Sea Survival
21 July 2012 | Falmouth; UK
Nevil
After flying back to the UK and taking the train down to Cornwall on Friday, I rejoined the family and we set off on the next part of our adventurous summer holiday on Saturday morning. We were all booked on the Sea Survival course, so weighed down with all the kit for our charter too, we set off for Falmouth Marina bright and early. The car was full to brimming with food and the children almost invisible under mounds of pillows and sleeping bags. Good job it was a short and clear trip before the tourist traffic got going later in the day!
We were surprised to find ourselves the only purely leisure participants on the course; all the others were fishermen or from the commercial end of the leisure market. The theory bit got off to a poor start with the instructor's computer not working and the back-up not talking to the projector until I sorted it out but eventually we got going and the content was quite interesting. The most important and fun part was in the Truro School pool where we practiced the huddle, group swimming techniques, getting into a liferaft from the poolside and from the water and turning over a capsized raft. We did all of these exercises as a family of four for the best realism and even Luke managed to right the raft on his own. Overall the course was instructive and has prompted some thinking on what hardware we need to invest in for our own sailing.
After the course concluded we took possession of Wheal-Go, a 46' Bavaria, which was an upgrade from our booked 36' vessel. There was so much room the boys could each have their own cabin which they thought was wonderful! After getting our kit on board we headed for the marina restaurant for a tasty meal and tipped into bed relatively early, tired after swimming lengths in foul weather gear and lifejackets.