Let's move on to the serious stuff now, SAILING! What a week!! I have spent the last 6 days on the boat and really learned so much. The weather has been sunny and warm and a fairly amount of wind as well. I have tried to make out the route we did to make it all very explainable. We went from Gibraltar to Estepona to Sotogrande to Gibraltar a cross to Ciuta and back to Gibraltar. The places has been different and fun to see, not that I went off the boat that much.
It was me and two others attending the course, one doing coastal skipper course (Konrad) and one competent crew (Aleksander) like me. The skipper turned out to be a old military guy who also had spent a great deal of time on submarines. Because of that he had a wide range of experience and know basically everything there is to know. What can be better than that when you have about a thousand questions you want to ask!?
The first day we spent "getting use to the boat" and we had a slow sail upwards to Estepona. The wind was perfect and I came to understand the basic operating of the sails. The weather as well was not bad at all and so I started working on my tan for the summer :) Of course it's not like there is something to do every second after you have rigged the sails and the wind is on the right side - so I have had some time to tan all week! But Chris has also been good at testing us, showing us knots and made stuff happened for us to learn as much as possible.
Second day we practiced tacking for some time and also had "man over board" training more times then I can count for. Going in to Sotogrande I got to see yet another heavy tourist invasion of the sea front and also quite posh, as I have discovered is mostly the cost line here. Third day back to Gib there was not really much wind and so we were on motor for most of the time. Not much work but yet another great day. Heading back in to Gib we passed Europa point and to see the ship that crashed into the rocks due to hard sea. Huge container ship smashed against the shore in strong sea a couple of years back. No body died amazingly enough. They are still cleaning up and trying to remove the wreck piece by piece.
Day number four was very exciting! I suddenly found my self on the way to Africa, fair enough on Spanish territory but still Africa. Strong wind and tide against the wind made a bumpy ride to the other side, perfect for a sailing school! I was steering for about half an hour when it was at it's most rough - and that I must say was heavy for my arms :) Keeping course when it is force 6 was not for kids:) As the sea calmed down a bit and we were closing up on Ciuta and lucky enough to get company by dolphins for ten minutes or so. They came up and jumped in the front of the boat and we were surrounded, what a day!! Arriving in Ciuta I was excited to take my first step of the boat to the new continent, and after all the work was done off to have a beer at a bar. Since I had forgot to put of sunscreen that day and it had been hard work I past and stuck to cola, for a while that is. After dinner me and Aleksander headed off to the casino where I had some drinks and learned how to play Black Jack properly! That was a really fun night. (Don't worry dad, no money spent!). Last day, Friday, me and Aleksander had to fill the dingy (small rubber boat) and take it for a small paddle around in the bay to show Chris we could master it. After lunch we set course for Europa again, but had a strong tide coming in so it took a while. When we reached the other side we practiced anchoring in a bay. Here we stayed for some hours, swimming, eating and sleeping while waiting for it to get dark. Friday evening we had three hours of night sailing to get an idea of how different it is to be out at night. We spent three hours talking about light signals and on a constant look out while going in and out of harbors. Around 11 we headed back in to Gib as a competent crew with a not to nervous coastal skipper at our side. Chris (the real skipper) was mainly watching us and just checking if we could figure it out our self.Today I was very tired waking up, I tend to sleep like a baby on a boat, basically it was a slow morning. We had breakfast and then Chris came over to sign us off. A proper cleaning of the boat took about an hour. Scrubbing the deck and washing, whith ALL the windows closed (Not like yesterday when I was in charge of the washing. Enough about that....! Ehe:)
So, the sailing week is over and it has been a fantastic week. I now have "Basic Navigation and Safety" as well as "Competent Crew" and is even more eager to sail more! Chris sad that he thinks I have enough knowledge to move to Day Skipper if I want to, if I can only collect some more miles. Time will show!
