Level 1, 2 & 3 Sailing Course Details
Sailing Course Syllabus
Level 1 - Introduction to Sailing
The aim of this course is to provide a brief experience of dinghy sailing for someone who has never sailed before. By the end of the course, participants will have had a short introduction to the sport of essential background knowledge. It is recommended that all participants consolidate this short introduction with the Basic Skills Course - Level 2. The emphasis of this course will largely practical.
A. Practical skills
1. Rigging
Wind awareness
Parts of boat and rig
Sail controls
Foils-centerboard dagger-board and rudder
2. Rope work
Figure of eight knot
Round turn and 2 half hitches
3. Launching and recovery
Securing boat on trolley
Wheeling trolley clear of other boats, overhead and underwater cables
Wind awareness
Lunching and leaving shore
Coming ashore and recovery of dinghy on boat trolley
Techniques appropriate to the location should be taught practically
4. Sailing techniques and man-oeuvres
Wind awareness
Reaching-sailing across the wind
Stopping-basic hove-to position
Tacking-turning the boat through the wind
Getting out of irons
Sailing upwind
Sailing downwind
Gybing-turning the back of the boat through the wind. (This is likely to e carried out with guidance from the instructor who is likely to remain on board a crewed dinghy for large sections of the course particularly in anything other than light winds.)
B. Onshore teaching
6. Capsize recovery theory
"Always stay with the boat"!
7. Racing
Club, classes and handicaps (Portsmouth yardstick rule basic background only)
8. Sailing theory
Awareness of other water users.
Basic "collision" regulations e.g. port/starboard, windward boat, overtaking boat.
9. Meteorology
Onshore and offshore winds
Sources of weather information
Typhoon and monsoon signals and other warnings
10. Clothing and equipment
Clothing and footwear
Personal buoyancy
Sun protection - sun tan lotion, sunglasses, head-wear.
Water bottle (dehydration)
Level 2 - Basic Skills
By the end of the course, the successful sailor will be safety conscious, have a basic knowledge of sailing and be capable of sailing a dinghy without an instructor on board in light winds. The majority of conventional beginners' courses cover both Level 1 and Level 2 and are normally of not less than 30 hours duration: the syllabus below details those items not listed in Level 1. the emphasis of this course will be largely practical.
A. Practical
1. Rigging
Rigging a dinghy according to weather conditions.
Reefing ashore
2. Rope-work
Revision of Level 1
3. Launching and recovery
Storage of dinghies ashore
Launching and recovery
Paddling/rowing a dinghy around a short triangular course
Coming alongside and making fast
4. Techniques and man-oeuvres
The Five Essentials - sail setting, centreboard, balance, trim and course made good
Practical application of the 5 essentials round a course
Leaving and returning to a beach, jetty or mooring
Coming alongside a moored boat
Basic Rules of Road - port and starboard, when boats meet on the same tack, windward boat,overtaking boat
Tacking
Awareness of lee shore dangers
Sailing in close company with others
Crew overboard recovery
5. Capsize and recovery
Practical experience
Knowledge of several techniques boat types
6. Racing
Types of course
Starting and finishing procedure
B. Onshore Teaching
7. Sailing theory and background
Point of sailing
No Go Zone
Basic aerodynamic theory - how a sail works
Sea sailing - Local tide tables
Springs and neaps
Local current information
Taking local advice
Relationship between tide and wind
relative speed with / against current
Estuaries and harbour mouths
Local by laws and Maritime regulations
Telling someone ashore
Dehydration, heat stroke, hypothermia
8. Meteorology
Sources of information
Weather forecasts
When to reef
9. Clothing and equipment
Personal safety - clothing, buoyancy and basic equipment (anchor, paddle and bucket)
Safety equipment - visual methods of attracting attention
Action to help those in distress (Helping those in danger)
Level 3 - Improving Techniques
By the end of the course, the successful sailor will have a competent, safe, practical approach to the sailing of small open boats and will be capable of sailing and making seaman like decisions on moderate conditions.
It will be assumed that every student starting this course has already mastered the practical skills and absorbed the background knowledge required for Level 2. In practical terms, this implies a season (record in HKSF Logbook) of sailing between courses. The duration of teaching of this course should not be less than 30 hours.
A. Practical
1. Rigging
Rigging a variety of dinghies using all the boat's normal equipment.
2. Rope-work
Level 1 revised
knowledge of care of cordage e.g. whipping heat seal as appropriate
Other knots and their correct application only where necessary e.g. bowline to attached the main halyard to the head board of the mainsail
3. Launching and recovery
Leaving and returning to beach, jetty or mooring.
Windward and leeward shores
Use of anchor to haul off and return to lee shore
4. Sailing techniques and man-oeuvres
Anchoring - principles and techniques
Heaving to
Reef afloat
Towing another sailing dinghy and being towed by a support craft
recover a crew who has fallen overboard efficiently
5. Capsize and recovery
Righting an inverted dingy. (Mandatory)
B. Onshore Teaching
6. Racing
Mark rounding - wide in, narrow out
7. Sailing theory
International Regulations for Preventing Collision at Sea
1972 as amended by Resolution A464(XII) and A626(15)(LN. 365 of 1989);
- Meeting other sailing vessels
Meeting power-driven vessels
following or crossing narrow channels
Meeting vessels restricted in their ability to man-oeuvre, i.e. tows, deep draught
Action by stand-on vessel
Traffic separation schemes
Other dangers
Understands the following terminology: - port and starboard, windward, leeward, abeam, downwind, pinching, sailing by the lee, luff, bear away, planing, broaching
8. Meteorology
Sources of information - radio, Internet, television, newspapers, recorded telephone forecasts. Simple interrelation of synoptic chart.
Main characteristics of high and low pressure areas
Significance of minor changes in barometric pressure
Awareness of changing weather conditions
Beaufort wind sale
9. Tides and current
Use of local tables
10. Navigation
The compass - steering and hand-bearing, variation and deviation
Basic understanding of charts and important symbols
Steering a given course
Fixing position