they have a few folk around, say knowledgeable Yacht Club membership or relative, then that process is made easier. I go back to my previous comments about experience, you can attend all the courses you want, but experience only comes with time on the water. Somebody earlier made the comment that the marlinspike side of seamanship is now pretty much a separate subject of itself. I really hope that is not the case, because there is a whole lot more to seamanship than being able to helm a boat safely from one place to another, if things go tits up, knowing how to splice ropes and use the correct knots etc.could well save yours and your crews bacon. Having a good knowledge of the practical side of seamanship is very important in my view. If sailing schools / RYA courses are not teaching this stuff, then they bloody well should be. While the parent may have become very negative, it is also possible that the lass's arrival at Uni may have filled her life with a million other things to do. I used to run a canoe club stand & much later, market the Bike Project wares at Fresher's Fairs. The enthsiasm of new students for EVERYTHING was wonderful to behold, but mostly it drops off a cliff after a few weeks. So only the hard core follow thro with their ambitious Fresher plans. Maybe she also got bored with not getting an instant result? Altho the original posts didn't