My husband and I returned recently from a week long sailing school with Virgin Islands Sailing School. While it’s not a typical trip report, I thought I’d report on our week, what we learned, where we went etc. We arrived in St. Thomas and Kevin (taxi) was waiting for us at baggage claim. He ushered us out to another taxi driver who took us to Red Hook. $40 for two with luggage. We boarded Silver Lining, a 47’ Leopard Catamaran, and spent our first night at the dock (we arrived at 5:30 pm). Aboard was Captain Genevieve Evans and two single guys (both younger than us!). We arrived strangers but soon became friends and “crew”.
Our goal was to complete ASA 101, 103, 104, and 114. Looking back, it’s a lot to cram into one week, but we couldn’t find anywhere near where we live to get our 101 before we arrived (which is fairly weird since we live in the Great Lakes area).
Our days generally went like this: up at sunrise and make coffee! We’d spend some time reading our books and doing general review with our Captain. 4 of the 7 mornings we took a written test based on what we’d read and discussed. After breakfast and cleanup, we checked engines and headed out. We’d sail all day – practicing everything from tacking to man overboard drills. We were all required to pick up a MOB (ours was a lifejacket with a gallon jug of water tied to it named Bob) both under sail and under motor. We all took turns at the helm, the jib, the mooring balls, anchoring, etc. We even practiced a Mediterranean mooring at Sydney’s Peace & Love (totally nerve wracking!). Each day we’d stop around 3:00 or 4 pm and have time for a quick snorkel. Then it was time for showers, dinner and drinks. And sometimes a little more reading in our cabins. I think we were asleep by 9 every night!
When we reached the Bitter End and Saba Rock, our Captain rented a 20’ monohull and we sailed in the harbor there for a few hours getting our practice in on a smaller boat.
We ate at: Willy T – surprising good fish & chips and we did a blind rum tasting. We left before it really got hopping. Sydney’s Peace & Love – great lobster dinner and the honor bar was fun. Our last afternoon we spent at the Soggy Dollar – lunch was great and we drank painkillers and swam and relaxed.
It rained almost every night, but we had good weather during the day. LOTS of wind – at one point we had 30 knot winds and the cat was doing 11.5 knots!
We all checked engines (oil, trans fluid, raw water intake etc), sailed, picked up mooring balls, anchored, cooked, cleaned up and by mid-week we were becoming a real crew.  We discussed our provisioning before we left and we all took turns cooking. Including one night when one of our crew members decided to make mango flambe with crumbled ginger cookies – it was delicious!
It’s a lot of reading and learning – something I was really intimidated by. During the 3rd test (and the hardest one), I broke down in tears. There were lots of story problem questions involving charting, engine parts, etc. and I was clearly overwhelmed & exhausted. Captain Genevieve was reassuring and encouraging. She had the patience of a saint with all of us.
I’ve spent a lot of time on boats (we live on a lake) and have done some sailing but nothing compared to this. It was exhausting, exhilarating and empowering all at the same time! We’re so anxious to go do it on our own!!
Julie
