Caribbean Report - Part III
Back on land after a week learning to sail on board a 39’ Lagoon catamaran.
Even taking our exams on board.
Four or five of them. Ouch.
Back on land after a week learning to sail on board a 39’ Lagoon catamaran.
Even taking our exams on board.
Four or five of them. Ouch.
The difference between “lee helm” and “weather helm”, and what to
do about it?
Magnetic deviation on the compass. Do we add or
subtract to get our true course?
Practical stuff, too, like - the
mainsail wouldn’t come down.
Now what? Climb up and yank it down?
The generator
has no coolant water.
Doesn’t that mean it’s going to burn out? What to do?
Turn it off!
Some beeping “low voltage” alarm goes off every night.
How to stop it?
Was that excessive water in the
bilge?
Were we going to sink?
Why was there so much smoke on the dinghy
outboard?
It’s raining on me and the hatch leaks! My cabin is soaked!
Why won’t
the anchor come up? It’s stuck!
We’re drifting towards that big boat and I
can’t release the anchor!
Somehow, it all worked out.
We plotted courses, did navigation, read charts.
Learned the parts
of a diesel engine, dinghy maintenance, marine batteries, cooling systems.
VHF
radio use, reefing sails, docking.
Passed all tests with flying colors.
We now have little stickers in our logbooks for 3 more courses:
Coastal Cruising, Bareboat Charter, and Catamaran Cruising.
Next: International
Yacht Charter and Passage Making.
But not yet.
There were only four of us, on a large and comfortable catamaran.
Do I dare mention that our instructor put down a respectable amount of rum during the week?
Do I dare mention that our instructor put down a respectable amount of rum during the week?
 |
| Stan brings down the mainsail. |
These charter boats are pretty incredible:
Multiple bathrooms (ok, “heads”), all manner of appliances, and gear.
Microwave, blender, toaster, oven, TV, air conditioning.
It was like a huge RV on water.
Multiple bathrooms (ok, “heads”), all manner of appliances, and gear.
Microwave, blender, toaster, oven, TV, air conditioning.
It was like a huge RV on water.
The motor, or the generator, needs to run for several hours a day!
To me, this entirely defeats the point of “sailing”.
But catamarans are large, wide, and comfortable.
They don’t “heel”, or lean over as much.
There’s plenty of room for everyone.
There’s plenty of room for everyone.
And it's hard to get lost in the British Virgin Islands.
Tomorrow, Stan and I get our “own” boat and take it out.
No instructor to ask questions. It’ll all be up to us.
Trish & Stan alone.