not accepted for personal accidents, damage or loss due to your negligence. You are recommended to arrange your own insurance cover, for cancellation, injury, personal belongings and personal liability.

The payment is non-refundable once a booking has been received and accepted. A course booking may be moved if it is in excess of 28 days from the start of the course, but this is discretionary upon the course, and is subject to an administration fee. In the event of a course being cancelled for whatever reason, our liability will be limited to the amount already received from you in respect of that course. Should you, for any reason, feel that the course may not have met your expectations, it is vital that you raise the issue at the earliest opportunity, so that we may rectify the situation as soon as possible. Alternatively, please contact our office. We may not be able to offer alternative arrangements for comments after the course is completed if the issue could have been resolved during the course.