Feed back from previous fastrackers.

Jason.

Sorry for the late reply I've been working away in Abu Dhabi, which is the capital of the United Arab Emirates. * The course, Vic especially is such a talented sailor , along with Dave and Lyn who will give you their time and knowledge of sailing. They will keep you on your toes, if you put in the time they will put in more.

Where do I start, it's been such a long time since I held up that bottle of
champagne after that hard three months of my life.

Vic's PowerPoint , classroom and theory is second to none. The course is great value for money , but you have to put in the time to get more out.

* Food, I found the allowance fine , as long as you shop in Ceuta and other Spanish food markets for fine good healthy food. Planning meals and provisions is just one part of being a Yacht Master.

* Accommodation, if you wish to be a sailor and believe me, you will get use to it . You will live aboard various yachts during the course, where you will get to share, be alone and have the advantage of trying out all cabins within their fleet of yacht's. I personally loved the forward cabin on slipstream ! But it's everyone to their own, I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy the forward cabin in a force 7 on slipstream. Just remember to be flexible, mix well and enjoy. Just pack what you need and believe me I packed too much, take the bare minimum, moving a rucksack around cabins, yachts isn't fun....

* The biggest problem , like anything in life is mixing. I personally love to spend time with people, but yes you do need your own time. I had my own time at nights holding that helm, looking across the horizon and watching those dolphins playing in the night. In general you will be fine as long as you try and mix with other people.

* Achieving the job at the end. Well that's up to you. I personally have one goal in life and that's sailing around the world, which comes down to more experience, time and money. There are many options to take, crew seekers is a good one. Look in the yachting magazines etc. I'm sure Allabroad can also give you some pointers.

* Learning curve, I learnt so much in that three months, fast track is certainly the way forward. I did a lot of racing out here in Dubai, but sailing big yacht's is more to do with survival. There are times where you are happy and times when you think '' shit , is this what I'm doing ''. But believe me when you get your certificate at the end ( and yes that 100% pass rate is true ) of the course, you will feel so good about it.

* It's a lot of money, but in summary , I'm glad I spent that money and more to the point I'm glad in my life I spent the time and achieved my Yacht master.

I have to go now, I'm working away. Please feel free to email me again with any other related questions. I will be returning to the office 3rd December.

All the very best and I hope you take that time in your life to do this

wonderful challenge.

Oh yes, one last thing, berthing yachts in/out of marina's is the most
hardest part of yachting, Vic , Dave, Lyn and Peter are the best I've seen.

They know so much about this and yes, you need to know this part well.
Anyone can sail from A to B, not anyone can put a yacht in such a small
place under any condition.

Happy Sailing !

Jason

-----------------------------------------------------------------

A few fastrackers doing what they do best.

Pictured left is Nick the instructor (green T shirt) then clockwise Guy, Lisa, Edward, Mike in the white shirt all got their Yachtmaster. David in the Blue shirt came for Coastal on a half fastrack course and got it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guy.
 

Hi Vic,  I am e-mailing you just to say how much I enjoyed the fastrack course. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life, I certainly feel like I have learned a lot about sailing, boat management and generally living with other people & tolerating them. It gave me a high sense of achievement & success, which is down to you, your great team, and your very modern boats.

Guy Sliufko

 -------------------------------

Dick Durham from Yachting Monthly did Yachtmaster prep.

 

Left Dick Durham who did his Yachtmaster prep and exam with Allabroad. His comments are listed below and reflect the care and attention to detail at Allabroad.

"What I like about Allabroad's set up is that it comes with its own waterfront: each day after intensive tuition in Gibraltar Bay you can relax and carry out post mortems over a drink in the local bars or an excellent sea food dish in the harbour side restaurants within halyards clanking distance of Allabroad's fleet.

'Vic Punch and his team are on hand 24 hours a day to iron out problems. If you have some really embarrassing question to ask about some navigation niggle which you should have learned years ago, Vic will take you quietly to one side and spell it out in a language you cannot fail to understand. At the end of each day's training he will spend time quietly debriefing each student pointing out their weaknesses and strengths in confidence.

'I met dozens of students at various levels during my Yacht Master course and all of them agreed on one thing: they didn't know they had it in them until Allabroad lured it out."

Dick Durham, Yachting Monthly.