Study, study, study...

As the date of my departure gets closer, I am actually getting a bit stressed.  I have pretty much got things taken care of at work so that won’t be a concern, but I had no idea of the amount of prep work required to take these classes!

I had to make some special purchases for this trip… sailing gloves, some light foul weather gear and a few other odds and ends but that wasn’t difficult.  It is the studying that is killing me.  There are three books (one for each certification) that need to be read and the material assimilated in order to get the most out of the classes and make sure I past the written exams.  How many names can there be for a piece of rope???  And then you have to learn the name of every piece of the boat, their functions, the various forms they may take and their alternative names.  Holy crap.

I knew this was going to be a physically and mentally challenging vacation, but I really didn’t expect to have to do this much study.  All in all, it’s about 400 pages of material.  Yes, there are lots of diagrams and pictures.  Even so, I am wondering now if I wouldn’t have been better off taking the first two courses locally, getting some experience and then taking a couple more courses once I had a handle on basic sailing skills.  Too late now, I’m committed.

I’m looking forward to getting through it all, not just to get it over with, but because I have a friend at work who is also very interested in sailing and we may join the local yacht club together.  From what I understand, the membership is not that expensive and they have boats you can take out to continue learning, have a good time and develop your skills.  If I am teaching him along the way, that will reinforce everything I have learned.

I’ve been watching the weather around St. Thomas and it looks like they are getting daily afternoon showers but the temps have been in the mid-80s during the day and high 70s at night… sounds perfect.  So, I stocked up on sunscreen, got everything packed up and I am ready for adventure!  I arranged for a car to pick me up at 4:00am (OMG) to catch my 6:00am flight.

I’m glad I gave myself 2 ½ days after the sailing is over to just kick around St. Thomas, do some snorkeling and maybe take a ferry to Tortola, Virgin Gorda or Jost van Dyke.  It’s been at least 25 years since my last visit to the Virgin Islands, so I am looking forward to having some down time to do some exploring.