There’s more to Metal Box than Metal Boxes

by Peter Rendle on 18 Apr 2016 One of my first jobs when I left school, a long time ago, was with a packaging company called Metal Box. One of their advertising slogans was ‘There’s more to Metal Box than Metal Boxes”. They manufactured every form of packaging using a plethora of material.

So it is with sailing. There’s a lot more to sailing than sailing. It’s a different language to start with. Many people learn as they go but that is very long winded and best shared with sailing friends with lots of patience.

Alternatively one can join a sailing school and short track the ‘must have’ basics if the objective is to have fun and not end up on the rocks. From there the choice of how much one wants to learn and at what level one wants to sail is endless.

One of Sydney’s premier sailing school is run by a colourful character who was born and raised miles from the ocean. The only water that Terry Wise saw in his early days was in the dams on the cattle and sheep properties where he was raised in the NSW tablelands.

That did not stop him from becoming a formidable racing sailor, logging over 160,000 sea miles and building one of the most professional sailing schools in Australia.

Terry’s Pacific Sailing School is located in the heart of Sydney at the Cruising Yacht Club in Rushcutters Bay. Over the past forty years the school has assisted in training over 50,000 people how to sail. Sydney Harbour is the classroom and expert instructors are the teachers. Over 1000 students have joined the prestigious CYCA and become regular crew members and some, yacht owners.

Pacific Sailing School offer a wide range of courses including the YA National Keelboat program that includes, Start crewing, helming, spinnaker handling, racing and skippering. There is also more advanced courses such as the RYA International Yacht Training, Offshore Racing crew and Bareboat Charter Skipper. ISAF Safety and Sea Survival is popular with established sailors and for people wanting to cruise overseas the International Certificate of Compliance is a must.

No matter what level of sailing clients have reached, there is a course to cover every aspect of sailing development. Hands on involvement such as a sail on the harbour is followed by a return to the club’s sundeck to share refreshments, a casual meal and discussion around the day’s outing. If you want to learn to sail or brush up your skills or earn compulsory certificates, contact the Pacific Sailing School, email info@pacificsailingschool.com.au

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