Skipper Training

Although I passed the SKS exam, I still didn’t feel confident enough to skipper a yacht on my own. That’s why I signed up for the skipper training offered by JoJo.

Be the captain

The skipper training is basically a week of SKS training without the final exam, so it’s all pretty relaxed. Our crew was made up of four people: Ronia, Wolfgang, Dominic, me, and our skipper and sailing instructor Christian.

But what does it actually mean to learn how to sail? I used to think it was all about trimming the sails just right so you actually get moving. In reality, that’s just a tiny part of it. Sure, if you want to win a regatta, there are plenty of details to obsess over, but for a 15-ton cruising yacht, it’s enough to have the sails roughly in the right place.

What really matters are other things, especially safety: understanding the weather, knowing the onboard technology and all the ways it can go wrong, navigating by day and night, man-overboard drills. A sailing yacht is complex and packed with technology. It’s basically a floating house, except a house usually doesn’t have an engine or radar. The skipper is responsible for making sure all of this is in order so that the crew and boat don’t end up in dangerous situations. And if things do go wrong, the skipper has to make the right decisions, sometimes in a matter of seconds. So we practiced these things, over and over again, both in theory and in practice.

The arch-nemesis

The big challenge in sailing is docking and casting off. JoJo lets you practice as many harbor maneuvers as you want in their home port of Portoroz, which is a rare privilege. Usually, marinas aren’t thrilled when boats spend all day puttering around, for obvious reasons. So we made the most of it and practiced every kind of docking and undocking maneuver we could think of. It’s amazing how, with the right line handling and throttle control, you can steer a 14-meter boat with centimeter precision. After all the harbor maneuver training—and the comprehensive insurance—I definitely feel a bit less nervous about it now.

Skipper training: my verdict

The skipper training was absolutely worth the effort. I feel much more confident handling all the necessary maneuvers now. We had a fantastic crew and it was a lot of fun. Christian did a great job as skipper, just like every time I’ve sailed with JoJo. The instructors are top-notch and the courses are clear, well-structured, and really effective. I can recommend these courses without reservation. After a week, though, I’m tired and glad I get to relax in Rijeka for a week while Alexandra does her training. Someone has to keep the dog entertained, after all.

*This blog post has been automatically translated by a Large Language Model.