Craft of Sail – ELSKOV

This is a five-day course.

Other Sessions: June 21-27, June 28-July 4, & August 23-29

Craft Of Sail is for folks who have some previous sailing experience, whether it comes from a seamanship program or personal involvement with boats. The course is designed for those who want to improve their skills on the water, particularly in the context of a cruising-sized vessel. Subjects include sail theory, hull and rig balance, helmsmanship, piloting in clear weather and fog, approaching and leaving floats and moorings, knots and rigging, man-overboard strategy, handling ground tackle, crew management; and, with those of our vessels that have power plants, maneuvering under power, and the rudiments of auxiliary engines and navigation instruments.

The seaman aspires to the mastery of many subjects, but the essence of the craft of sail is sea sense: the ability to tune in to a boat, the weather, and the crew, and apply good judgment so that all work together. Our instructors understand this, and they will help you to acquire that sense by sharing their own experiences and by encouraging you to think and feel a boat through various real and “what if” situations. With a maximum of five students, there is plenty of opportunity to ask questions and try tricks at the helm. There are numerous sailing schools out there, but few offer experience in cruising/charter-sized vessels like these—and none that we know of offer instruction by such experienced sailors on such lovely yachts.

The 46’ sloop ELSKOV was designed by K. Aage Nielsen, built by renowned A. Walsted’s Baadevaerft in Thuro, Denmark, and launched in 1969 as the fourth TIOGA for Bradley Noyes of Marblehead, Massachusetts. The Noyes family’s second TIOGA, a 72’ ketch built in 1939, is now called TICONDEROGA and is one of the most-recognized classic yachts in the world. ELSKOV has a remarkable pedigree. She also has a remarkable voyaging history: under her previous owner, Finley Perry, she made several high-latitude voyages, the most ambitious of which was a trip to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in 2003. She is now owned by WoodenBoat magazine editor Matt Murphy and his wife Holly, who cruise with their three children. With her double-planked mahogany hull, spacious and comfortable interior, large peninsula galley, two cabins, berths for seven, she is an ideal yacht in which to learn the craft of sail.