The white tree

When we started our Snark adventure it wasn't just a boat we needed, we also had to obtain professional qualifications allow us to take paying passengers to sea. In my case this meant getting an endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore certificate. Despite having sailed offshore to over 45 years I had never entered the tortuous world of RYA courses and qualification; learning instead from skippers, colleagues and my own mistakes! The fast track courses were both expensive and time consuming so I thought 'you know what you're doing, just go for it'.

The white tree (to the left)

Step 1; my offshore CV / log book was aging and I needed some more sailing time so I blagged my way onto a four day/night delivery trip of a racing yacht from Valletta to N Sardinia. An unpleasantly eventful trip as it turned out but that's for another time.

Step 2 ; Sea miles in hand I enrolled on a four day pre exam crammer in Plymouth, run by the inimitable Peter French. The idea was to make sure I knew how to do it the RYA way, which is often differs strikingly from the reality of small yacht sailing!

The first day out Peter, myself and two other students sailed across the Sound to Cawsand and anchored close inshore next to the white tree (where the blue boat is above), which Peter assured us was the best spot in the anchorage. We did our position bearings and settled down for dinner and a classic Cawsand rolly night (the passing Navy ships and ferries send in regular lines of wash to rock you to sleep!) We were back in Cawsand on Thursday evening and I looked across at the white tree thinking how far I had come since that first time sailing around Plymouth Sound.

Today is our last passage of this season and of our current Snark adventure, from the anchorage at the north edge of of Flat Owers on the Dart to Topsham Quay. The weather looks kind, the spring tides set their usual challenges of shoal waters and strong streams,  the wind direction is not ideal but the sun is shining and the sea breeze should help bend it round a bit. It will be strange to not be considering these things all the time but no doubt new and just as fascinating issues will come forward to challenge us!