Giancarlo Pedote has an enviable crown of laurels in a variety of solo racing classes, so he knows a thing of two about carrying out manoeuvres alone in the cockpit. In this DVD he shares a few of his tips and tricks for slicker solo sailing
Solo sailing masterclass on new DVD: SeaYou Mini 6.50
The ‘author’ of this instructional DVD, Giancarlo Pedote, is a very successful Mini 6.50 class skipper. There probably aren’t a lot of Mini racers among the YM readership, so what’s it doing here? Mini is a solo sailing class, and many of us will end up manoeuvring alone, so here’s our chance to see how an expert does it. The most pertinent of the 27 episodes include entering and leaving port under sail, tacking, gybing, hoisting and dropping a spinnaker, handling charts on a small boat, cat-napping, dealing with currents and night sailing. Some are less relevant, like repairing carbon fibre, and to keep his suppliers happy, he showcases his autopilot, nav software and fuel cell, but the result is a slew of sailing skills tips for those of us who find ourselves alone in the cockpit. It’s available from Amazon.co.uk for £23.
See the man in action
The actual DVD has an English voiceover carefully describing the going on, but to get a flavour of what you’ll see, here are a couple of trailers: