My Sailing Adventure - Through the Eyes of a Beginner

[Medicjumper]

Not sure if this will be of interest of even useful to anyone but I will post a few times and see if there is any interest in me continuing.

I'm learning lots but there is SO much information and things to learn, that I keep finding myself researching things almost every night. I thought maybe I would include interesting findings here as I go along and maybe save some other poor soul some of the work I'm going through.

My experience:
Truth be told, I know next to nothing about sailing. I've taken the basic canadian CYA courses (white sails) when I was a kid and that's about it. I do have considerable experience with map/compass/gps/survival and hardship through my military career. I'm planning on doing this solo so far but am not against a partner or a crew if that's the way it develops. The ship will be mine though.

My goal:
On april 2014, Go sailing the northern atlantic area (along the coast of Newfoundland) cross the atlantic to Iceland, then down the coast of Norway to the mediteraneean and back. Hopefully a year long trip.

Phases:
Phase 1 - Learn the theory of sailing, cruising, navigation and offshore sailing through appropriate schools.

Phase 2 - Sail a variety of boats from dinghies to cruisers through joining a sailing club, courses and putting my name down for racing crews in whatever capacity they'll take me for.

Phase 3 - Buy a sailboat spring 2012, live aboard between apr-oct for the next 2 seasons to learn the boat and sail it as often as possible.

Phase 4 - Crew at least once on an offshore trip in order to get the experience.

Phase 5 - depart :-)

Phase 6 - plan for a Pacific crossing but that's far away for now.

Feel free to comment on the plan, the phases or my ideas or bring new suggestions. I absolutely welcome anyone playing devil's advocate to my ideas, however remain polite. Remember, I'm doing this to hopefully help others.

[Medicjumper]

Ok... PHASE 1

Keeping in mind I'm Canadian, here's what I've got so far:

There seem to be 2 overriding sailing schools that I've found:
- Power and Sail squadrons
- CYA (Canadian Yacht Association)
both can easily be found on google.

On a side note, I've learned about the school (and a whole lot more) by first going to 3-4 marinas/yacht clubs and interviewing whoever would talk to me. I'm sure I asked a lot of stupid questions but, and that is to you guys' honor, EVERYONE I met was happy to spend time with me. I was quite shocked and happily surprised by the welcoming feeling I got from the sailing community. Good start!

Though I've taken a few CYA courses (white sails), I was recommended the Sail Squadron from the few guys I interviewed at my local marinas. Therefore I am taking the following courses this fall and winter.

Fall:
Boating course
Maritime radio course
Electronic navigation

Winter:
Seamanship course
Navigation course

What do you think so far? Anything I missed? Any courses you would recommend?

[mrohr]

Your plan seems doable if it gets you lots of rides with experienced sailors.Your time frame seems realistic as well. You will be luckly to learn more than 10% of what you need to know from just taking courses. Reread my first sentence. Good luck.

[zeehag]

welcome--sail a lot of other peoples boats and have a great time then buy your own....
btw-- welcome!

[Amapola]

You can't beat hands-on experience.

[Capt Rick]

I am a little new to sailing myself, but I think I can comment a little. First of all when you first mentioned CYA (Canadian Yacht Association), I really thought it meant Cover Your Ass. Ha ha. But seriously, Another class you might consider is Water Survival. When I took the class it gave me inspiration to pay attention to all the other classes.

[Medicjumper]

Thank you all. Yup, practical training. Got it. Unfortunately I'm starting this in the fall so getting on the water will have to wait til spring but it's in the plans.

Thanks Rick. You're absolutely right. Thank you for prompting me. I found this:

Survival systems training - ISAF offshore personal survival

(sorry, I don't know the rules of the site for including site addresses so I'm inclined to leave them out until someone clarifies it for me but.. google is your friend if you need more info on anything I find).

A little far from me at the moment as it's in Halifax but I may be able to do this before the spring.

[hummingway]

There's a lot of ways to approach what you want to do but boat owning and cruising involves a lot of skills, some of them "nautical" but a whole lot of them involve maintaining the boat. It's great to have a goal such as sailing to the med but before the trip takes place it will be important to know you can maintain your life support system i.e. the boat. Before you head into the waters of the North Atlantic make sure that you are comfortable with the boats systems and your ability to look after the ones that are essential to getting where you are going.

