As you know, we are influx as we look for opportunities to find work and a new place to “call home” after these 4 years cruising 2/3 around the world. After many discussions with other cruisers and captains, working on boats just seemed like a natural progression for us right now. With a little research, it sounded like getting a “piece of paper” to show for the experience we have could prove important for potential employers or insurance companies. So it was decided we are going back to “skool”….here is my story….
https://oceanstarsailing.com/
“hummm”…..yes or no?
The story starts with Kimi and myself in the principles office (not really but it helps with the story). Owner of Ocean Star Sailing Academy, Stuart, can be found in his office or walking potential students around the school. He invited Kimi and myself for wine in his office to chat about us and see how we could get some training on “how to sail”. Getting the required credentials for delivering boats was my plan. Stuart had a bit of fun showing us around the school and introducing us as “those crazy Americans” who sailed two oceans just to arrive in Cape Town to learn how to sail. A plan was put together that would get me through 22 days of classes and Kimi 12 days of safety classes (next blog post).
Stu and us sharing 2 bottles of wine at his office in the school.
Theory – 6 days…
January 6th, classes started….I had done some “pre-learning” by watching YouTube videos but I think I didn’t grasp much of what I was watching. The RYA based theory course was like speaking Greek to a guy from Seattle. This was going to be tough…. our teacher was patient…that is all I’m going to say!
In class with Hennie, Boris, and our instructor.
Practical – 12 days apart
The team from right to left, Boris, Hennie, Trevor, Ian.
Let’s meet the class:
- Boris is getting his Yacht Masters (YM) offshore to be able to be a back up skipper on his 76 foot catamaran he uses part time for chartering in the Caribbean. Boris is a big man at 6’8″ tall. French born, he was brought to the USA as a young adult to play basket ball. I don’t watch much sports but apparently he was in the NBA for 15 years.
- Hennie is South African and local to the Cape Town Area, well versed in how to use a power boat, he had little on a sailboat.
- Ian has come from the UK to see Cape Town and have an adventure in the southern Atlantic and adventure he had!
We all worked well together, and we all drank well together. Fun was had by all including our Instructor Jean (not Pictured) who as our instructor was filling in his off time as skipper on a “superyacht”.
Our home for 12 days.
I didn’t know how long I was to be gone until the morning of departure, apparently I was to focused on my theory class. It was made obvious by the small size of essentials compared to the large backpacks and bags my class mates and instructor had with them. Needless to say… there was still time to run back to the boat and grab a few more things. Still didn’t think I needed rain gear till I saw our boat we would be in for the 12 days. No place to hide from the elements like sun, breaking waves, and wind on this boat. Without rain gear I froze my butt off and with out a place to hide from the sun I burnt my face off, pealing by the 4th day. It all ended well for all of us except Hennie but that story will start later.
We all passed!!!
The celebration – Chamonix Winery
Hennie and Nicole, his fiance, live on a winery and had invited the crew and instructor, Jean, to the winery for a night. Kimi and I uber’ed there a bit early and had a wine tasting while we waited and it was well worth the wait. The town of Franschhoek was 1 and a half hours away from the city and just passed Stellenbosch.
A bit of beer at the local brewery and a stop at the grocery store for supplies we were back at the winery where we went on a short safari with Hennie behind the wheel. About 200 acers of the winery is an animal reserve. Jean had brought his wife and his 4 year old daughter.
All in all the RYA classes I took taught me a bit about chart work and a bit about sailing. Like many things you learn in school, I will use very little of this education in real life but the certification will get me a job if I choose and that is what it was about. I enjoyed the team we built and I met some marvelous people.
The celebration crew….thanks guys for a wonderful time!
But it’s not over yet for Hennie…..Hennie was of the understanding he was going to get a YM offshore certificate but found out on the first day of examination that he didn’t have enough miles on a sailboat and only qualified for a coastal certification. He had good reason to be a bit frustrated. The qualifications needed for his plan of working in the Caribbean operating a charter catamaran depended on him getting his YM offshore certification. I had a plan to help my team mate out with the 700nm he needed and presented it to Kimi before we went to Hennie and Nicoles. Looks like Kimi and Trevor are going to have crew on our passage to Namibia.
Next Up: STCW safety training…WTF…I paid to walk into a fire!