theiberianseaschool.com

Martin Northey

Martin Northey founded the first RYA (The Royal Yachting Association) sea school in Portugal over ten years ago.

In addition to being a maritime journalist he is an RYA Yachtmaster Examiner and Instructor for sail and power with a commercial endorsement, he is also a Powerboat Instructor and holds the top qualification for sailing in Portugal (Patrao do Alto Mar).

He has coached literally thousands of pupils to success in RYA courses and examinations up to Yachtmaster standard and beyond. He has owned several boats himself and helped many others with their purchases.

"My mission is to promote the highest standards of ownership and operation"

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO MORE PAGES ON THE MENU, THE FARO WEATHER FORECAST, MY BOATING HISTORY AND AN INTRODUCTION TO THE IBERIAN SEA SCHOOL WITH AN INDEX GIVING A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH PAGE ON THE SITE

Boats and Boating History

Sailing on Tomahawk aged 5

The first time I went to sea in a boat was from Cowes in about 1949 at the age of five when I sailed with my step grandfather Ralph Gore on his 12 metre called Tomahawk. I remember he asked if I would like to go up the mast in the boson’s chair, it seemed to be a very long way up and to my relief I realised that he was joking.

Following that experience Ralph sent me for Christmas one year a book called ‘Sailing Primer’, apart from Enid Blyton’s ‘Famous Five’ I think that this was the only other book that I read when I was young.

At the age of 14 using all the money saved up from Christmas and birthday presents plus a generous top up from my mother & father I bought an Enterprise dinghy, I named her Salome. One of my first crew was the headmaster of my school, a retired Naval Commander, he asked me my boats name and I replied ‘Salome’, he said ‘is that because she unrigs very quickly!’ My reply was non-committal as I was not completely sure as to what he meant!

Enterprise

My next sailing experience was with a friend called Pip and his parents for a week in the Channel Islands and France; I was 14 and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. The boat was a 26-foot Scod and the owner had just bought the very latest direction finding equipment, it was called Beme Loop and with this wonderful bit of kit, we managed to find Cherbourg in thick fog.

My next boating experience was at the age of 22 when I worked as deck hand on board a 120 foot Fairmile, which was a converted submarine chaser. Based at Mackay in Queensland we went on five-day cruises round the Whitsunday Islands. She had been converted to carry 24 passengers in 12 double cabins, plus the skipper, the engineer, two hostesses, the first mate and me! It was my job to clean the loos, scrub the deck, polish all the brass and every afternoon for two hours steer the ship whilst the skipper had a sleep on his bed on the bridge. I found it very hard to maintain the concentration needed to hold a straight course and spent most of my time dreading the skipper waking up and then seeing from our tortuous wake what a dreadful job I had been doing of holding a straight course!

Tawnie Yeck

I did not own another boat until I was 40. For the past two years I had unsuccessfully been trying to give up my very heavy smoking habit, I had tried will power, that had never got me beyond 9 in the morning when I could be found standing outside the village shop waiting for it to open so that I could buy some more cigarettes. Acupuncture did not do any good either, nor did hypnosis. However, when enjoying a summer holiday in Cornwall with my wife and children, I saw a very pretty little clinker built, gaff rigged, 18-foot cutter for sale in a boat yard. The price tag on it was £950 or near offer. I said to my wife as we walked past, ‘it would be fun to do some sailing again, and that boat would be ideal for us and the children’, she replied, ‘why don’t you give up smoking, and with the money that you will save buy it. You spend about £750 a year on smoking, the owner would probably take £750 for it and you will pay for it in a year of not smoking’. I replied, fine but I only have one problem and that is that I don't have 750 pounds at the moment', she replied ' well I have and you can have it if you give up smoking'!. The following two days passed without my smoking a single cigarette, on the third day we went back to the boat yard and bought ‘Morwena’. One of my first sailing experiences with Morwena are described in my article ‘Rolling in the Mud’, which you will find under ‘Stories’ in this web site.

I bought my next boat two years after buying ‘Morwena’. With Morwena, I had sailed from Poole to Chapman’s pool to the west and explored the Solent to the east. I had now got the bit between my teeth and wanted to go across the Channel. I saw her advertised in Practical Boat Owner. Described as ‘Tawnie Yeck’ a 23-foot wooden sloop, she was ashore at Christchurch and as soon as I saw her I thought she was wonderful. She was almost identical to a Scod but three feet shorter. I sailed with her for several years exploring the south coast as far down as Cornwall and across the channel to France and the Channel Islands. The worst weather I ever sailed her in was a Force 8 when I crossed the channel from St Peter Port to Weymouth. It took 22 hours, my only crew lay down below being ill for most of the passage, Tawnie Yeck looked after us every inch of the way.

