My day

Paul Adamson speaks to SANDRA O'CONNELL

I STARTED SAILING at the age of 10. My parents gave us a choice of hobbies. My sisters chose horseriding and I chose sailing. I haven’t looked back since.

I loved it straight away, mainly for the sense of freedom. When I was 17 I decided I would make it my career, and that’s what I did. I am an RYA Yachtmaster examiner and instructor, with 165,000 sailing miles behind me. I set up my own school two years ago.

I’m from Chester, in England, and ended up here after I met my wife, who is from Mayo, when we were sailing in the Caribbean. Dún Laoghaire turned out to be perfect for what I do, which is teach adults how to sail.

I know lots of people wonder why we didn’t base ourselves somewhere where the sun shines and the seas are crystal clear, but the point is that people who learn in such conditions can’t cope in stormy weather or low visibility. Ireland is the perfect training ground for sailors, which is why people come from all over the world here to learn.

My boat is a 37ft cruising yacht that sleeps six. I run week-long and weekend training courses, during which I live on board my boat with a crew of five trainees. Each day we get up at 7.30am and have breakfast before listening to the weather forecast, which determines where we go for the day.

By about 9.15am we up-anchor and head out to sea, doing training exercises such as navigation, man overboard or picking up moorings under sail. We’ll stop at lunchtime and anchor in a harbour off Lambay Island, and eat our soup and sandwiches on board.

We decide where we want to have dinner, maybe Malahide or Wicklow, and then head off there for the afternoon. We go up and down the coast to any port on the Irish Sea, including in Wales and on the Isle of Man.

At night we’ll stop off for pub grub and maybe a pint or two, and we are generally back on board by 11pm, unless it’s a lively crew, when it could be 2am. But usually everybody is too tired in that nice way you get from physical exertion.

One of the things I love most about the job is the different people you get to meet.

Sailing is a great leveller in that, whatever your background, you have to participate actively just like everybody else to do it right. It’s not elitist, either: for €500 you can get a dinghy and a bit of training and have aeons of fun.

I never tire of the sea. You can’t, because it changes constantly. And I sleep better on a boat, because it’s like being rocked to sleep.

Paul Adamson is founder of Sailing West sailing school, 087-0612522, sailingwest.ie