# Newbie couple wanting to sail Caribbean



## Av8r815 (Feb 6, 2018)

Hello,

We are a couple in our early 40's looking to purchase a sailboat and learn to sail. We would like to find another couple to show us the ropes and share experiences before taking the plunge. Our plan is to sail the Caribbean within the next 2 years.

We are from the midwest, and would like to start our learning journey on the gulf or east coast if possible. 

We have owned several motorboats, and currently a 40' sedan bridge on the Ohio river, but have no sailing experience. Most of our experience is on fresh water small lakes. I am also a pilot so I do have some navigation skills 

We are friendly, respectful people, and being boat owners we understand boating is expensive. We are not looking to freeload!

We would be happy to buy dinner and drinks just for a boat tour!

Cheers!


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

A - for many couples sailing the Caribbean the boat is:
Their house and they go back and forth to the states with the hurricane season.
Their second home and the boat sits in either Trinidad or Granada during the summer.
They’re in the Caribbean for awhile until they move on to another cruising ground.
Image I cold called you and said “ I don’t know you but can my wife and I live in your house for awhile so you can teach me how to be a homeowner?”
Please tell me why anyone would want to do this? What do you bring to the table?
Don’t mean to be rude but your appeal isn’t realistic. You’re right all the ASA courses and charters won’t teach you the cruising skill set. Only cruising does that so experience counts. 
I love sailing. I think getting new people into cruising is important. I like teaching newbies and meeting new people making new friends. If you want discuss a perhaps more practical approach please pm me with your contact information. Maybe a phone chat will help you.


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## Av8r815 (Feb 6, 2018)

Thanks for your input. 

Maybe I need to clarify. We are not expecting someone to take in total strangers to live on their boat. We just hope to meet some veteran sailboat owners, talk with them, tour their boat, and possibly go for a short sail (which we would gladly pay for)

I can't send PM's until I have 15 posts, but thanks for offering to talk with me.


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## RegisteredUser (Aug 16, 2010)

Sign up for an owner-operated charter and have a great time....?


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## contrarian (Sep 14, 2011)

If you want to take a vacation to North Florida this spring I would be happy to take you out for a sail or two if you don't mind hanging out with old codgers. Air B&B at the condo next to the marina where I keep the Boat. In my experience pilots make very good sailors. One in particular that I could never beat across the finish line when racing PHRF and I actually owed him time. The sailing most likely will come pretty natural to you. While this area is not the Med, it is referred to as the "******* Riviera". I'll PM you if you're interested although I'm not sure if the 15 post thing applies to receiving PM's.


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

We used to offer a liveaboard cruising experience for folks just like you, but surprisingly, there was no interest at all. As mentioned above, there are charters available that offer lessons and I'd think that would be a lot of fun. My experience with the official sailing school organizations, as a teacher, was that the curriculum was a cookie cutter, one size fits all sort of thing, which I wasn't much impressed with. There are as many ways to do things on a boat as there are boat owners, so if students are exposed to a variety of ways to do things, they can pick the one which suits them best.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

For context; I teach ASA Courses, and, until recently, had been teaching US Sailing courses.

ASA 101 and US Sailing's Basic Keelboat are "learn to sail" courses - you spend 6+ hours per day for 3 days on a sailboat learning how to make it move where you want it to.
ASA 103 and US Sailing's Basic Cruising are "learn to operate a boat" courses - you spend 6+ hours per day for 3 days on a cruising sailboat learning how to dock, and how the basic systems work.
ASA 104 and US Sailing's Bareboat Cruising are "learn to cruise" courses - you spend 3 (or preferably 4) days living aboard a cruising boat and exploring a cruising area with an instructor.

Many people succumb to the temptation to combine all three courses into their one week vacation in so-called "Fast-Track" courses so that they can get out bareboat chartering as soon as possible. I suggest that you not do this, as there is too much to learn in each of the courses for anyone to be able to internalize the information that these courses are supposed to convey to the student. Just as there is a reason that a 4-year engineering (college) degree takes four years, there is a reason that these courses NEED to be spaced out over several months. Schools claim that they are responding to customer demands. I believe that these schools are simply selling certifications. (To continue my analogy, when did colleges ever respond to student demands of how long the engineering curriculum should be?) [EDIT] If you want to see an example of the skill set that these "Fast-Track" courses impart, do a YouTube search for "Credit Card Captains."

If you simply want to charter, most charter companies can arrange for a captain for a nominal daily fee. Should you go this route, it is important that you tip these guys, as they are paid (ahem) peanuts. (I believe that you should do this anytime that you are living aboard someone else's boat, so that would include 104/Bareboat courses.) If you want to experience sailing as a willing hand, there is an app called "GoSailing" which will allow you to learn of owners that are willing to taking crew on their boats.


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## Av8r815 (Feb 6, 2018)

contrarian said:


> If you want to take a vacation to North Florida this spring I would be happy to take you out for a sail or two if you don't mind hanging out with old codgers. Air B&B at the condo next to the marina where I keep the Boat. In my experience pilots make very good sailors. One in particular that I could never beat across the finish line when racing PHRF and I actually owed him time. The sailing most likely will come pretty natural to you. While this area is not the Med, it is referred to as the "******* Riviera". I'll PM you if you're interested although I'm not sure if the 15 post thing applies to receiving PM's.


Excellent! We love Codgers! I will PM you once I hit 15 

What part of North Florida? I've been to the Destin area a few times... years ago.


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## Ninefingers (Oct 15, 2009)

outbound said:


> A - for many couples sailing the Caribbean the boat is:
> Their house and they go back and forth to the states with the hurricane season.
> Their second home and the boat sits in either Trinidad or Granada during the summer.
> They're in the Caribbean for awhile until they move on to another cruising ground.
> ...


