My first sailing experiences were with my Dad back in the early nineties during a visit to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) where he had set up business. I had taken vacation to see the place he had decided to settle and enjoy his life. During this vacation, we spent a week sailing the Islands, better said he sailed, I spent my time on deck sunbathing as the interest for sailing was just not there at the time.
A solid interest in sailing finally began early 2017 as I began searching for a hobby with retirement looming and no idea of how I intended to invest my time and make new friends. Taking into consideration, my work currently takes up a large portion of my time and my work colleagues make up a large portion of my circle of friends, I needed to think carefully on how to replace work and how to add new friends. I had already tried my hand at golf, for which I do not have a bad swing, however it lacked the activity and movement I felt I needed. The thought of activities such as angling, for example, do not meet the criteria I have laid down for the considerable amount of time that is going to become available to me moving on into pension age, I knew at the time I needed something more, something with a decent amount of activity, the possibility to keep myself in motion and a challenge to learn something new and attain new skills.
Coincidentally early 2017 during one my conversations with my lifetime pal George per Skype he mentioned that he had gained an interest in sailing and had booked himself some sailing courses. Following very little thought or time spent pondering over the idea I decided at that very moment to do the same and try it myself and spent the following couple of days looking for a sailing school. There are numerous schools located near to the Lakes in Bavaria, however this would mean an hour’s drive there and an hour’s drive back for a one hour course, not a good investment of my time, I needed a school nearby and fortunately also found one of the few in Munich also catering for people of my age. This reachable within 20 minutes and affiliated to the internationally recognised “Deutsche Motoryachtverband e. V“ and the “Deutsche Segler-Verband e. V“ was ideal. My sailing theory Course and the way to my first license of competence began in March 2017.
The theory was a challenge, not really the study in the German language but the sport itself, like many other hobbies, it has its own language. I was overwhelmed by the terminology and of course having to learn it all in German proved to be a challenge. However, on the other hand the half of it was unknown to me in my native language english thus the challenge would have been equal if I had studied in the UK. I however began very quickly to understand the logic, come to terms with the terminology used, the principles of sailing and of course the knots, which I practised daily in my office 🙂
Following successful completion of the theory course, I began practical training and gained my first experiences of dinghy sailing that summer on Lake Starnberg, a picturesque setting adjacent to the German Alps. Generally, the lake provides insufficient wind for decent sailing, however ideal for beginners. The lack of wind is compensated for occassionally with ample rain – 50% of my days training on the dinghy were wet.
Following completion of my first sailing course during the summer I sat the theory and practical exams in August of 2017 leading me up to the successful completion of what in Germany is called the „SBF Binnen Segel und Motor“ License – look it up :-). A real milestone, my first sailing license and the first official sign of competence and an achievement I was proud of.
In the same month, convinced I was going to stick with sailing, I bought my first sailing dingy, a Gruben Big Gypsy (4,50m) called “Molly”
which I kept at and sailed on Lake Chiemsee, the largest Lake in Bavaria with a total area of just under 80km². Again like lake Starnberg a beautiful setting near to the Alps and known locally as the „Bavaria Sea“. Excellent for dingy sailing as the winds are generally not too prominent though, due to its proximity to the Alps, is known on occassion and unannounced to get very stormy. The Lake is fortunately equipped with Storm warning lights, these mounted to be visible from any position on the lake, I have experienced their activation on a few occassions and each time have made speedy headway to my land mooring at the very first warning, it is not a good idea to be out on the lake in a sailing dinghy when stormy weather prevails.
in Autumn 2018, following a season on my sailing dinghy I felt I the need to expand not only my practical sailing experience but also expand the theory and furthermore add Navigation to my studies, therefore booked myself a course to study for the „Sportbootführerschein See“. Fortunately I found a course in my local community college with only eight participants meaning a lot of individual attention and concentrated learning from our Lecturer, a seaman of vast knowledge and experience. I built up a close friendship with ‘Walter’, our lecturer with whom I now spend a lot of sailing time, learning from his experience and using him as an exceptional source of information.
I attended the courses, studied hard and finally sat and successfully completed the theory and navigation exams in January 2019 near to Lake Starnberg. The practical exam followed the same day, however on Lake Ammersee, approximately one hours drive away. We experienced extreme winter conditions that day so it was an eventful drive through deep snow to the venue for the practical exam, we were lucky to have arrived on time. During the exam itself it snowed heavily and became very windy, we had not trained for and found manoeuvres such as powering a boat backwards in a straight line, casting off or taking a compass bearing was a real challenge without the necessary experience in these conditions. However all ended well and I gained my internationally recognised Licence „Sportbootführerschein See“ which translates to the RYA/MCA „International Certificate for operators of Pleasure Craft“ which I received a week later.
The time had now come for my next boat, the Gruben Gypsy had been an inexpensive investment for practise and served its purpose well, I had become very attached to my first boat however needed to move on. I decided on another sailing dingy which following the sale of the Big Gypsy turned out to be yet another Gruben, this time a Sprint (4,70m) also named “Molly”
which I again sailed on Lake Chiemsee. In the meantime I had also developed a keen interest in boat maintenance and repair and with this I managed to invest time and keep my dinghy fit for sailing, made some improvements, repaired damages and done some refits.
My hunger for knowledge and interest in sailing continued and in November 2019 I began to study for my next licence known as the „Sportküstenschifferschein“ which equates to the „RYA/MCA Yachtmaster™ Coastal Certificate of Competence“ according to Wikipedia. To gain pratical experience I also joined two cruises in the same year as crewmember and helmsman, both along the coasts of Croatia, one on a Sun Odyssey 440 and one on an Elan 514.
In May of 2020 I sat and successfully completed the theory and navigation exams, each 90 minutes and requiring self-text written answers as opposed to Multiple choice, the practical exam, having been postponed twice due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, was taken later that year on the Baltic Sea (Stralsund) in August 2020 aboard a Bavaria 430.
Following 5 consecutive days of intensive training I successfully sailed and completed the practical and final exam and became the proud owner of a “Sportküstenschifferschein” license, strangely enough a paper license like my very first sailing license, I prefer the plastic Credit Card type Licences but take what I can get.
During 2020, following the ‘Sportküstenschifferschein’ exams I kept myself busy studying, took appropriate courses and successfully sat, passed and received Certificates for „Short Range Radio (SRC)“ and the „Certificate of competence for the commercial handling of marine visual distress signals with a risk of explosion“ known in German as the „Fachkundenachweis (FKN) für Seenotsignalmittel“, both I consider neccessary for my sailing hobby.
Having obtained my„Sportküstenschifferschein” License and the two Certificates mentioned above, I now felt ready to move onto a larger vessel of my own, a Yacht. The intention was not to replace my sailing dinghy but as an addition as I love sailing my Gruben. It is a lot of fidgeting about trimming the vessel, very uncomfortable to sail and really only ideal at my age for a few hours when there is Sunshine and around 2~3Bft wind – but I still loved it and for a day out sailing a lot easier on the Lake than a yacht. However things changed and I purchased “Colinsbav” a 31 Foot Bavaria in 2021