[James S]

What the hummer said about knowing your boat and how to maintain her viability.........you dont want to abandon ship due to a blown fuze.

[Capt Rick]

Yes, Hummingway and James probably hit the most important point. I vagly remember an old movie, maybe a wwII war movie, but the lead man, the captain said something like. "What captain is there that doesn't know every single rivet in her hull". Wish I could remember the movie, but it does hit a very good point.
I do wish you all the success and knowledg. I know you'll have a great time.

[Capt Rick]

Medicjumper; there one more minor detail, after you have schooled yourself, go for it and have fun doing it, and by all means Do take some chances, it'll get your hart pumping faster, and get the adrenalin moving. You'll be healthier for it.

[st599]

Originally Posted by Medicjumper

Thank you all. Yup, practical training. Got it. Unfortunately I'm starting this in the fall so getting on the water will have to wait til spring but it's in the plans.

Thanks Rick. You're absolutely right. Thank you for prompting me. I found this:

Survival systems training - ISAF offshore personal survival

(sorry, I don't know the rules of the site for including site addresses so I'm inclined to leave them out until someone clarifies it for me but.. google is your friend if you need more info on anything I find).

A little far from me at the moment as it's in Halifax but I may be able to do this before the spring.

ISAF is the International Sailing Federation and that is the course required by crews on the likes of the Fastnet Race and Sydney-Hobart. It's a very good course (if it's the same the world over, which I assume it is). You will spend afternoon in a liferaft feeling sick - but it's worth it.

Try and get down to the sailing clubs you went to and get some time on the water and get familiar with boats. Something's bound to break on your trip and knowing what floggle-toggle A does is a good idea.

Also think of the boat husbandry side - 1 pot cooking, storage, food hygeine, drinking water provision etc.

PS Do not under-estimate the Med - I've had a Meltemi arrive taking the wind from F3 to F9 in less than 3 minutes.

[goboatingnow]

I would take two years to do that trip. One year is too quick for the area you intend to cover. Norway alone could take a season alone. The med is worth a year. Why speed through some of the most interesting places. The European Atlantic itself is a great sailing ground.

You dont want to be a kind of " it's Thursday so this must be Belgium" kind of traveller

Dave.

[Jim Cate]

G'DAy MJ,

The general lay of your plan seems ok, but the latter stages seem a bit ambitious.

Frankly, your proposed routing through the North Atlantic is a big bite for a first ocean cruise. These are challenging waters for sailor and boat, and IMO you would be better off saving that voyage for a later time... after a few other passages.

Secondly, as someone else has mentioned, to attempt that round trip in one year is unrealistic if you want to enjoy any of the interesting places that you have reached. Further, having such a schedule looming over your planning will likely lead you to make poor decisions re weather and departures. Tight schedules (and making this one year trip will entail a really tight plan) are seldom adhered to and tend to minimize the pleasure of cruising. And if anything goes wrong with the boat you don't have any time cushion to deal with fixing things.

I suspect that as you progress through your earlier stages of learning these thoughts will become clearer to you, and I hope that you can find an alternative plan that you will enjoy just as much.

Meanwhile, do as much sailing as you can and have a good time learning, however you do it. It's a great life!

Cheers,

Jim

[Medicjumper]

Today, I've made a visit to the local Coast Guard office and asked for feedback on my plan. They've emphasized self reliance in all aspects of the boat and strongly suggested I pickup up marine mechanics, basic electrical systems and possibly woodworking as a hobby. (As Hummingway had already mentionned in his post.) I'm building up a list of courses available in Ontario and will post it when complete. So far I found this:

St-Lawrence College - small marine engine repair course.

Dave and Jim. Thank you for the feedback. You may very well be right. Coming into this project with little know how, I had to give myself a goal that was specific and time based. It may be that it will prove itself unrealistic and I will change things accordingly if that happens. I want something challenging but I'm not rigid to the point of being unreasonnable