{"id":730,"date":"2016-02-14T20:50:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T01:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/?p=730"},"modified":"2016-02-14T21:00:28","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T02:00:28","slug":"a-business-trip-to-antigua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/?p=730","title":{"rendered":"A “Business Trip” to Antigua"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathleen started to think about getting more training to improve her confidence. \u00a0We both have Sail Canada Basic Cruising along with radio, survival, first aid and navigation qualifications. \u00a0I had been researching the training and testing for RYA Yachtmaster<\/a>\u00a0but I had not formed any plans to get there. Kathleen talked to me \u00a0about nipping off for a week’s sail training as I was too busy at work. \u00a0She made the excellent point that we are in process of investing a lot of money in a refit for the boat, but we had not invested much in the crew over the last year. \u00a0She was right of course. \u00a0I looked at my work schedule and freed up some time as we started to research some options. \u00a0We found a couple of options for RYA training in the Caribbean and sent of some emails and landed on Miramar Sailing<\/a>\u00a0in Jolly Harbour, Antigua. \u00a0 We signed up for a skills building clinic as we did not know where in the RYA scheme we could slot in.<\/p>\n

\"17-2016-02-11<\/a><\/p>\n

We joined the boat, Miramar, a Benateau Oceanis 400<\/a>\u00a0and met our instructor – Ian Grant<\/a>\u00a0and our fellow student Anna<\/a>. \u00a0Anna was starting the second week of a three week boot camp with Miramar. \u00a0Coming to sailing as an experienced sea kayaker she was gamely eating the elephant that learning to sail big boats is, almost from scratch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"2016-02-14<\/a><\/p>\n

The west coast of Antigua is a great place to sail, with many bays and harbours to play with. \u00a0Ian talked to us about what we wanted to get out of our time on the boat. \u00a0For Kathleen, practice, skills and confidence building. \u00a0For me, the same with feedback on where in the RYA scheme I could slot in. \u00a0For us, to build our confidence in each other and to improve our communication as we sail.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>

What could possibly go wrong?<\/p><\/div>\n

Ian’s natural teaching style and our needs meshed really nicely. \u00a0He quietly assessed where we were and pushed us both forward with challenges, often preceded with his catch phrase “What could possibly go wrong?”. \u00a0When we had a skill in hand he would move us forward to the next level or discuss the requirements at Yachtmaster level to put the exercise into context. \u00a0We practised man overboard (the less political correct version of the Canadian “crew overboard”) to the level where Kathleen and I could demonstrate solo MoB recovery. \u00a0 The resulting tracks are entertaining…<\/p>\n

\"2016-02-14<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

We worked on skills as a crew, a couple and individually. \u00a0Ian was patient and thorough with all of us. \u00a0As the week progressed I started to work towards the RYA Coastal Skipper Practical Certificate. \u00a0We knocked off the requirements and Ian threw me some practical challenges. \u00a0Be warned if you sail with Ian, the boat suddenly becomes very unreliable. \u00a0By the middle of the course Ian and I had agreed on my weak spots and I set about practising those skills, including the boating equivalent of a three point turn in a very tight dock where the only thing of value was the tender of a superyacht. On Thursday I noticed that Ian was starting to test Kathleen on various skills. \u00a0He did this in a way that she was not even aware of and it was very cool to see her respond to the moving expectations easily and comfortably. \u00a0Before long Kathleen was polishing off the last requirements of Day Skipper. \u00a0Guess who gets to service the engine next time!<\/p>\n

\"Kathleen<\/a>

Kathleen learning the art of diesel maintenance<\/p><\/div>\n

The course was beyond our expectations, Ian was amazing, Anna was fun and learned so much and Michael, one of Ian’s former Yachtmaster students, was a great reference for Ian’s Yachtmaster Prep course. Now Yachtmaster Off-Shore seems in reach for me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Crew after a busy and successful week.<\/p>\n

Both Kathleen and I are now able to get an International Certificate of Competency, the standard required to charter in much of the EU and other Mediterranean countries. \u00a0In the Sail Canada scheme, Day Skipper maps to Intermediate Cruising and Coastal is similar to Advanced Cruising. \u00a0\u00a0RYA, the Royal Yachting Association, is the UK sailing authority. \u00a0RYA Yachtmaster maps to the Offshore level, however the Yachtmaster qualifications can be commercially endorsed and have wide international recognition. \u00a0Overall the RYA Yachtmaster scheme is highly professional and accessible with many training centres, including two in Canada. \u00a0At the time of writing this post, Sail Canada Offshore Standard courses are not available. \u00a0For me the choice to switch away from the Sail Canada scheme to RYA is a simple one, I can get the training and it will be recognised.<\/p>\n

\"1-2016-02-14<\/a><\/p>\n

So a week in the Caribbean in the middle of winter sounds like a vacation, but we worked hard and we achieved a lot. \u00a0The effort was to make our future better, that sounds like a business trip to me, even if we had a great time.<\/p>\n

Overall a fantastic week and we are looking forward to returning to Antigua on Kinship in January or February next year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OK, I guess a week in great weather was good too…<\/p>\n

\"Token<\/a>

Token vacation picture, yes the sea is that blue<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathleen started to think about getting more training to improve her confidence. \u00a0We both have Sail Canada Basic Cruising along with radio, survival, first aid and navigation qualifications. \u00a0I had been researching the training and testing for RYA Yachtmaster\u00a0but I had not formed any plans to get there. Kathleen talked to me \u00a0about nipping off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training"],"amp_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=730"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":750,"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730\/revisions\/750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eglin.net\/2bikes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}