I find myself wondering all the time, "Where are our students going after they take courses from us? Are they sailing? Are they stuck on land simply with the dream of sailing?" We get to see so many of them come back and charter is the San Juan Islands with us, but the ones who don't remain a mystery. So, when I heard from Doug, I was elated! (Doug and his son, Kaj, took classes this summer)
"We're just back from our trip to Australia, where we did a one week
bareboat charter in the Whitsunday Islands...The trip was great. In particular, thanks to SJS and Mike the sailing
portion was terrific, stress-free and thus more fun because Kaj and I knew
enough to handle the boat, make anchorages (many anchorings!) etc. without
setting ourselves up for ugly surprises. The boat systems part of the course
also was a boon; much less mystification and much better ability to tell our
crew (there were 5 of us on a 41' Jeanneau) how to make water last, not stop up
the heads, etc... Though our boat did have a chart plotter, the basic nav
skills Mike taught us made it possible to lay out a course each morning and have
a much better idea of where we were going, when we should arrive, how to get
there if there was a plotter failure. Understanding the importance of wind and
tide vs. anchor factors was also great; the wind/tide/current situation in the
Whitsundays is equally as exciting as in the San Juans and we had a lot of
anchoring to do in places where dragging would have been costly.
I should mention that we had one night with a 25kt. steady blow guesting to
39kts. while anchored among fringing reefs off Hook Island. Thanks to Mike's
training (and a GPS anchor alarm down in the cabin, I'll admit) although I can't
say I slept well I was at least secure in the knowledge that I could monitor the
boat's position and knew how to deal w/anchor problems etc. and get the boat
powered up efficiently if things went awry.
Thanks again for helping make it happen!"
Doug Bostrom
Seattle
{Here is} a snapshot of typical Whitsunday conditions while we were
there, seasonally prevalent. Sunny, lovely tradewinds S-SE 15-20 knots. Perfect
sailing conditions!! We were making about 6.5 knots when that photo was taken,
did it all day without a single fault. Swells came w/the deal but who could
complain?
Do you have a dream of sailing? We would love to be a stepping stone for you, as we were for Doug & Kaj. Again, thanks Doug for sharing! We are looking forward to seeing you again!
-San Juan Sailing & Yachting Crew
