Chris Nicol - Chief Instructor
Chris’s sailing started in his dad’s home built Enterprise, his interest growing stronger when his family moved to Scotland’s Holy Loch in 1961.His dinghy racing developed with Ian Mitchell at Dunoon Grammar School and at the Holy Loch Sailing Club. This started to grow more competitive, with the Merlin Rockets he, his brothers, and other club enthusiasts built. Racing at the club and other events further a field, he even managed a couple of National championships.
At Aberdeen University he enjoyed team racing, this somewhat hampered his progress towards a science degree and a teacher’s training. Chris then started work teaching science in Airdrie, but snapped up a place at Dunfermline College, on an Outdoor Education course. Feeling this would enable him to teach in many activities that he loved in the outdoor environment.
A seasonal post at Benmore Outdoor Education Centre in 1976 became full time in 1977. Chris’s skills and qualifications developed to teach, apart from the sailing, white water and sea kayaking, and the various mountaineering activities offered by the centre. A brief stint at Applecross Centre involving team building and expedition work with disadvantaged and inner city youngsters, lead to a return to the Clyde. There four seasons in the early ‘80’s sharing a Bolero quarter tonner had been an eye-opening introduction to offshore racing.
Joining Cumbrae in 1987 allowed Chris to work exclusively with his major love teaching and coaching on the water. The ’89-90 season also gave him the chance to help bring a 35ft. trimaran across the Atlantic to campaign in the Two-handed Round Britain race with the owner Angus Pridie. Following this he raced a couple of the Southern Ocean legs in the Whitbread Round the World Race, inspired by sailing in the ’85 Fastnet race (Drum’s keel failure year!) and a trans Atlantic trip on Tony Van Hee’s one tonner ‘Silver Apple’.
Chris became full time at Cumbrae in 1991 with the building of the accommodation. When Bob Smith (the principal) sent him on the RYA Coach/Assessors course in ’93, his interest in performance dinghy sailing was rekindled. ‘On the way back from that course I bought an early twin trapeze asymmetric International 14 to sail with my unsuspecting better half! Twelve years and two more 14’s later we are still struggling to get round the Cumbrae’s upright but Dawn has won the first lady finisher at the Prince-of-Wales Cup twice. So it can’t be all-bad! Recreational kayaking trips to India, Nepal, Bhutan and Ecuador have helped me keep in touch with the paddling world, but the joints complain a bit these days so perhaps the more relaxed sea kayaking maybe the way to go’.
More recently, developing links with the RYA have involved Chris in running Cruising Instructor and Yachtmaster Instructor courses, helping promote training in our northern latitudes. Occasional trips south to the Solent, the RYA’s ‘theme park’ help keep him up to date with the practical side of sail training. Also managing the RYA West Area Squad training at Largs between ’97-2001was a challenging but rewarding experience.
Surviving the invitation from George Purvis last year to do the mainsheet on Mike Brammal and Ken Kelly’s Mumm 36 ‘Absolutely’ for the IRC Series and Commodores Cup has allowed Chris to stay in touch with the racing scene, but his body doesn’t enjoy it quite so much!
Top Tips.
Listen to and look after your crew.
On the instructional side Chris believes that a wide range of teaching skills are needed to do the job well.
Get to know your students and how they learn most effectively.
Develop and maintain your own practical skills to a level, where you can break down manoeuvres into basic steps, that you can demonstrate effectively and consistently. Always give your self more time and space than you think you’ll need.
Make your sessions on the water a positive and fun experience for everyone.