Aye aye everybody.
I am new to this board but have read a lot before actually saying hello now.
I am a German citizen, living in
Colombia. I grew up doing a lot of weekend sailing trips with my parents on their 32´ sv on the river Elbe, North Sea and
Baltic Sea. I got my first
boat, an Optimist when I was 9 years old. Later in my life I have lived in
Miami where I did some
day sailing on a friend's
boat. I then moved to
Cape Town, did a bit of
day sailing before taking a
crewing position on a Saint Francis 44´
Catamaran from Rio de Janeiro to Trinidad with the greatest
Skipper ever (thanks Ben!) who taught me an awful lot.
Now the dream is alive again, I want to go cruising,
circumnavigation is the idea. Maybe on a Tartan 37 or similar, even better on a cat (money depending).
Now my first question here: I live in Bogota,
Colombia, and I guess I need some sort of
certification. Colombia doesn't offer much on this subject and for now I have found that the rather new
Panama Sailing School offers
ASA certifications. I guess having over 3500
blue water miles on my back I won´t need the 101 but maybe 103/104 combo would be suitable. Honestly I don't think it would be perfect. I would really like something that goes a little further. Any suggestions to what courses I should take, maybe taking in consideration where I live (Colombia). It would be easy and affordable to take
classes in
Panama for me. BVIs for example would be a lot more expansive to get to. Before getting my own vessel I would certainly try to get more experience as crew but I would like to get some sort of
certification first. Thank you for your help and a big Hello to everybody!
Jonas