I remember once anchoring in Poole harbour and rowing ashore to the beach, when I landed there was an old man standing there, he said to me pointing at Tawnie Yeck, ‘Is that your boat’, I replied that it was and he said ‘she will always look after you’. He could tell from her pronounced sheer and classic lines that she was a good sea boat.

Henry Morgan

I was now running my own dinghy sailing school and quite often would take clients sailing in Tawnie Yeck but realised that what I really wanted to do was to run a cruising school, in order to do this I needed a bigger boat, taking advice I learnt that you could do no better than a Rival 34. I sold Tawnie Yeck to one of my dinghy sailing students and bought a Rival 34 called Henry Morgan.

I started my cruising school as soon as I passed my Yacht Master Practical Exam in 1989. I called it Poole Harbour Sailing and ran RYA sailing courses under the auspices of a friend Eddie Burrows. Eddie ran an RYA recognised sea school called ‘Moonfleet’. He was able to sign my certificates until two years later when I passed the sailing instructor’s assessment and became a Yachtmaster Instructor and then an RYA recognised sailing school in my own right.

I developed a reputation for offering longer cruises than most other sailing schools, the majority of my courses went across the channel and occasionally as far down as southern Brittany. I also did longer passages to the north coast of Spain, Holland and Ireland. Henry Morgan was an ideal boat for these longer trips.

Using my sextant in the Bay of Biscay

Keeping a small sailing school going in the winter is not easy, so I would finish my courses at the end of October and earn a living driving lorries until the end of March. I also spent one winter in the recession as a motorcycle despatch rider, this I enjoyed very much as motorcycles have been a passion for a long time, but the money was not good and the mileage that I was doing on my own motorcycle too much. Therefore, that summer, I designed a programme of sailing courses from Gibraltar. In November, I sailed Henry Morgan to Gibraltar where I stayed until the end of March running courses that were almost fully booked. I continued offering courses from Gibraltar in the winter for three years; many people who sailed with me from Poole in the summer came sailing again in the winter to have another cruise in good weather.

However, November and March were not good months to be crossing the Bay of Biscay. I remember the last year that I did it I was returning to Poole in March when in a northwesterly Force 7, close hauled on the port tack in a position 60 miles north east of Finistere, I called up Finistere traffic on my radio and asked for a weather forecast. Their forecast was for more of the same for the next 48 hours and, as a part of his normal procedure, the radio operator asked me the size of my vessel. I replied ’10 metres’, his reply was ‘’this is a very small vessel for this type of weather’. I thought to myself as each wave hit us on the port bow making the whole boat shudder that he was absolutely right and resolved to get a bigger boat.

A few months later, I saw Navicula, a Rival 38 for sale at Valencia in Spain, with the help of my friendly bank manager I bought her without having sold Henry Morgan. Not only was it marvellous to have a bigger boat, but wonderful to have my own cabin, having for years used the quarter berth with my head on the chart table!

Navicula

I had also realised that even with a larger boat I did not want to cross the Bay of Biscay in November and December every year, so made a decision to base my sea school at Lagos in the Algarve and changed my sea schools name to The Algarve Sea School. This was a great success and I sold the school in 2000. I had already decided that my future lay in motorboats as well as sailing and in that year took the Yachtmaster motor cruising exam and a year later became an RYA Motor Cruising Instructor.

In 2002 the RYA asked me to become an Examiner and in the same year I started my own RYA recognised Motor Cruising and Power Boat School which I have called ‘The Iberian Sea School’.

I now live five miles from Vilamoura and along with teaching people to drive motor and power boats in Portugal, I am also offering Yachtmaster sail and power preparation courses throughout Europe and in the Caribbean. In addition, I am offering my experience and advice as ‘Boat Search Adviser’ as described elsewhere in this web site.

THE IBERIAN SEA SCHOOL

To see the school's certificate of recognition for running RYA Practical Motor Cruising courses go to the 'RYA Motor Cruising & Power Boat Courses' page

ICC Test Centre certificate
RYA Theory Recognition

Introducing the Iberian Sea School

The Iberian Sea School is an MCA / RYA recognised Motor Cruising School in Portugal, the MCA are the 'Maritime and Coastguard Agency' in Britain who are responsible for issueing all Marine Qualifications on behalf of the British government, they delegate this responsibility for training and examining skippers of 'pleasure craft' to the RYA who are the Royal Yachting Association.

I serve the first-time buyer with independent advice on the trade-offs between buying new and second hand; on deciding on the size, type and make of boat to suit them; and, on sourcing that vessel anywhere in the world.

