Sunsail Sailing School decreases stress by 17%

by Dora Creek on 18 Mar 2007 The smell of saltwater decreases stress by 17%. This peculiar statistic has lodged in my memory. I have no idea whether it’s accurate or where the figure comes from. It could be complete bunkum, but it certainly feels true. Even the number seventeen, not something simple like ten or fifteen, makes this statistic somehow more believable.

If we believe this odd statistic; sailors should be calmer and less stressed than your average person. (Don’t laugh.) It follows from this that if people take up sailing, and therefore reduce their stress levels, their personal and professional lives will benefit. So if enough people take up sailing, Australia will reap the advantages of a healthier and happier population.

Divorce rates will plummet, economic prosperity will hit record highs, juvenile crime will be replaced by competitive skiff racing and ‘The Biggest Loser’ will struggle to find contestants…

So if you’re not already out on the water, it’s time to learn to sail. Even if the statistic is complete hogwash; you will have learned some great skills, met some good people and have had fun doing so.

One of the nicest places to learn to sail in Australia may well be the Whitsundays. The popular charter company Sunsail runs a sailing school from its base on Hamilton Island. They offer RYA accredited Competent Crew, Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper qualifications. Sail-World spoke to Sunsail’s Kim McKee about their regular courses.

‘It’s probably one of the cheapest ways you can actually sail the Whitsundays. And you learn something as well. It’s very, very popular. It’s usually booked out months in advance. We take five students maximum per boat, one instructor. So it’s a nice small group.’

The RYA courses are attended by a very wide range of people, all no doubt intending to reduce their stress levels by 17%.

‘Its people from all walks of life, all ages, male and females, probably an even mix. Some couples come and do it. But quite often it is the female coming along just to get up to speed without learning from the partner, which quite often doesn’t work.’

‘Because of the RYA syllabus it’s a five day course. We run them every week, Monday to Friday, 52 weeks a year. People fly into the island on a Sunday. And we put them up on the vessel for no extra charge on that Sunday night.’

‘Their course then starts Monday morning at 9am. They’re out on the water for the whole five days. So it’s all very hands on.’

On Friday afternoon the boats come back in. Usually people stay another night on board and then fly home on Saturday morning.

Once you’ve completed the initial RYA Competent Crew qualification, Sunsail offers a unique package called MileCatchers Voyages. It was designed for people that wanted to build up their sea miles in order to obtain higher RYA qualifications. But Kim says that the MileCatchers package turned out to have a much broader appeal.

‘We have a yacht that runs from April through to September. Its 10 day trips and we take 4 people and two instructors. It’s not an RYA qualification. It’s a way of getting more sea miles. Once you get to a certain level at the RYA, you need to have so many sea miles logged to get your next level.’

‘People are doing it for various reasons. Some are doing it to get their sea miles; some are doing it just for the trip of a lifetime. It’s really unique- no one else is doing it.’

The 10 day package is available from Hamilton Island, Whitsundays to Fraser Island, Hervey Bay. There’s also a voyage that runs from Hamilton Island to Port Douglas in Far Northern Queensland. And from Port Douglas to Horn Island, Cape York. All voyages are also available in the other direction.

‘And to sail up through the Barrier Reef, or down through the Barrier Reef down to Fraser Island, it’s an amazing coast line. It includes night sailing, a lot of stopping at different anchorages. If the weathers favourable; stopping right out in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, in the middle of nowhere. They see some really interesting things.’

‘Up to the Hinchinbrook Channel in the northern voyage. Orpheus Island, Magnetic Island all those sort of places. And people just absolutely love them. They become quite addicted to sailing after that.’

‘We have a couple of voyages in April that we’ve got a few spots left on. A couple of spots left from Hamilton Island to Fraser Island and also coming back.’

Sunsail also has an option for people who just love to go fast. Every year they enter their two dedicated sailing school yachts in Audi Race Week at Hamilton Island. So you can pick up valuable racing experience racing at one of the country’s premier sporting events.

‘It’s a bit of a special thing that we do for that Hamilton Island Race Week. We put together some students who are actually learning to race. Rather than do the normal RYA course, we’ll do a sailing school boat for Race Week. So lots of starts and getting spinnakers up and down and that type of thing.’

Participants would have been expected to have as a minimum the RYA Competent Crew qualification.

‘We’d put them through the RYA syllabus… and if they’ve got that little racing streak in them, which is often quite different from a cruising streak, there’s an option to come back and do Race Week.’

If this all sounds like too much hard work, and the thought of tearing around in the middle of a racing fleet engenders a feeling of mild panic, then you will be relieved to hear that Sunsail offers fully catered holidays on a luxurious 46’ catamaran.

‘You can book a cabin instead of having to charter a whole boat. Its three nights on Hamilton Island and three nights out on the boat. It’s a nice week long package.’

The cost of the package includes all meals, and the use of kayak, windsurfer and snorkelling gear. The crew are a skipper and a hostess who is apparently an amazing gourmet cook.

Lazing around on a beautiful sailing boat, eating lovely food cooked by someone else, scrunching crystalline white sand up between your toes and swimming in crystal clear water… All this should decrease your stress levels by at least 17%, if not more.

Visit the Sunsail.com.au website for more information. See also Sunsail Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand, Tonga, Tahiti, UK, USA and Europe.

Contact details
Address : Whitsundays Office: Front Street
City : Hamilton Island
State : QLD
Postcode : 4803
Country : Australia
Phone : 61 (07) 4948 9509
Fax : 61 (07) 4948 9514
Email : sunsail@sunsail.com.au

http://www.sunsail.com.au