US Sailing vs ASA Basic Keelboat, ASA Bareboat & Coastal Cruising ?

[CapnK]

Good story, and well told! Grog!

And a sailing story with both Beer and Brats in it? Double Grog!!!

[Norm]

What a story!  I am glad to hear about your adventures.  As the captain/instructor I seldom here the unvarnished truth of a trip.  Good that you got some wind to see what that's all about. 

Now... go cruising!  Charter companies are usually pretty hip to offering boats to newly certified sailors.  If you get a few more days of sailing into your log book, so much the better.  (More on the charter business later).

Cubemonkey and I just completed a delivery of a 1985 Pearson 28-2 from NYC to Cape Cod Canal Marina for a couple.  Take a look at that boat for your family.  If four adults can fit comfortably, I reckon a family of five will have room to spare!  It is... after all... just nine little feet!  (Apologies to Dan for steeling his "footitis" reference.)

Thanks for the report.

Norman

[Norm]

Newt
Re:  BVI Chartering
Maybe worth a new thread?

To keep the record straight:  I work for Rob and Gina Swain at their company, swainsaililng.com.  They are a company that is in the certification and instruction business.  Gina is also a bare boat or skippered charter boat broker in the BVI.  I know people at Sunsail, Moorings, Horizon, TMM, Catamaran Co., and so on.  None of this is a sales pitch.

Charter companies have prohibitions about sailing at night unless one of their skippers is aboard.  It makes sense since there are few navigational aids in the Caribbean.  It is unbelievably dark at night at night.  Americans comment about it wondering why it seems darker in the BVI than at home.  I mean... isn't dark everywhere at night?

The Antigua companies are a bit less rigorous about the night sailing since the Antigua to Guadeloupe leg is 50 nm and takes all day with a landfall after dark in Deshaies, Guadeloupe.  Visa versa the return trip.  I doubt you could get permission to do that trip as a first time charterer.

The best brokers and charter companies look at your resume.  Resumes are helpful since the companies do not want you out in a boat you cannot handle.  You won't have fun and return next year...  The better the resume, the better the boat.  It also helps if two people are ASA Bareboat certified.

Getting used to the boat and place.  Great plan.  Do it in the VI.  The idea of sailing from Florida to PR and then the Virgins is great but you'll need the winter off and your own boat.  FL to PR is a long beat, almost a week of sailing to windward if you have a good boat.

The best way to really relax, enjoy sailing, and see the best of the Islands (US or British or both) is with a captain.  The increased cost is small in terms of quality of deliverables.

A question to the Team Sailfar is: who's chartered down there and what did they find?  The Caribbean is a big place and I have seen a small slice of it, in fact.

Best, Norman Martin

 

[newt]

Thank you for your words of advice concerning bare boating in the BVI.  You have confirmed what I already was coming to a conclusion on, ie nobody will let me do what I want to do with their boat, so I might as well get my own and keep it with a small charter company somewhere in the Caribbean. Perhaps a new thread is in order, as I do not want to decrease the fun that Lost Lake is having with his first lessons in a bare boat.
See ya in the new thread.

[Lost Lake]

Newt and Norm,

Your posts fit right in with this thread! This is why we get Bareboat certifed, and why we take the cruising classes. While I have sailed for years on my own, these classes were intesting, informative and best of all FUN! I mean, this was only $900.... I think it was a steal... And to think that one can take the class in the BVI is just outstanding.

I have a friend with a 38' Beneteau that will let me sail his boat, but it is about 5 hours away from me, so I'll only get to sail it a few days this year. It will be great log book time though! I'll also splash my little 20 footer in my lake and sail it there to build time. I can always pull it out to take it to bigger water, but why let her sit on her wheels when her bottom paint is like new? Having your boat in your backyard promotes instant sailing as desired.

I took my classes through Northern Breezes, and I think they work with TMM in the BVI. I'll shop around though. My plan is to find a willing co-captain for a February Bareboat in the BVI, or I'll hire a skipper while I'm down there.


PS:  I just checked out the Pearson 28, and it does have a fantastic layout for my family. My son is 6, and he'd love the v-berth, my girls each would get a settee, and me and my first mate in the aft. Now that I'm spoiled by the Hunter 38, I'd have to see what the Pearson has for an icebox and storage. I think I'll look around and see if I can find a Pearson in the flesh... Errrrr... Glass I mean!

[Norm]

LostLake:
P 28s have nice enough galleys.  The ice chest is on the starboard side and doubles as a chart table.  The cooking space in the galley is shy unless you use the salon table.  Fancy cooking isn't really part of family cruising anyway.  We used the gas grill one night and that was fine.  An Igloo ice box in the cockpit locker would have been a good thing for the beverages.

There are lots of good boats.  The best one is the one you actually take sailing.

The owners bought a Portland Pudgy dink that is amazing.  Easy to tow, great rowing, and fits four adults.  Bit pricey I suppose but worth it.

TMM is a good outfit.  I skippered a couple of their cats last winter.  Great service and nicely cared for boats.

Hope you get in some sailing this weekend.  Our plan is morning in the garden and evenings on the boat.  The house is going to heck ever since we bought Averisera!  Averisera looks fine. 

Norm

[newt]

Crusing is more fun than just sailing. I'm glad your hooked Lost Lake. 

[Auspicious]

If you are considering putting a boat in charter you should read sailonline.com . They are biased toward the Moorings (so am I), but will give you perspective you won't get any other way.

[OptiMystic]

I got kind of an interesting perspective on this last winter. I am not certified and I have only been on a few boats larger than 21', usually as a passenger and the little bit of crewing I have done on big boats was not extensive at all. But on the smaller boats I have a lot of experience dating back decades and including power boats as well as sail boats. Anyway, I wondered if there were courses out there for people who wanted to pretty much jump straight into sailing the bigger boat without 2 or 3 days of stuff you mostly already know. I know there would be a few gems in there for me, but the tradeoff of spending half of an expensive vacation week (because I was looking into doing this in the Carribean) mostly indoors rehashing info I know was not appealing to me. I sent out a few queries by email after finding some likely places by searching around and following links from some sailing sites I frequent. The answer was pretty consistent - either you take the specific course for certification, pay a lot of money for private lessons, go on a crewed charter and observe or - and this is the option that surprised me - go ahead and charter a bareboat.

That last option surprised me because I was very clear about my experience, but nearly every reply I got said that certain charters were possible without certification and that they expected to have to spend some time helping familiarize you with the boat even if you were certified. One reply was very specific. He said the GPS would be in charge -  there would be waypoints set near each anchorage to let me know where to drop sail and go to engine on the way in and where it was okay to raise sail on the way out. I would have to demonstrate good basic boat driving skills and practice setting the anchor and raising/lowering sail a couple of times. There would be no docking involved. They would get me in and out of the slip. That's all he said - the next part is somewhat guesswork on my part. I think the prescribed routes were where they could keep tabs on you; they may have crewed charters or other boats around the anchorages. I am guessing the distances were pretty short.  I think having a high credit limit would be required.

I didn't follow up on any of them. For various reasons, a trip down there didn't pan out like I hoped (the rest of the family outvoted me and we went on a big cruise ship), but my time will come...

[Zen]

How did she do and which did she take?