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Close to the wind

 The course description had me hooked.   ‘Even if the winds are light,’ it read, ‘your cat will still be the fastest boat afloat.’  I knew immediately it was the course for me, and was already rearing to go. 

“Catamarans have ‘A Yeehaa factor’,” said Jamie Johnson, Plas Menai’s Chief Instructor, as he welcomed us on arrival.  “They are fast, fun and stable - and rarely disappoint.  You get an exhilarating feeling far sooner than in a dinghy.”

A pre-course tour of the Watersports Centre gave us an early glimpse of the boats.  To catamaran novices like us the ‘Dart 16’ - on dry land at least - looked hulky and awkwardly shaped.  Nothing like the elegant yachts that neatly cut through the water, as we picnicked above the estuary, wondering how the next two days would unfold.

Over the years I have done the odd days sailing - dinghies, yachts and windsurfers - but my friend June Semo, who was joining me, barely knows port from starboard, or the bow of the boat from the stern.

“It doesn’t matter,” reassured our tall, windswept instructor, Ed Curtis.  “In fact, probably, the less sailing you’ve done the better,” to which June smiled beamingly.

We got kitted out at the Centre’s stores - admiring in passing all the racks of other equipment, from harness to helmet, flask to flare - and had a brief lesson in sailing’s principles, followed by instructed rigging of the boats.

“I want to get you on the water as soon as possible,” says Ed.  “Forget about left and right,” are his bemusing instructions, telling us that will confuse us more.  “Just think about where the wind is coming from.”

There are eight of us on the ‘Learn to Sail Catamarans’ weekend, of all ages and sizes.  Most of us are beginners.  We are not fussed with obtaining certificates, which they offer to us as an option.  In common with others on cats courses, they tell us afterwards, we’re only here to have fun.

With two of us aboard each boat we spend the morning sailing to and back from Anglesey, as Ed and his assistant, Mark Brownsword, motor around between us, giving gentle guidance.  

“Pull in your main sheet”, “Rudders in the middle,” “Release the traveller,” they shout across the water, refreshing us of their earlier instructions, and bringing a lick to our sails. 

As the wind picks up one of our hulls, on which the boat sits, lifts out of the water.  It’s the ideal catamaran position, I remind June, with the drag on the water now at a minimum.

But after several minutes careering along, comfortably out of control, overtaking everything else as promised, and ‘Yeehaa-ing’ to each other to go faster, a gust catches us, exposes our inexperience, and we capsize.

“If there is one thing I have learnt in life,” June laughs, recounting to the others afterwards, “It’s how to hang on.”

After lunch and sharing our excitement with the others we put into practice a few more condensed lessons from our instructors: the different ‘points of sale’ (sailing in different positions relative to the wind), turning with the wind behind us (jibing), in front of us (tacking) - and the capsize routine for those who haven’t already done it! 

“Perché? Perché?” (Why? Why?) pleads Lorenzo, a young Italian from Rome, gesticulating with his arms.  The British summer is cold enough without an enforced dumping. 

At the end of a day pulling on ropes everyone is pleasantly weary.  All we can manage is an amble along the estuary, to collect shells and admire a mackerel sky, and we fall asleep effortlessly, with the water still swelling beneath us.

“Right, we are going on a trip,” says Ed at the start of day two, keeping our excitement buoyant above the lighter winds that are forecast.

We tack up through the Menai Straits, between sun-drenched houses nestled along the cliffs, past a defiant looking statue of Nelson, and beaching for lunch still in our wet suits, like slumbering seals in the sun.

In the afternoon we sail back to the Centre, searching around like hunters for the best of what is now a fading wind, and trying to navigate ‘The Swellies’, where incoming and outgoing tides meet, and throw the catamarans about.

At our post-course review meeting we are unanimous that we have had a good time, and our Royal Yachting Association Level 1 certificate comes as an unexpected bonus. 

“I enjoyed every minute of it,” says June, “even if all the sailing terminology left me a little confused.”  An extra day, she insists afterwards, would have made it all sink in.

“I want to retire here, says Judith, from Birmingham.  “There are so many courses that I want to do.” 

The only downer to catamarans, we discover before we depart, is that - because of their extra space and rescue requirements, and their unchallengeable speed - not all sailing clubs welcome them.  It’s sad loss, for our experience has taught us they are exhilarating to sail and easy to learn – the ideal break from city life or a stressful job, or if you want to try something new.

“What’s the difference with a ‘Hobie 16’,” the boat for the ‘Cat Improvers’ course, we ask.

“About an extra 20 knots,” smiles Ed. 

Our eyes light up as we depart.  Several of us will be booking for more.

STAND ALONE BOX

Plas Menai Watersports Centre
 

• Situated on the North Wales coast, off the A487, between Caernarfon and Bangor
• Runs 2-5 day courses for beginners through to more advanced levels in dinghy, catamaran and yacht sailing, windsurfing, canoeing and powerboating
• Youth, corporate and instructor training programmes also available
• Owned and operated by the Sports Council for Wales
• www.plasmenai.co.uk and Tel. 01248 670964 

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