http://www.wildspirit.biz ‘This is hassle free sailing at its best' - Sailing Today Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:03:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The season is now underway and after a really slow start bookings have suddenly picked up. The RYA course in June is full. The first training race weekend was full and the next on 19th March is fully booked as well. There are 2 places left for the Easter races ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2010/02/26/new-challnges-for-2010/ For several years we have sailed between Boxing Day and New Years Eve and enjoyed comparatively mild weather plus lots of space to sail in. To end 2009 we had a combined Competent Crew and Day Skipper course but due to sickness and travel problems 2 of the participants dropped ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2010/01/03/boxing-day-course/ After the Fastnet we had a cruise down to Fowey then up to Yealm, racing against a new 42i for about 20Nm before winning by about a mile. After this on to Dartmouth for a couple of days then to Studland and home to Lymington. The Fastnet report is on ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2009/09/03/september-update/ The Cherbourg peninsular is notorious for its strong tides and the RORC race there was a day after spring tide when up to 9 knots of tide can be encountered. Our start was more tense than normal as our normal Bow man was not on board. This meant a crash course ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2009/07/20/sailing-reports/ The last Day skipper course was a Sunday to Friday one and we were fortunate to have 4 students on board who could all handle a yacht fairly well. With mixed weather we sailed in winds between 5 and 28 Kts and did some of our night hours sailing round ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2009/05/05/day-skipper-course/ As a general rule, on a Yacht off the South Coast, if you can hear the MAYDAY being transmitted then you may be close enough to help. We had just come through the overfalls off St Albans Head in 20 Kts of SW with the tide when we heard Mayday ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2009/05/05/polly-mayday/ Le Havre Race  The bank holiday traffic meant that 2 of the crew decided to go direct to Cowes and we would go up the evening before the race on the tide. Unfortunately 2 other crew plus enough provisions to ensure Waitrose makes a profit this year were delayed on the ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2009/05/05/70-mile-spinnaker-run-2/ Nab Tower Race—Our first race of 2009 and against teams that had been racing throuh the winter. The wind was gusting to 25 knots and a flooding spring tide suggested this would be a cracking race. It was indeed a cracking race; with 10 minutes to the start requests for ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2009/03/30/scrambled-not-shaken/ Wild Spirit is now back in the water after her annual lift out. Ocean Rigging have replaced all the standing rigging and incorporated modifications to the backstay adjustment to help give a few degrees higher pointing when beating into the wind. This step was taken after detailed consultations with a ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2009/01/26/january-update/ The first part of a Day Skipper and Competent Crew course was distinguished by good weather and we anchored overnight in Worbarrow Bay. We rowed ashore and walked up to Tyneham the village evacuated as part of the preparations for the D-Day landings. After having taken in the marvellous surroundings ... http://www.wildspirit.biz/index.php/2008/09/08/10-knots-and-a-red-deer/