Come Sail Away

One of my dreams for my future life is to retire to a sail boat, living aboard on the Eastern seaboard, Caribbean and the Gulf Coast. I have never sailed much (only a few times years ago), so it seemed like a good first step to take some lessons.

I met my instructor and a couple who also were taking the course at a small, private marina on the Gulf Coast. It was smallish and cozy, not grand or fancy. We spent about an hour or so on the dock covering terminology as we waited for the sun to evaporate the dew from the deck surfaces of the our training vessel, a Newport 33', similar to the one shown below. Our vessel didn't have a bimini top aft, but did have a dodger forward in the cockpit.

Soon, we were on the water. There wasn't a lot of wind to start, which was probably for the best as we learned about sail configurations and the daunting series of lines that operated them. We had been assigned a book to read, knots to learn and various concepts and terms to memorize. While the theoretical was nice, the practical brought it all together.

We returned to the marina for lunch, and then headed back out. The winds picked up, and soon we really moving the boat around, tacking and jibing with some semblance of skill.

The next day another couple joined us, having been delayed by work. They were friends of the first couple and they are traveling to the BVI and are chartering a 41' catamaran for a week in May. Like myself, they had experience with power boats but not with sailboats.

There was no wind as we puttered about the bay, propelled by the diesel motor. We practiced course plotting and navigation, radio protocol and anchoring. There were a few other pleasure craft about, but most of the traffic in the bay were commercial fishing vessels and large ocean going freighters.

As we stopped for lunch, a pod of dolphins swam by and checked us out, but were soon on their way.

Clouds began to form in the distance, and soon a few ripples of wind appeared on the water's surface. Before long we were able to raise the sails and may way without the aid of the engine. We tacked and jibed our way back, and by the end of the day we were able to make almost 6 knots under sail.

It was time well spent, and did not dissuade me from my dream of one day retiring to a sail boat and living aboard.