Advanced course

Initiation course  |   Offshore course

The course is addressed to those who already have a knowledge of the basic skills. It is intended to improve the skills of sailing in any condition and it implements the skills of the crew in preparation for taking charge of a sailing boat or for more complex navigations.

Items:

Safety: distress signals and rescue procedures.

Radio Communications: VHF, different kind of calls: distress, urgency and safety.

Engine: routine and emergency maintainence.

Meteorology: interpreting weather forecasts and overview on the web sources.

Boat’s structure: electrical system, hull and deck (materials, construction techniques, maintenance), sails (materials, construction techniques, maintenance).

Navigation: tides and tidal streams, leeway and drift, taking and plotting visual fixes.

Mooring: stern-to and bow-to moorings.

International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea: traffic separation schemes, all daytime navigation signals.

IALA (International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities) revision of daytime sea marks of Region A.

Yacht handling under sail: fine adjustment of sails, use of the gennaker, picking up a mooring buoy, anchoring, man overboard, reefing.

Yacht handling under power: man overboard.

Passage planning: planning and making a coastal passage.

Unlike traditional courses, Mainè has successfully set and tested an horizontal teaching structure. The courses range from the first steps to all the most advanced sailing skills and the higher the level is the more the subjects are studied in depth.
The programmes of the courses indicate an ideal path, that is then catered to meet the charachteristics and needs of the crew. All the courses of Mainè take place on board and are mainly practical: some elements of the classical frontal lesson are inevitable, but the theorical parts will only be debated, when possible, when practice arises them.