WE‘RE YACHTMASTERS!!!!

What did you do with your dream?  Did you hold it tight and never tell anyone about it for fear of looking silly?  Did you speak of it in a wishful or imaginative type of way?  Did you make an excuse for why your dream couldn’t come true or lose sight of the path it would take to accomplish?

Or…against all better judgement, against all the doubters, against all fears and apprehensions..did you make your dream become a reality?

If I learned anything during the last three and a half months, it’s been that your dreams may take some work to accomplish…but yes, they are worth doing.

Friday the 13th of December, 2019, seven individuals from different parts of the world celebrated our dream together in a small town in South Africa. After 99 days of living together, learning together, celebrating, and stressing together, we finished what we came here to do, we passed our certification tests as Yachtmaster Offshore Skippers.

Before I came, I wondered about the negative things I had heard concerning the fast track courses.  Things like: “you don’t gain enough experience” or “you come out knowing the basics, but thinking your more ready than you are” or “its not real sailing”.  After completion of the course and looking back on what we all accomplished, I have to admit that, this is more of a starting point than it is an ending point.  Yes we have sailed many miles, and we have had the chance to sail on 3 different 30+ ft boats, and o’ yes, we have seen a bit of what Mother Nature can throw our way.  But, the miles were sailed in mostly the same area, and the boats are all very similar, and Mother Nature only gave us a taste of what she is capable of doing.

This isn’t to say that it was a bad course or that people shouldn’t work their way through the entire syllabus.  On the contrary, the course was great, the instructors and even the examiners taught us so much, and we made friends and contacts that we will keep for life.  I believe that no matter where you are in your sailing experience, taking a course like this (even starting at Day Skipper) is going to teach you things that you may have never learned just sailing a boat or working in a specific industry.  The course, theory and practical, is an invaluable experience.

If you are taking a fast track course, just remember, that it’s a great place to start your education.  Sailing is pretty easy, pull in the sail, point the boat in the right direction, and I bet you move forward.  Learning everything there is to know about sailing though, is a long, and sometimes difficult education that will and should take years to perfect.  After this course, I am a more proficient and much much more confident sailor.  When I was 16, I learned how to drive in a drivers education course.  After which, I was a proficient driver.  During the next 20 years of driving though, I became a really good driver (unless you ask my son).   So, it’s not a matter of, if the education is good or not, it’s just like anything else, it takes time.  Some even believe it’s as much as 10,000 hours to become a master at your craft.

I’m excited to go out and get my own boat again, or work on charters, or even work as a deck hand learning from more experienced sailors.  We speak the same language now, so what they teach will resonate and actually make sense. Now, I know how to apply it.

Apart from that, what we accomplished is something special.  For me, it meant leaving a steady job and a secured life in the US to travel 8,000 miles away from home for an adventure.  For others, it meant a complete change in their careers and still for others, it was something completely unknown and potentially something in which they would have no interest once started.  But we all came, we all worked hard, and we all succeeded.  Now the paths have to be forged.  Each individual that came together to make up our group, now once again, becomes an individual and must figure out how and where they will apply their newly learned skills.  This will be yet another adventure for each of us.

I am proud of what I accomplished, I am proud of the others that were in my group.  Carmen, Michael, Tristan, Allan, Wauter, and Stephan are all great people and I’ll be interested to hear about where they each end up a year from now, or even 5 years from now.  I am sure that they will all have the success that they desire.  As a dad though, I found myself not being able to hold back my emotions when, 4 days after I passed my exam, my son succeeded in also passing his Yachtmaster exam. The joy I felt from that moment he told me the news, far surpasses the excitement or pride I felt from getting through the course myself.  I really do believe, that young man can accomplish anything and I hope that this accomplishment gives him that same confidence. 

I don’t want this to be my last entry. I don’t want to have my adventure come to an end just yet. I have applied for a couple of different positions and I have put my advert up on CrewBay. Maybe in a few weeks, I can write about the process of finding work in the yachting industry and then, with luck, I will continue to write about working in the industry. For now though, the options are staying open, and I am even interviewing for an office job back in Washington DC. To everyone that has completed their Yachtmaster certification, congratulations on your accomplishment, it’s no small feat. To those thinking about taking the chance and signing up for a course, first….do it! But, second, think hard about how much you really know and how much you could gain and learn from a fast track course. Even a seasoned skipper may just find, that these courses aren’t only for beginners.

O’ yeah, and to those who are looking for a Yachtmaster with their Offschore ticket…I know just were you can find one!