I think you may have posted this by mistake. They were asking for a tour on a boat, not moving in. I hope you posted this by mistake. Cause it's really creepy otherwise


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

My bad. A tour is fine as is a sail. Not interested in any payment just a pleasant day. Love to show them the boat. OP was misconstrued. Sensitive about this as had an individual who totally lied to me about skills and intentions. My apologies please feel free to PM.


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## PhilCarlson (Dec 14, 2013)

Here is an entertaining book written by a couple who started about where you are.

https://www.amazon.com/Sail-Two-Idi...18018877&sr=8-1&keywords=a+sail+of+two+idiots


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## WWilde (Feb 23, 2018)

You just saved me a bunch of money on Boating lesson


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

eherlihy said:


> .....Many people succumb to the temptation to combine all three courses into their one week vacation in so-called "Fast-Track" courses so that they can get out bareboat chartering as soon as possible. I suggest that you not do this, as there is too much to learn in each of the courses for anyone to be able to internalize the information that these courses are supposed to convey to the student. Just as there is a reason that a 4-year engineering (college) degree takes four years, there is a reason that these courses NEED to be spaced out over several months. Schools claim that they are responding to customer demands. I believe that these schools are simply selling certifications. (To continue my analogy, when did colleges ever respond to student demands of how long the engineering curriculum should be?) [EDIT] If you want to see an example of the skill set that these "Fast-Track" courses impart, do a YouTube search for "Credit Card Captains."


I did an accelerated one week Canadian Sailing Association course that covered everything in ASA 101, 103, 104 and much of ASA 105. (our liveaboard instructor was the school's navigation instructor and she covered that because she was excited about my level of interest).

It did not feel "fast tracked" and it was easy to internalize because it was incorporated as a cohesive, whole, hands-on experience. It helped me put all the pieces together at one time, rather than to break it up piecemeal fashion.

The Canadian course was rigorous, requiring me to study the book materials weeks in advance of the charter/course. I did something different than what I did through most of college, I actually did all the required studying in advance.

The written exam was rigorous and I would not have passed without the advanced study. When I went to the FL Keys for a bareboat charter, the charter operator, an ASA instructor, was very impressed with my Canadian training and said that I was better prepared than most of the people who come to him to charter with ASA 101-104 certification. He was impressed to see that I own an Iris 50 compass and that I know how to use it.

The charter course had the added benefit of providing actual cruising experience. We visited a couple of marinas and got to experience marina life, visiting with other sailing couples, talking sailing adventures and comparing notes on various types of boats. We spent one night in a mooring field, and another night at anchor. I practiced docking procedures 8 or 9 times in four different locations, including docking with current and wind to contend with.

Our instructor joined us on the boat the first night upon our arrival and reviewed all of my book study to make sure that I had actually done it. Then she interviewed me about what my goals for the course were. She wanted to know if I just wanted a captained tourist experience, or to learn to sail. I told her that I wanted to learn to be a serious sailor and wanted to learn anything and everything she could teach me. She did just that, and she did nothing for me, having me do everything, hands-on, myself.

She interviewed me about what type of sailing I intend to do in the future. My wife and I told her that I am more into it than my wife, and that some single-handed sailing is likely to be in my future. During that week she made sure to divide time between giving my wife practice crewing for me, as well as providing practice time for me single handing the boat.

My experience was very different from what Eherlihy described above and I can definitely recommend it.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

E is certainly entitled to his perspective on these live aboard courses. As I've said in many threads, my wife made extraordinary progress in one. Going from zero to a pretty decent fair weather sailor in one week. I was amazed. I think it has as much to do with the aptitude of the student as the course itself. 

If the OP has been a boater for a long time and has the demonstrated skills, such as situational awareness, required to be a pilot, my money is on them having pretty good aptitude. 

Further, the liveaboard courses give one a pretty good perspective on what it's like to "live aboard". Work, clean, eat, sleep, learn, etc. Full day. I recommend them. Although, nothing is perfect for everyone.


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

Minnewaska said:


> .......... Further, the liveaboard courses give one a pretty good perspective on what it's like to "live aboard". Work, clean, eat, sleep, learn, etc. Full day. I recommend them. Although, nothing is perfect for everyone.


That's what I appreciated about it, and is why I did it. I wanted to provide my wife an opportunity to see what a cruising life would be like. Our trip offered us the whole experience: Cooking on board; eating on board; sleeping on board; pooping on board; anchoring in a breathtaking bay and waking up to the call of loons and morning mist on the water; showering at a marina; motoring some; sailing a lot; breaking out the foul weather gear to sail in the rain. 
It was great and my wife concluded that she didn't hate it.


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## SeaStar58 (Feb 14, 2018)

If you want to get experience in these waters one of the best places I know is Chapman's School of Seamanship in Stuart Florida. Chapman was the person that the Secretary of the US Navy turned to when they needed to come up with a better training program for sailors who piloted launches and patrol boats so he wrote the Seaman's Bible "Chapman's Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling" for them. In his later years he opened a Sailing School in Stuart Florida which is still in operation today.

They offer individual courses and up to a 7 day live aboard offshore course. All training vessels used for Offshore Sailing are of an ocean going type and operated by USCG licensed captains/instructors.

https://www.chapman.org/p/224/objectives


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## kaisersling (Sep 20, 2016)

Ninefingers said:


> I think you may have posted this by mistake. They were asking for a tour on a boat, not moving in. I hope you posted this by mistake. Cause it's really creepy otherwise


Also, I dont think he really likes teaching newbies or the fact the someone is newly interested in sailing judging by his response.... That was probably by accident too.


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