A Port Erin sailing instructor has gained a Yachtmaster Ocean qualification during a sailing trip to the Caribbean.

Jenni Kneale, the managing director of 7th Wave, has taught herself celestial navigation during a recent journey from the Canaries to Antigua.

Initially the busy principal of the sailing school and Port St Mary RNLI volunteer began an online course on astro navigation to prepare for the mid-Atlantic journey.

However, she quickly ran out of time and decided to learn how to direct herself, using the position of the stars, in a more practical way.

Armed with a donated plastic sextant, three text books, a chart, a supply of pencils and plotting sheets she joined a crew on board a 47 foot catamaran to the Carribean.

’Fortunately I had been given a couple of books by a former merchant navy captain, though one was an old maths-based one,’ she explained. ’The best bit of advice was "just pick up the sextant and start taking sights".’

The seasoned Royal Yachting Association instructor gradually became more confident in using her sextant, an moveable instrument used for celestial navigation by measuring angular distances between objects.

She eventually arrived at Antigua 24 days after setting off and began looking for an examiner to achieve the qualification, which proves a person has sufficient knowledge of celestial navigation to direct a 24-metre vessel anywhere in the world.

The examiner booked Jenni in for an exam the next morning after interviewing her and looking through her logs that she had collated on the journey. Fortunately all the practical experience led to her achieving the qualification, which she picked up from RYA headquarters in the UK.

’I got a much better understanding of astro navigation doing it this way than I could ever have done online on in a classroom,’ she said.

You can find out more information by visiting her blog http://carreybeayn.com or www.rya.org.uk/go/startboating