Not really a cruising idea but I thought I'd share anyway

MarkW · Post by **MarkW** » Wed May 12, 2004 10:30 pm

Being self taught (putting the boat in the water and figuring it out or reading many, many books and then figuring it out) I have always been concerned about whether I am "doing it right". Now I know that this can spark a whole debat so lets not go there, lets just say I wanted reinforcement of my own skills and some form of sanity check on my safety practices etc.

So (and here's the cruising ideas part) I booked to go with blue water cruising on one of their ASA courrses. I tested out of ASA101 and ASA 103 and the did their "course B" (see http://bwss.com/bwsscourses.html ) and spent a week on a Jeanneau 43DS crossing the gulf stream and back.

Well, what a blast ! I will probably write something a little longer and more detailed but well worthwhile, I learnt a lot and reinforced a lot of my knowledge too (plus I had a great time).

Here's a photo snippet (disposable kodak) guess which one is me and which is the 'old salt' instructor :) .

Mark

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu May 13, 2004 11:07 pm

So, you paid to go and they won't even let you take the helm? ;-) I've considered doing a trip such as that. It does sound like a blast, a great way to learn and gain experience.

I do agree with the OPB (other peoples boats) concept, to a point. Ive thought about this long and hard. I mean, how much would it cost in money and time for you to buy, equip, maintain, and pay slip fees etc etc on a Jeaneau 43DS or similar? If you think about it, if you did one or two trips a year such as offered by Blue Water and spent even 5-6k/year, or whatever, you would get more adventure/experience than ALL of the people in the marina I frequent that own 40-50 footers that forked out 100k+ and don't have the gonads to use them. All the well because most of these owners don't have the time, inclination, or skill to even maintain their boats in a manner worthy of taking offshore!! Yeah, I've been suckered in as crew/mechanic/electrictrian/ while the owner sits at the helm whining "make my boat go because I don't know how" in 12-15's abeam to the seas because the the headstay gaveway and the tanks are full of crap. But I digress, this topic is probably better for the Rant section of this forum.

Glad you had a great time! Looking forward to a trip of my own sometime. However, I do look forward to restoring, maintaining and sailing my own vessel to my own accord too.

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