Sailing is a great weekend getaway activity for adults and a thrilling adventure for their children. If you don’t have much time for sailing lessons, a sailing tour is another excellent option. Let’s have a look at MANTA’s skippered sailing service!
What is skippered sailing?
In contrast to sail training, which focuses on students learning sailing skills from their coach/captain, skippered sailing is a sailing tour where the client’s boat is captained and the captain sails the boat so the client can relax.
Skippered tours are best in calm areas, usually mornings at 9-12 am. MANTA has a gentle beach gradient so no beach break and MANTA selected the seasonal site after a 2009 survey of Vietnam’s coast for the Vietnam Olympic Committee. MANTA’s captain will sail until we see white caps to the water (approx. 25 knots of wind). As that is the wind speed when equipment and people start breaking, whatever their standard.
How do we ensure safety?
MANTA captains are watersports-trained fisherfolk, who are now Vietnam’s top sailing athletes, coaches, and managers. MANTA’s staff have all received ISAF and RYA recognised coaching and have 7-12 years experience of sailing, so clients can witness their skillful sailing or ask them to share their sailing journey.
MANTA’s founder is also an experienced sailor who has ISAF and RYA coaching certificates and was asked to draw Vietnam’s national sailing plan in 2012 on an International Olympic Committee scholarship by the Vietnam’s Olympic Committee. She has 56 years of sailing experience, as her mother taught her to sail aged 4 years and she started teaching friends aged 5 years. As they lived on a boat at the end of the Lymington River, on long leave from Sarawak.
Similar to sail training, skippered tours are open to everyone, from 6 to 80. There are two types of sailing boats: monohulls and multihulls. There are two sizes of sailing boats: dinghies and larger sailing boats. At MANTA, we use monohull dinghies, which fit up to 5 guests.
What to prepare?
Players who want to join skippered sailing may wear beach clothes, and perhaps bring a change of clothes. We suggest clients wear gym shoes or water shoes to minimise the chance of cutting their feet on broken shells. They can bring a long sleeved rash vest and leggings, to protect themselves in the rare event of visiting jellyfish, so that jellyfish do not sense meat, and do not release their sting cells.
To ensure clients’ safety, MANTA conducts risk assessments and shares them with clients. MANTA asks clients to drink lots of water, wear sunscreen, wear a cap, keep cool by going underwater at the start of a watersports session, tie their glasses on and wear a life jacket. Also, MANTA has first aid boxes and has given first aid training to staff in case of emergency.
Clients are welcome to bring their own waterproof cameras to capture the best memory. Sometimes customers want to bring their phones with waterproof materials, but we do not recommend waterproof cases because they cannot withstand cold water pressure. MANTA can also recommend local photographers and videographers if needed.
What a fantastic idea to savor precious moments of nature at Mui Ne beach and spend quality time with family and friends at MANTA! Email booking and consultant: [email protected]. Welcome to MANTA – Vietnam’s 1st and only official sailing school!
***Photo by Elena Sergeevna
