Abu Dhabi Week took its sealegs along to Watercooled at Hilton’s Hiltonia Beach Club to learn to sail
ABU DHABI offers up a whole host of opportunities to try out something new in your spare time, with the warm climate and sparklingly azure waters of the Arabian Gulf making watersports an especially attractive proposition.
But if the gliding serenity of scuba diving or the high-octane excitement of wakeboarding or flyboarding is not for you, why not try something just as thrilling, but altogether more venerable.
The EFG Sailing Arabia race, which hit the capital in February, and the Volvo Ocean Race, which arrives later in the year, show just how exciting sailing can be. And it’s easy to give it a go and, according to the experts, easy to pick up.
“There is a faster learning process to sailing than other watersports,” explains Olivia Reilly, one of the sailing instructors at Watercooled, which runs courses on learning how to sail at the Hilton’s Hiltonia Beach Club. “And after taking the ‘learner’ course, and then after a short period of time, you can be in charge of your own boat passing on your skills to others.”
The 21-year old, who’s been sailing for 14 years, says along with the excitement, thrill and spills of learning how to control a boat, students will also get a lot more out of the experience.
“Anyone who comes down will have a great time out on the water, but they’ll also learn team building skills, improve their personal fitness, get a sense of achievement and boost their confidence, aswell as developing good communication skills, all while getting a wonderful sense of nautical adventure,” she says. “Anyone who comes down doesn’t need to have any prior skills. It’s not even a requirement to be able to swim. In fact coming down and taking a course may make you more confident on the water. But of course any student, or sailor is given a buoyancy aid that keeps you afloat, should anything happen, so not being able to swim should not be a problem. I have taught people in the past who could not swim. And of course there is a safety boat on the water at all times.”
The courses at Watercooled follow the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) curriculum, and as Reilly explains, will take students all the way from the basics, through to learning the skills needed to race your boat to a high level.
“The Level 1 course that we offer follows the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) curriculum, it is split into two days of practical on the water and theoretical on land sessions,” says Reilly. “It teaches the basic foundations you need to sail. After the Level 1 course you can progress up the ladder onto Level 2 and Level 3 then after completion of these courses you can choose from the advanced modules what you would like to excel in be it ‘Racing’ or ‘Cruising’.
“But one of the best things about learning to sail, is the sense of community that students develop. When you come boating you get to meet a huge range of people from all walks of life that would not normally meet up.
“As an instructor, I get to meet fantastic people from all over the world with many different backgrounds. And it can be a really strong community that develops.
“In fact, as an example, my manager here at Watercooled, Tom Robinson, was in fact my very first sailing instructor 14 years ago!
“He was studying at the University of Plymouth [my hometown in the UK] and was teaching in the holidays at my local sailing school.
“It is a great feeling knowing that he encouraged me in to the sport when I was younger and I am now continuing to learn from him in a work environment.
“I love being on the water; it has always been a good way to escape the busy life everyone has on land, I’d recommend giving sailing a try to anyone.”
The Verdict
There’s a lot more to controlling a sailboat than meets the eye. The terminology for the various boat parts and the sheer number of ropes to keep track of is quite daunting. However, after a quick safety briefing, Olivia managed to explain everything in an engaging, accessible way, meaning we were safely out on the water in short order.
With three students each to an RS Vision boat, the first lesson was how to ‘tack’, which means turning the boat into the wind, the boom (the ‘pole’ at the bottom of the sail) swinging from one side of the boat to the other.
Taking turns at the tiller, each of us got a feel of controlling and turning the boat, working our way up the Corniche shore. Having control of the boat is initially intimidating, but after ten or so minutes, I could relax and enjoy the ride; surging sea below and buffered by the wind, but gliding gracefully through the waves. It was a great feeling. However, the vagaries of nature were very quickly brought into focus, as an errant gust of wind or an unexpected wave would immediately bring nervousness back onboard, and sure enough a particularly clumsy turn ended with a capsized boat and some soggy seamen.
But it was all part of the learning curve, and still great fun.
After a lesson on ‘gybing’ (turning away from the wind) we were then introduced to the smaller one-man RS Feva’s, where we put all of our newly acquired skills to work with no assistance – but all the while monitored by Olivia in a motorboat. More capsizing, but much more experience gained, the course ended with all of us managing to guide our vessels back to shore, for a final debrief. I can say with confidence I’ll be back to Watercooled to take a boat out again – it was fantastic fun, but also a great skill to have in your locker. Davey Jones would no doubt agree.
DETAILS
Where: Watercooled Club House, Hilton’s Hiltonia Beach Club
Times: Open daily until 5.30pm
Costs: Level 1 course is AED 1,500. One-hour boat hire from AED 145
Contact: 02 639 5997
[email protected]
www.watercooleduae.com
Matt Ross
