Level 1 - Competent Crew Training - Done

Well, that was fun!!

Finished an excellent 7 day competent crew course in the Solent and now know one end of the yacht from another, in my instance, this yacht being 'Derry-Londonderry'

Mixed crew of 3 Brits (Me, Wendy & Jonathan (RTW-er), 1 Dutch (Joachem), 1 French (Ana), 1 Malian (Abdoul), 1 German (Roland), 2 Americans (Karen and Jimmy) and a Brazilian (Cassius) - as well as 2 skippers, both of whom are race skippers - and absolute legends.

Pete Stirling
Patrick van den Zijden

To take 10 novice/no experience crew members out on a Saturday morning and send them off the following Friday having the confidence to pass them as Competent is a great achievement - having exposed us to Force 7 winds, a channel crossing, racing head sail changes and trusting us with the helm at night was simply awesome.

Knots as the boat is heeled right over are an experience in themselves, chuck in the rain and the fact it was dark starts to add to the sense of occasion - sleeping below decks at night is an art to say the least - especially as a vibrating mast sounds like the screws of a massive cross channel ferry steaming straight towards you and your mind shouts 'of course they have seen it', whilst your heart screams 'get out, get top side!'.

Man overboard drills with 'Bob' the fender were an interesting experience - apparently Level 2 will involve a more lifelike dummy, wheels that come off in your hand and happen at night - making it all the more serious.

I am still in pain from laughing so much - fear is a great leveller but laughter is even better - especially when Joachem, the Dutch motormouth was about to launch into yet another burst of stupidity when his face was filled by a massive wave from Neptune himself!

Casualties - 3 hats were sacrificed to Neptune but nothing more - and on a personal level, I have some interesting bruises from various pieces of equipment catching me unawares but all my kit, from the wonderful people at Force 4, held up brilliantly.

Next stage - Crew Allocation on the 11th May in Portsmouth