Bronze Sail Level IV - The first section deals with safety and the factors in your local area such as currents, tides and weather which should be considered before going sailing. The three types of flotation commonly found in dinghies and the factors which affect the self-rescuing capabilities of a dinghy And finally a look at chart of unfamiliar waters and identification of hazards and means of recognizing them. Seamanship is the next section and students will demonstrate their ability to whip the end of a line with a plain whipping of appropriate length, make a back splice and an eye splice and heave a 10 metre line to land across a 1 metre diameter target at least 7 metres away, in three tries out of four. The next section is further nautical terminology. Following that is some sailing theory including leeway and its importance on different points of sail. The centre of lateral resistance (CLR) and centre of effort (CE) affect lee and weather helm in theory and practice, weight distribution and centreboard adjustments affect on the CLR, the boat's underwater shape affects its helm, sail trim, mast rake and position affect the CE and helm, draft (fullness in a sail) is and how it affects the power and the pointing ability of a sail, the use and position of telltales on shrouds and ticklers on a sail. The next section considers sail shape and how the main sail is affected by halyard tension, mainsheet tension, cunningham tension, traveller position, outhaul tension, mast bend, boom vang tension and mast rake. And how the shape of the jib sails affected by halyard tension, sheet tension and fairlead position. The use of outhaul, cunningham, mainsheet, and traveller, while sailing on a beat, a reach, and a run under the following conditions. On the water students will be asked to skipper and crew the boat on various points of sail and tacking and gybing. Carry out a self-rescue after capsizing in a dinghy and carry on sailing with a minimum time delay. Carry out the following tasks without a rudder, sail a course upwind toward a predetermined destination, make at least one controlled tack and settle down to a course to the predetermined destination, bear away or tack and return to the starting position. With sails backed, sail the boat astern to a predetermined destination 90 metres downwind. On completion of this level IV the candidate will be able to understand and apply the basic principles of sail trim and boat tuning for optimal performance in wind speeds of 9-14 knots.

Silver Sail VI is an introduction to racing. Commencing with some sailing theory it looks at how the slot effects the drive of the mainsail under different points of sail, and how the size of the slot should be varied with the wind strength to give maximum drive, how to identify backwinding, and how to adjust the sails to remove or minimize its effect, how the driving forces acting on the sail can be divided into side and forward components, and how these vary for beating, reaching and running and how the resisting forces acting on a boat's daggerboard/centreboard and rudder act in relation to the sail forces when beating, reaching and running. The apparent wind changes when gusts hit the sails and when waves slow or accelerate a boat and how to steer and trim sails to react to changes in apparent wind and how to correct the effects of the forces which cause a boat to heel. Section 2 looks at the rules of racing as laid down by the CYA and ISAF. Section 3 considers racing signals and courses including the purpose of the Race Committee, the Notice of Race, the Sailing Instructions and the Protest Committee. Section 4 looks at tactics. On the water students will demonstrate as both skipper and crew while beating, reaching, running, roll tacking, roll gybing, bearing away and heading up. Identify signals displayed and sounded by the race committee boat. Demonstrate the ability to be within one boat length or 5 seconds of a starting line at the starting signal in a race situation. Restart, after having been recalled for premature starting, as quickly as possible. Defend a position from another boat while on a beat - by luffing and backwinding a boat attempting to pass until the mast abeam position has been attained and on a reach or run - by avoiding blanketing, by luffing or by assuming starboard tack. Demonstrate how to blanket and backwind a competitor to your advantage while on the same tack on the windward leg of a race course. And finally compile a racing record and log in a dinghy class showing you have completed a minimum of 15 scheduled races, 10 as a skipper in a class consisting of a minimum of five sailboats. On completion of this section the candidate will be able to compete in a race with a sound understanding of the racing rules and perform the afore mentioned tasks in wind strengths of up to 18 knots.