Now What?

After finding a birth in Brighton Marina and negotiating the previous owners to deliver Flora Ella there, all that was left to do was to go sailing. Or so I thought..... Without any instruction I made the fatal, yet really common, error of thinking that she would be easy to handle and a couple of hours cruising round the marina was all I needed to take control of my new boat. So with a few friends on board and a moderate southerly breeze blowing over our starboard side, I gave instructions to cast off and started to back out of our birth, ever so gently. I headed straight back until just shy of the boats on the opposite pontoon, put her in forward, turned the wheel to starboard and watched with amazement as she just wouldn’t turn. The wind was such that all I could do was go back and forwards, whilst just missing a range of bloody expensive boats, and drift with the force of the wind to the end of the pontoon. Fortunately there was no boat there and we were able to tie up. With shaking hands and a red face, the harbormaster quietly remarked, after he had helped up tie up, "new boat"? I sheepishly agreed and went inside to cry.Well with a bruised ego, but no real damage done, we decided that maybe we need some lessons. Brighton Marina Watersports came to the rescue and employed Dan (pictured in yellow, the other is me) to teach us the basics and the essentials of how to operate an 11m yacht in confined spaces, let alone what to do once we left the marina. After a couple of hours I regained some confidence and learnt some valuable skills, which are required, every time we go out in Flora Ella. You would be amazed the effect of the wind and the direction the propeller turns has on your ability to turn the boat.