Honeymooners Fast Track Bareboat Certification

[pthurman]

My fiance and I are getting married on St. John in October. She has a love for the ocean and I am hoping sailing will provide me with a love for the water as well. She actually had her bareboat cert a few years ago, but was never comfortable enough to lead a crew. She has lived on a few sailboats, serving as a cook. I have now sailing experience, but I am a professional expeditionary kayak instructor and have a nack for anything water related. I would like to get my bareboat cert during our honeymoon and she would like to recert. I need the pre-req. courses but she doesn't. We are on a tight budget.

I guess I am looking for any suggestions as to how I should go about this. Our honemoon will be during the first week in Nov.

Thanks,
Patrick and Cara

[perchance]

Get her back out on the water to get her sea legs back and let her be captain. Go with her to get your feet wet so to speak.

[rebel heart]

My guess is the money aspect will be your biggest challenge, if it is at all. If she's lived on boats and has taken the time to study sailing, you'll be fine. If you've been on the water and know how to move around, you'll be fine too. I'd recommend this book:

Amazon.com: The Annapolis Book of Seamanship: Third Edition, Completely Revised, Expanded and Updated: John Rousmaniere, Mark Smith: Books

Read it, love it, keep it around forever.

[slomotion]

Well, all it takes is money. I think for a honeymoon I'd skip the certs and do a crewed charter, eg:

http://www.caribbeancatamaran.com/ca.../hypnautic.htm

No, I don't know anthing about them - but it sounds wonderful.

[bob kingsland]

The first week of November will be off season and not too expensive, relatively speaking. If you go out of Tortola you don't need much in the way of certs and the sailing and navigation are very easy... it's all line of sight, and deep water almost right up to the coast line, except for
Anegada. Plus it's all moorings there now so you can't get in anchoring trouble. We did it, for our honeymoon, in mid October 25 years ago... a week at Long Bay on Tortola, and a week on a bareboat... it was the first time my wife had ever spent the night on a boat. For just the 2 of you you don't need a big boat... 36' is more than adequate, and less money if you can find one. We had a great time.
Best, Bob S/V Restless

[nautical62]

Patrick, It is possible to get the basic courses and Bareboat taken care of in one week, but with no previous sailing experience, this is unlikely. If you can get some small boat sailing in this summer and do some studying ahead of time, that may make all the difference.

I also got into cruising based on a background of kayaking and canoe expedition leadership. While these things may not help a lot with getting your bareboat certificate, I believe this background will likely be an enormous help in making you a proficient cruiser. The physical skills are different, but the the same problem solving ,awareness skills, and sense of responsibility you have developed as an expedition kayak leader will help you problem solve and be comfortable cruising. I'm amazed how much similarity there is between these things. I even wear the same basic clothes on a canoe expedition for example that I do sailing. (But having a few extra changes of clothing sure is nice!)

Another thing to consider, is you don't both need to get bareboat certified off the boat to go charter a bareboat. If your wife gets re-certified and you have the basic courses and feel competent and confident, that may do it. The Moorings, is once company that will allow you to start your bareboat charter with a "friendly skipper" that you can take out for a while, but let off once he (or she) and you feel confident.

If you do this with ASA, be sure you start your log book and your wife updates hers. It will help you when it comes time to charter.

All the best. Sounds like a great Honeymoon to me.