COVID-19
Practical Courses Operational Changes
We will be resuming our practical sailing courses during week commencing July 12th in line with the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions communicated last week by the Scottish Government.
Due to the additional measures being put in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic we have made a few operational changes to the normal running of our courses. We ask you to be understanding and thoughtful throughout your time on the yacht so that everyone can get as much as possible out of the course without anyone feeling they are being compromised on health and safety.
While we will maintain a supply of Personal Protective Equipment and Supplies on the yacht, we request that you bring personal supplies with you, including:
As we continue to assess and follow the guidance we are presented by the Scottish Government through each of their updates, which may require us to modify or make changes to our operational procedures at short notice, we request your understanding and cooperation throughout your time with us.
To date we have never needed to cancel a Britsail course, however, in these unprecedented times we may have no choice due to circumstances out-with our control, be it due to the instructor being requested to self isolate at the last minute, a new lockdown for sailing announced from the Scottish Government, or students being requested to self isolate resulting in the course being unable to safely continue. We take our responsibility seriously and therefore will only cancel the courses should we be unable to run it due the a directive from the Scottish Government or in order to protect the health and safety of our students and instructors. If we do need to cancel a course for whatever reason, course fees will be returned without question should we be unable to rearrange the course to your satisfaction.
Theory Courses Changes
As we don't plan to run classroom courses for the remainder of the season, and will review the usual winter classroom course schedule later in the year, we have discounted all of our Navathome online courses until further notice:
If you would like further information about anything detailed above, please don't hesitate to contact the team.
We do hope you will be able to join us on the spectacular Firth of Clyde this season despite the unprecedented circumstances we all find ourselves in.
Stay safe
Deborah
Britsail Principal
While we will maintain a supply of Personal Protective Equipment and Supplies on the yacht, we request that you bring personal supplies with you, including:
- Face-masks
- Disposable gloves
- Hand sanitizer
- Sailing gloves or equivalent
- Extra blanket or sheet for laying on the cabin mattress, underneath your sleeping bag
- Hand towel, in addition to your regular toiletries
- Sun screen and insect repellant
- Sea sickness tablets and pain relief tablets
- Reading materials: for evening reading, sailing handbooks
- Stationary: pens, pencils, eraser, sharpener, note pad, tablet (the electronic kind), course plotter, course divider, magnifying glass, ruler
- Refillable water bottle
- Snacks: biscuits, ginger biscuits, sweets, cakes, etc, which you are not expected to share with other households
- All practical courses will be limited to three households with each household being allocated one of the aft cabins or the saloon for their storage and sleeping space throughout the course. There will be no mixed households sharing storage or sleeping space, unless a whole boat booking consisting of individuals that normally spend time together in close proximity.
- Students will be given a pack for use throughout the course, it will be their responsibility to keep these items away from other students, clean and return them at the end of the course. The pack will include:
- Course plotter
- Dividers
- Small white board with a whiteboard pen
- Insulated cup, plate, bowl, knife, fork and spoon, tea towel
- Sharing of your own personal items to be discouraged, such as tablets, snacks, clothing, creams etc
- Additional cleaning processes will be applied throughout the course
- Items normally available on the yacht, including books, games, DVDs, pens, notebooks, etc., have been removed
- Social distancing processes and procedures will be in place
- Sailing procedures and skills training will be altered to reflect the safety measures required
- Each household will be required to work together to help maintain social distancing, where there are more than one household onboard, i.e. working on the starboard side, port-side or on the helm area, etc.
- Lunches will be a set menu, for example, sandwich, packet of crisps, chocolate bar and piece of fruit. This will need to be prepared prior to leaving the berth in the mornings
- While we wish to maintain the usual social evening environment, rather than the usual evening shared cooking event, main meals will be set and kept simple, such as pasta with pasta sauce, pie and peas and a simple dessert such as a pre-packed cake etc. Feel free to bring along any ingredients which can be easily added to enhance your own meals. This is to reduce the risks of contamination and makes it easier for those who don’t normally cook
- Use of face-masks and gloves must be worn when prepping meals, working below deck, or if someone requires the crew to do so for their own peace of mind.
- Evening socializing will not be the usual set up. Where the weather permits the crew will be able to socialize in the cockpit or on shore (should there be any places able to accommodate our group dynamic), but may be restricted otherwise, i.e. standing in the saloon to maintain social distance rather than sitting around the saloon table.
- It is normal for our sailing courses to leave the marina and not return to our own marina until the end of the course. Due to restrictions minimizing the number of mooring buoys being available this season we may return to our home berth during the course or additional time on anchor.
- The tender will not be available for use for mixed households due to the inability to maintain social distancing and challenges with cleaning after use. When staying at anchor or on a mooring buoy the crew will likely not be able to venture ashore due to this restriction.
- As the yacht heating system is based on airflow through the cabins we will not be switching on the heating system throughout the course. We therefore request that you bring a warm sleeping bag and additional duvets/ blankets as required.
- If you are a smoker, please note we will not be allowing anyone to smoke onboard (including electronic variants), this includes above deck as well as below. This is for the benefit of the whole crews health and experience. If you feel this may impact your mental health please make sure you bring along your patches (or equivalent) to get you through the course as necessary.
As we continue to assess and follow the guidance we are presented by the Scottish Government through each of their updates, which may require us to modify or make changes to our operational procedures at short notice, we request your understanding and cooperation throughout your time with us.
To date we have never needed to cancel a Britsail course, however, in these unprecedented times we may have no choice due to circumstances out-with our control, be it due to the instructor being requested to self isolate at the last minute, a new lockdown for sailing announced from the Scottish Government, or students being requested to self isolate resulting in the course being unable to safely continue. We take our responsibility seriously and therefore will only cancel the courses should we be unable to run it due the a directive from the Scottish Government or in order to protect the health and safety of our students and instructors. If we do need to cancel a course for whatever reason, course fees will be returned without question should we be unable to rearrange the course to your satisfaction.
Theory Courses Changes
As we don't plan to run classroom courses for the remainder of the season, and will review the usual winter classroom course schedule later in the year, we have discounted all of our Navathome online courses until further notice:
- Day Skipper £245 (down from £285)
- Coastal Skipper £245 (down from £310)
- Yachtmaster Ocean £245 (down from £275)
If you would like further information about anything detailed above, please don't hesitate to contact the team.
We do hope you will be able to join us on the spectacular Firth of Clyde this season despite the unprecedented circumstances we all find ourselves in.
Stay safe
Deborah
Britsail Principal
UK Government Daily Updates (daily updates at 1400 GMT)
National Health Service COVID-19 information
Health Protection Scotland COVID-19 advice for self isolation
World Health Organisation COVID-19 situation reports
National Health Service COVID-19 information
Health Protection Scotland COVID-19 advice for self isolation
World Health Organisation COVID-19 situation reports
