Learning to Sail

As many of you know, Brian has had a dream of owning a sailboat and sailing around the world for some time. It is always on his brain. He researches every detail required to undertake such an endeavor any chance he gets. As you can imagine, there is a lot involved and so much we don't know, but he has a "master plan"! This trip was the first step in his master plan. We had to determine whether or not this was something we could actually learn how to do, and whether or not we would enjoy it and want to pursue it.

Brian made all the arrangements for us to fly to St. Vincent in the Eastern Caribbean, where we were to get on a catamaran for a week-long learn-to-sail course. The course did require that we purchase and study some sailing books prior to arriving. It felt like being back in school again, which I quite enjoyed! It also felt like being back in a driver's ed course, only this time for boats. We know lots of sailing jargon now!

The catamaran we sailed on was called Inordinate. It was 42' in length. It had a table and seating area in the rear by the helm and a galley & seating area inside, plus four cabins, each with it's own head. See the photos below. Our crew consisted of the Captain who was our instructor for the week, Brian & I, and another couple from Canada.

Each day went something like this. We woke up around 6:30-7:00am with the sun. We would jump into the ocean for a few laps swim around the boat; the temperature was perfect! Then we'd have breakfast, talk sailing, sometimes take a test, then take up anchor and sail to another island. Along the way we would talk more sailing and everyone had a chance to practice all the things we were learning. Once we arrived at the new island, we'd set the anchor, then jump in the ocean again. At several of the islands we went ashore in a dinghy to get supplies, eat dinner or to explore.

Some of the activities we did at the different islands were snorkeling, swimming with sea turtles in a nature preserve area and taking an intro to scuba diving course.

The crew of Inordinate

The feeling of sailing was amazing! We learned tons during the week and passed 3 tests, certifying us as sailors with the American Sailing Association. We still need lots of practice, but at least we learned the basics of sailing and we determined that this was something we could do and would love. We even tried sushimi (not sure of the spelling, but it's fresh tuna slightly seared) and any of you who know me, know that was a huge step because I HATE eating fish! I could actually live off it if I had to, so now we know we can do the sailing gig!

This was probably the best trip I've ever been on; a truly amazing experience! We had lots of views like the ones in the photos below during our week in St, Vincent & the Grenadines.