Came across the lovely Polish sail training ship ‘Chopin’ in Malaga (Spain), harbour last week. What a sight. If I remember correctly one of my Yachtmaster students, Magda, was the first Mate for awhile. Is that correct, Magda? From the stories she told me training is very different on this type of vessel. Lots of going aloft, teamwork and community spirit. Perhaps we need to get some of those attributes back into the RYA scheme. The trend towards training on the latest yachts with in-mast furling and GPS tends to make us forget that the greatest voyages were made in craft with little in the way of navigation equipment and domestic luxuries. Oh well, back to the anti-fouling! (another luxury our fore-fathers would have loved to have had.