Gaff Rig Weekends
Have you ever fancied sailing on an old boat with red sails? Experience the fun of sailing with a gaff rig. Aimed at novice and experienced sailors alike these gaff rig weekends are aimed at introducing people to gaff rig sailing. It is also for experienced gaff rig sailors who fancy a weekend sailing!
Golden Vanity was built in 1908 for a marine artist. On deck she is as she was over a century ago. Below decks she is has all the modcons that you would associate with a modern yacht.
There are no winches. Traditional methods are used to raise and lower the sails, of which there are 5 that can be flown at any one time. None of the ropes are colour co-ordinated, none of them are labelled! Our experienced skipper and mate will quickly help you to get the hang of things though.
If you are keen to do a Day Skipper course on Golden Vanity and have not sailed with a gaff rig before then we recommed you come on a gaff sailing weekend. These weekends can be treated like a conversion course and will help lay the foundations for you to go on to do your Day Skipper.
Proposed Itinerary
After an introduction to the boat and a chat about what all the different lines do you will head off for a weekend of sailing. Where you stop on the Saturday evening will depend on the wind and tide. If the weekend is in the Solent possible stop overs are Beaulieu, Cowes, Yarmouth, Newtown Creek.
Depending on how much gaff sailing you have done we will cover the differences in sailing with a gaff and with a Bermudan rig.
