I’ve always wanted to sail, but not actual captain a boat, but simply be one of the guys who “knows the ropes” and can be useful on a boat. Turns out there is a course just for someone like me offered by most sailing schools called “COMPETENT CREW.” During the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I found a school on the Costa Brava (between Barcelona and the French border) that offered the course. It’s been a few days since the course ended and I’m still sorting out my feelings about the course. I’m still enthusiastic about sailing that goes without saying.
My newly “earned” Competent Crew certification
Why am I ambivalent about the experience? Let’s start by giving you the schedule of a typical day. Up at 830AM. Prep the boat and get it ready for sailing. Go out and “sail” until about 2:30PM and then come back in. Put the boat to “bed” and then sit in a bar until 6PM with the instructor. The three other guys in the course (they were doing a more advanced course in day skipper certification) along with the instructor, drank so much beer, I was shocked. Perhaps, I just live an adult life that doesn’t revolve around alcohol but this I found excessive.
As luck would have it, the weather was excellent. Not cold, but that also meant NO WIND. We actual put up the main sail twice in five days, of which only one was for real ocean sailing. The second time was simply for practice. It is my hope that had there been more wind, we would actually have done more sailing. Most of what I had to learn as a crewmember had to deal with when the boat was in the marina. How to tie up to a dock. I nicknamed it “boat parking” practice. We did a lot of it. The other guys said that actual sailing is pretty boring for a crewmember. The day there was wind and we went out for a few hours was great and whetted my appetite.
The others in the course, although not guys I would generally hang out with, were an interesting threesome. Egor, 27 year old, was a Russian who works for Deloitte. Derek, 46 years old Scotsman who works for the Foxcomm (yeah, that one) and Marco, 40’s, former trader in Hong Kong, now working on a PHD in History at Cambridge. The day that Egor was supposed to navigate us to a port, he was so hungover, he actually puked over the side of the boat and we called it a day. Marco, I bet spent the entire last 48 inebriated due to a romantic entanglement he had gotten himself into with a local waitress. It was pure soap opera on that boat.
I learned a lot of vocabulary but as an educator, I can see flaws in the way the instructor handled my learning. I think its important that a student is informed of the plan of the day and the expectations for the days learning. I was ALWAYS clueless as to what was happening. Even though we weren’t sailing, I wish we had done a lot more drill and practice. I ended up doing a fair amount on my own. It just didn’t sit right with me the way I was kind of treated like cattle. In addition, the instructor spent most of the week rehashing stories of former students and never took the time to get to know me. I think that’s vital in any learning situation.
Things I learned how to do: fenders, genoa sail lines, KMT, reef ropes, sail bag, sail flaking, WOBLE, bowlines, change springs to slip lines, electric line set-up, mid boat slips, lassos, knots, tying up to a buoy, raising a halyard and more…..
Why am I ambivalent about the experience? Let’s start by giving you the schedule of a typical day. Up at 830AM. Prep the boat and get it ready for sailing. Go out and “sail” until about 2:30PM and then come back in. Put the boat to “bed” and then sit in a bar until 6PM with the instructor. The three other guys in the course (they were doing a more advanced course in day skipper certification) along with the instructor, drank so much beer, I was shocked. Perhaps, I just live an adult life that doesn’t revolve around alcohol but this I found excessive.
As luck would have it, the weather was excellent. Not cold, but that also meant NO WIND. We actual put up the main sail twice in five days, of which only one was for real ocean sailing. The second time was simply for practice. It is my hope that had there been more wind, we would actually have done more sailing. Most of what I had to learn as a crewmember had to deal with when the boat was in the marina. How to tie up to a dock. I nicknamed it “boat parking” practice. We did a lot of it. The other guys said that actual sailing is pretty boring for a crewmember. The day there was wind and we went out for a few hours was great and whetted my appetite.
The others in the course, although not guys I would generally hang out with, were an interesting threesome. Egor, 27 year old, was a Russian who works for Deloitte. Derek, 46 years old Scotsman who works for the Foxcomm (yeah, that one) and Marco, 40’s, former trader in Hong Kong, now working on a PHD in History at Cambridge. The day that Egor was supposed to navigate us to a port, he was so hungover, he actually puked over the side of the boat and we called it a day. Marco, I bet spent the entire last 48 inebriated due to a romantic entanglement he had gotten himself into with a local waitress. It was pure soap opera on that boat.
I learned a lot of vocabulary but as an educator, I can see flaws in the way the instructor handled my learning. I think its important that a student is informed of the plan of the day and the expectations for the days learning. I was ALWAYS clueless as to what was happening. Even though we weren’t sailing, I wish we had done a lot more drill and practice. I ended up doing a fair amount on my own. It just didn’t sit right with me the way I was kind of treated like cattle. In addition, the instructor spent most of the week rehashing stories of former students and never took the time to get to know me. I think that’s vital in any learning situation.
Things I learned how to do: fenders, genoa sail lines, KMT, reef ropes, sail bag, sail flaking, WOBLE, bowlines, change springs to slip lines, electric line set-up, mid boat slips, lassos, knots, tying up to a buoy, raising a halyard and more…..
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