If Sailing on a yacht at Sea, is of interest to you, then this website may have something to offer.
EM Sailing offers quality Sailing Holidays with an experienced skipper and allows you to Sail and gain experience so that one day you might Charter a sailing yacht, as "skipper"
yourself.
This page contains a bit of history about us.
About EM Sailing
EM is both East Midlands (where we are based in the UK) and my initials, Eric McDowall.
At EM Sailing, Quality and Safety are at the top of any Agenda. I do my best to give you a first class sail cruising experience,
Chartering good quality yachts, not cheap ones, providing the best ingredients for meals on board of a high standard in terms of taste.
Providing Tuition where appropriate and geared to your level of experience.
You'll be welcome if you are a beginner or you already have experience. Occasionally we may employ other
professional skippers or Instructors. If we do that, we will do our best to ensure he or she works to our own high standards.
So what do I bring in the form of expertise?
RYA Yachtmaster Instructor.
More than 10,000nM at Sea in Yachts since 1993.
MCA Boatmaster Grade 2
A background in Electrical Engineering.
Shorebased Instructor teaching RYA Day Skipper and Coastal/Offshore Yachtmaster courses.
Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene.
So how did it all start?
When at school, I gained an interest in Canals.
Later I worked carrying boats on Canal and River. I obtained a Boatmasters Licence so I could skipper
passenger vessels on inland, non-tidal waters.
The largest operation I was involved with was based at Sawley Lock,
Long Eaton (Nottinghamshire). We traded as "Threefellows Carrying" and "Sherwood Line". The
former did haulage, and in the early days, used pairs of narrow boats
for camping holidays. Sherwood line had a fleet of rowing boats and five passenger boats that ran on the River Trent, at Nottingham.
The largest of these was "Tamar Belle" and could carry 100 people. The
other four were all timber built launches, around 50 passengers each.
Above and on the right here, back in about 1971: me at the tiller of "Buxton" and towing the dumb "
Banbury" (25 tonnes gwt each), uphill on the Grand Union Canal.
I still maintain my Passenger Boatmasters Licence. The last time I really used this was as relief skipper on the passenger vessel "Rutland Belle" at Rutland Water.
I have been a member of Round Table and now, a member of 41-Club.
I learned to sail Dinghies at Rutland Water (Leicestershire). I then started to race there on a small Cruiser.
I started to sail at Sea and became regular crew on a Cornish Crabber's Pilot 30. The sail plan
is traditional, with Gaff Main and two head sails. A topsail can be
carried. This yacht was by no means as fast as many modern yachts but
resulted in vast experience for me. I found that I had a preference for
the old fashioned style of sailing. This picture is not the Yacht in
question, but is a picture of one of exactly the same class.
After completing in excess of 2,500nM, mostly on week-end Sailing trips,
I took my Offshore Yachtmaster examination in Falmouth on the 18 tonne gaffer "Irene Jack".
So having been a professional boatman on Inland Waters, it seemed natural to take up a commercial role in Sailing.
I became a commercial skipper and subsequently an Instructor. I have been
teaching the Shorebased "Day Skipper" and "Coastal /
Yachtmaster" in the classroom for a while now.
I subsequently became an RYA Yachtmaster Instructor and lead practical courses on Sailing Yachts at Sea.
I'm now qualiified to teach and assess the VHF Radio course.
