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Gary Christie
Professional Rugby League player Gary, hung up his boots and donned a pair of deckies when he signed up for a Yachtmaster Traineeship with Flying Fish.
Gary had been sailing since he was 12, reaching national youth squad level, but gave it up to play rugby professionally. "I only started sailing again in 2004 when I took my Day Skipper."
He wanted to combine the Yachtmaster qualification with a trip to Oz, so Flying Fish provided the perfect solution ...
"The Coffs offshore race with Andy Hunt was intense but really exciting to be racing again - and to be able to helm for 23 hours was fantastic! My first offshore was epic. We left the Sydney heads behind at 22.00 into 35 knots and a large swell and by 22.10 my three man watch was down to me on the helm, Matt going green and throwing up over the pushpit and Dave sat in the cockpit with an unnerving smile like he'd been at the gin. We all pulled through but in those first three hours I wondered what I had got myself into.
"So many great memories and I made some great friends to boot."
Gary finished his course with a fantastic offshore passage in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, then came back to the Solent to take his Yachtmaster assessment and Cruising Instructor course.
He sailed through his exams and the online careers service at Flying Fish set up some interviews for him. He was offered several jobs in the industry and went straight into work as a flotilla skipper for Sunsail in the Sporades Islands, Greece.
At the end of his first season's work, Gary summed up his experience. "The most valuable thing I gained from the course was confidence, not on a boat but in general. I hated public speaking but the briefings that we had to give for safety and as skipper for the day, gave me the ability to get over that particular phobia. Now I love giving briefings to 40 plus people as flotilla skipper. I would never have believed it!"
Once the Med season was over Gary did a delivery to the Caribbean then started checking the jobs at flyingfishonline.com. The one that caught his eye was back in the UK, working for Flying Fish no less. He went on to complete two years teaching and racing out of Cowes and at the time of writing (Oct 2008) is heading back to the Caribbean.
Gary explained: "I'm going to do some deliveries to the Caribbean, then who knows? I am free to do what ever now that I'm a freelance skipper......."
His advice. "Just do it! You only live one life and that life should be an interesting and adventurous one. Don't get stuck in a rut trying to earn more money for stuff you don't need as memories are better than dreams. Phew, I wish I had said that to myself years ago."
Gary's courses
Yachting: Cruising Instructor Week in the Solent,
Yachtmaster/Master of Yachts Pro Traineeship