I support the new owner in building the technical and human skills on which pleasure in their new investment – and their personal safety – depend. I offer the complete range of RYA motor cruising courses from the Helmsmans Certificate to Yachtmaster plus Power Boat levels 1 & 2.

Increasingly, I am sought out by experienced skippers who wish to acquire or refine advanced skills in seamanship.

Welcome

Welcome to my site. Here is a brief guide to the different sections, reached by clicking on the 'tabs' at the top and to the left hand side of each page.

Video IS HERE! In the spirit of keeping my site always fresh and worth revisiting, I am delighted to present a set of web-based videos that will, I hope, communicate the satisfaction and thrill of learning with The Iberian Sea School. And, if you do not yet have the latest version on your computer, I provide Windows Media Player FREE.

ICC Courses provides details on training and testing for the International Certificate of Competence (ICC) which is the qualification that people are required to have to skipper a boat in Portuguese waters.

RYA Yachtmaster Training gives information about my Yachtmaster preparation courses and an article by James Stevens, the RYA Chief Examiner and training manager, on the Yachtmaster exam.

RYA Theory Courses show the theory courses that are available and the syllabus for each course.

RYA Motor Cruising and Power Boat Courses gives details of all the practical courses offered by The Iberian Sea School. A copy of the RYA Certificate of recognition for the practical courses that are offered by The Iberian Sea School is shown on this tab.

Articles consists of a number of articles that I have written for a newspaper over the last five years mainly on navigation and seamanship.

Travel in Portugal, Spain and France. This part of my site is continuously growing and consists of descriptions and photographs of great places that I have visited in those countries.

Stories consists of stories that I have written over the last fifteen years. Some have been published, some not. They relate my own cruising experiences. There are many more I have not yet written and, in time, will add into this section.

Sail Training describes the sailing instruction that I offer, with contributions from people who have sailed with me over the last 20 years, for the first 14 years of which I was Principal of my own RYA sailing school which was originally known as 'Poole Harbour Sailing' and then 11 years ago when I moved the school to Portugal it became 'The Algarve Sea School'. Five years ago I started 'The Iberian Sea School' which is specifically a motor cruising and power boat school, I am however still offering sailing courses on clients' own boats and am available for yachtmaster preparation courses for sail and power on which you can read more on my RYA Yachtmaster Training Tab.

Cruising written by a friend from the perspective of 'Little Ted' - the strong but silent (and furry!) type of a sailor - who views the actions of his would-be cruisers with humour and amazement. These pieces should be informative for anyone who is planning to go cruising or is even just interested in long-term sailing. And there are excellent links to other cruising sites. Little Ted and his crew (Skipper and The Admiral) have over the last few months been exploring the coast of Venezuela and Colombia, they are now (June 2006) close to Panama.

Boat Search describes a service I offer clients to assist them in their choice of the right boat. This involves initial discussions to identify their needs; advice on cost of berthing, maintenance and insurance; and, then, actually finding the right boat, with continuing support and advice on cruising after purchase. This section provides two typical client references.

Restaurants is dedicated to my recommendations on restaurants in the Algarve.

Ask Martin where I am just your ordinary, everyday Agony Aunt. I get asked all sorts of questions. Here I share the most amusing (and important) questions and answers.

Contact Martin gives my contact information. In addition to my contact information by telephone, fax and email, thanks to a programme called Skype I can now talk to anyone anywhere in the world via the internet completely free of charge. All you need to do this is a microphone for your PC and to download the Skype programme which is free. You will find Skype in my list of links. My Skype name is martinnorthey.

To download a Booking Form: Right click this link and 'save target as'

In addition, thanks to Skype, I now have a British telephone number - 0121 288 1498 - and so anyone in Britain can telephone me on this number and the cost will be the same as a normal telephone call to a fixed telephone in Britain. It is not a mobile phone and so I will only be able to answer calls to this number when I am at home.

The Iberian Sea School is recognised by The Royal Yachting Association as an RYA Training Centre for Motor Cruising and Power Boat Practical courses, RYA Navigation Theory courses and Internation Certificate of Competence (ICC) Testing for sail and motor. The relevant certificates for ICC Testing and Theory courses are shown above, the certificate of recognition for practical courses is shown on the 'RYA Motor Cruising and Power Boating' tab.

http://theiberianseaschool.blogspot.com This is a 'blog' that I started recently on the advice of a good friend. I will try to write my thoughts about boats and boating in it from time to time and hope that it will make interesting reading.

Online videos click here

Last Updated ( Monday, 23 June 2008 )

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