Sailing the Gulf…

So you know when you have one of those ideas that you think great I should do this, never mind that I’ll have to change my whole life, but yeah why not?! Well this was one of those. And the idea: Stop everything and sail the world! Anchors aweigh and all!

So we actually hadn’t done a sailing trip at the time of this epiphany. I have been on different boats from speed boats to yachts, to ferries to huge barges at different times in my life, and so has my husband but definitely not for an extended period of time.

We decided that before we invest in a sailboat its probably best to try it out.

We found Blue Pacific, a company in Vancouver, that charters out sailboats. You can get a skipper, fancy word for instructor or captain, who ensures you learn the ropes and certifies you. We studied for weeks leading up to the trip and completed a couple workbooks. We learned all about knots, lines and different maneuvers with the sails, including the rules of engagement at sea. It really was like learning a new language.

 

We chartered Prairie Wind, a 43 foot sail boat, for 5 days and armed with our recently memorized sailing lingo and skills, we sailed all around the Gulf islands and it was so awesome! Living on the boat; cooking, fishing, docking and controlling the sails was a real adventure. I learned so many new things from the chicken jib to tacking the sails and also the fact that I can get a little seasick, which is not fun. So glad, I found a behind the ear patch that worked great.

At the end of the 5 day course, we impressed our skipper and got our day skipper certificates! Are we ready to pack it up and sail around the world?…Well this trip showed us we’ve have so much more to learn, especially about night sailing. So right now, we’re not going to stop everything to sail the world just yet. Instead we’ll join the Sailing club in town to hone our skills. As certified sailors, we can now to charter sailboats anywhere in the world! Pretty cool.

The lesson here is to say yes to trying something new, you can always choose how far to take it and who knows you might learn some new things. Just go for it, you never know what it’ll lead to or where!

3 Comments

  1. Olutoyin
    December 22, 2016
    Reply

    I am so glad that you never shy away from a challenge. Good thing too that you quickly found your sea legs and sea sickness didn’t ruin your experience. One thing I ve come to realise, is that you are always stronger than you think. Go for it skipper ant time the deep call out to you. Shalom

    • December 23, 2016
      Reply

      Me too! My mum taught me that I can do whatever as long as I set my mind to it 😉 And very true, we rarely know our own strength. And we forget too often. Here’s a quick reminder to anyone reading this. You are strong & yes even stronger than you think!

  2. Femmie
    December 24, 2016
    Reply

    Yess to adventure & new things!

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