Claire Cummings

The day started foggy so we nipped into Cowes for a brew and browse and emerged from the cobbled streets into glorious sunshine and clearing skies. When the wind was down it was great to practice leadibg hoisting and lowering sails with a very willing-to-play-dumb crew and great tips from the YachtMaster Skipper. Then the wind picked up and we enjoyed tacking and sail trimming en route to Lymington.

The lack of wind didn’t stop us enjoying the day - we motored from Lymington to Buckler Hard in the morning which was a great stop, full of maritime history and with a rather nice pub overlooking the marina. En route to Cowes the wind came out to play so we got to do some fun tacking in the sun.

We did it!!! After a very enjoyable sail with a high Solent tide in the sun, we got back to Gosport in time for more MoB practice which I finally got the hang of. And we both passed! It’s been a long journey. Some instructors have been very supportive (thank you Go West and Nomad) but some skippers have been visibly nervous at seeing a deaf crew member join their boat. I’m not gonna lie, it’s challenging for both us and the instructor to communicate instructions whilst we are doing manoeuvres. Hence the need to explain before and then run it through. My lovely crew mates can sign and it’s so much easier for us to sign whilst ‘doing’ as we can see the signs out of the cover of our eye whereas lip reading demands looking at the speaker full on and total focus as there is so much guesswork involved. Deaf CAN! 😊

What a learning curve! My first experience of skippering for the full day, though under the watchful eye of a a highly skilled instructor at Nomad sailing. The Solent was busy - great for experience with stand on / give way and making decisions quickly. Great sailing to Yarmouth from Osborne Bay with the fast Spring tide after practicing MoB. Yarmouth is a lovely overnight stop with its charming wooden pier, genial pubs and a glorious sunset. Thank you to my lovely sailing mates for being an awesome crew.

Day one of our continued DSP (we lost time on our first 5 days due to a broken mast sheet and poor conditions). We were blessed with wonderful sailing conditions. There was only 4 of us on the boat, including instructor Lou so it was very hands-on. Kim was skippering and did really well.