Objectives
There is no licence for sailing yachts in France, and therefore no compulsory training in harbour manoeuvres. The practical part of the French motorboat licence covers very little of it anyway. Yet learning harbour manoeuvres in a sailing yacht takes time: first you have to build up a whole “toolbox”. Leaving and coming alongside, so often dreaded? This course takes the fear out of them. By the end, you will be able to:
- prepare and make fast your lines (bow and stern lines, springs, midship spring) wisely;
- leave and come alongside with the wind blowing onto or off the pontoon;
- manoeuvre in tight spaces, rafted up, in reverse;
- see your manoeuvre through to the end, without rushing, with a small crew;
- work with the wind and the tidal stream to make every manoeuvre reliable.
How the course works
The course lasts 6 days, in Port-Louis (across the harbour from Lorient). It is a true immersion: more than 300 manoeuvres are carried out during the week, i.e. 40 to 60 manoeuvres a day, in pairs (4 participants maximum). The layout of the harbour and the other harbours nearby make it possible to work through every situation efficiently.
On the programme, among other things: the midship spring (made fast in the middle of the boat, ideal with a small crew, it is a good substitute for a bow thruster), leaving and coming alongside on the leeward side of the pontoon in a strong breeze, leaving from a raft with rotation, springing off on a forward or aft spring, leaving a mooring buoy under sail. Every manoeuvre is analysed: circumstances, how it went, what to learn from it.
To revise before or after the course: the vocabulary of mooring lines, the midships spring and a dozen filmed manoeuvres are on the page The art of harbour manoeuvres.
Who is this course for?
This course is for people who already have a good grounding in sailing: boat owners, regular charterers, or people planning to charter or buy a boat. It also fits naturally into the school’s training path, just before flotilla sailing or chartering on your own.
A speciality of the school: some thirty courses run to date, without any damage to our boat or to the boats in the harbour.
Good to know for your boat plans
A few technical pointers passed on during the course: twin-rudder boats are a real handicap in harbour manoeuvres (leaning on a spring and springing off are difficult). Bow thrusters, for their part, are only useful in certain situations: the rest of the time, they often disturb the manoeuvre more than they help it.
What the price includes
Included: accommodation on board, training by a professional skipper, third-party liability insurance, use of the yacht and its equipment.
Not included: harbour fees, diesel and gas, food for the crew and the skipper (≈ 10 to 15 € / person / day).
Price: 740 € per week — see Dates & prices for dates.
