Coastal Cruising and Bareboat Charter Certifications Part 3 of 3

Part 3 of Coastal Cruising and Bareboat Charter Certifications is a continuation of the blogs from Monday and Tuesday, of this week.

First thing Friday morning, we had our Bareboat Charter exam. After the exam and a short discussion with Kathy, we were out sailing. This time Kathy (the instructor) was just along for the ride. Since I was navigator today, she had given me a couple of points that we needed to visit and times ranges for the visits. It was up to me to get us there. This was our opportunity to demonstrate how much we had learned over the week and Kathy was not disappointed! Kathy had a couple of surprises for us along the way (i.e. man-overboard drills). We also got hands on experience filling the fuel tank and pumping out the holding tanks. Once we were back at the home marina, we packed up the left-over provisions, consolidated the dirty linens, and cleaned the inside of the boat (just like we would have to had done if we had charted the boat for the week).

That was it. We all said our goodbyes and I drove home to my family. What a great week and a great class! I felt comfortable in my sailing skills before the class, but now I feel like we can go coastal cruising anywhere! This class not only taught me new skills like weather, navigation, but it also honed my point-of-sail, sail trim, and man-overboard skills. I would recommend the class to anyone who wants to go coastal cruising.