Harbor and anchor manoeuvres, an extra ‘mediterranean’ 4 day special with our ELAN 40 training boat from Zadar (Croatia)

For whom :

• Prospective students Day Skipper or Competent Crew.
• Skippers who want to rent a sailing yacht “bareboat” in the Mediterranean for the first time.
• Want to gain extra experience “harbor and anchor manoeuvers”> preferably in warm and sunny waters
• For those who want to refresh their sailing skills and want to spend a long weekend away in sunny places.

The instruction boat:

We give these lessons with Mascott Sailing’s own boat (not a rental yacht).  It is a 40-footer ELAN which is extremely suitable for this.  Not too small, not too big.  Comfortable for 5 people on board.  (3 double cabins)

The boat is strategically located in the marina in the old town of Zadar, half an hour from the airport.

The sailing area:

The marinas, anchorages and mooring buoys in the Kornati area, a sailing area of 70 km2 west of Zadar, with hundreds of islands, islets and bays.

Is this something for you ? 

Do you remember that first time – after a long weighing and convincing your wife and children – you had to moor or anchor your chartered sailing boat in an idyllic bay among dozens of other yachts in what was apparently a tangle of chains and ropes?

Yes, you have followed your harbor manoeuvers and you have passed your Day Skipper practice, but now it comes to the test: throw anchor with a full beamwind and then full power stern-to ashore, and aim between 2 others  yachts with only 2 meters of space between them …

Good luck ?

Absolutely not!  It is a recurring question with our Day Skipper and Yachtmaster trainees: ‘We are going to charter a sailing yacht for the first time in the med and would like to be prepared for the specific anchoring and mooring techniques that we will have to perform.’

We have therefore decided to expand our Harbor Manoeuvers courses in 2021 with an important chapter ‘Mediterranean mooring techniques’.  We want you to be able to perform these manoeuvers with confidence, without having to think about losing the insurance deductible over there.

The classic harbor manoeuvers: mooring and mooring, pontoon on lee shore, 180 ° u-turn, mooring with bow- and stern springs, in and against current, in the lock with wind from behind, pick-up of a mooring buoy, are of course some of the permanent  program points.

You will be practicing during a harbor manoeuver weekend, where we ensure that we are with a limited number of students, so that everyone is active and has the opportunity to learn.

However, at the request of the students, the instructor will design the program in such a way that due attention is paid to specific Mediterranean mooring techniques.  Communication with the trainees before the start is very important (questions? Contact us) for this, and this is where the instructor’s task begins:

GREECE 

Because, for example, if you have chartered a sailing yacht for the first time in Greece, then we will practice on anchoring backwards towards the shore, between other sailing and motor yachts – seemingly far too close together.

TURKEY 

Or are you going to Turkey for the first time?  Do not be surprised that everyone anchors in a bay there but also moors the boat backwards to a tree!  Have you ever swum with a 60-meter mooring rope?  Thinking of plastic swimming shoes for climbing on those rocks?

These but dozens more practical tips you will receive from our instructors, tips that are often linked to certain regions or ports:

TIPS such as:

– you should not enter that harbor in that specific month after 4 pm, because then you will certainly not find room there anymore …

– avoid anchoring there between 5 pm and 8 pm during that period, because then there is 25 knots of (thermal) wind and the kids just wanted to play with the dinghy!?

– in that small harbor all anchor chains will lie on top of each other, but don’t panic: that’s how it will be solved there …

After this training you will be confident to charter a sailing yacht and leave the stress behind when maneuvering in close quarters, busy marinas and mediterranean mooring techniques!

Link to the calendar of our partners: VAARSCHOOL.BE or MASCOTT SAILING.BE