Weighing Anchor

Welcome to The Aspiring Yachtsman, a log of my voyage into the world of sailing. Since May 11, 2007, the day I first set foot aboard a sailboat in earnest, I've been hooked. I was mesmerized by the sensation of gliding through the waves with the help of nothing but the wind and a resourceful application of the laws of physics. At the time, I was working at a law firm in London and was only able to make it out on the water a few weekends that first year, racing with the firm's sailing team on a Beneteau 40.7. Towards the end of the summer, my friends and I embarked on a sailing holiday in Croatia, cruising among several of the islands off of Split. We hired a professional skipper to manage the boat, but I set my sights on the day when I would be able to captain such a expedition myself.

I enrolled in the land-based day skipper theory course over the winter, which seemed to unite my interests in mathematics, geography and sailing. The next summer, I once again raced with the firm's sailing team, but was still dissatisfied with the limited amount of time I was able to spend on the water. In March 2009, I headed to Gran Canaria for a Day Skipper practical course and to get my RYA Day Skipper Certification. It was a rough week. I struggled to remember even the basics I had learned in the theory course, and lacked confidence in handling the boat. One of the biggest problems I had was getting a feel for the wind, since hitherto my experience had been limited to pulling ropes and cranking winches as a member of a racing crew. I needed to go back to the basics.

During the past year I have come up with several plans to improve my sailing acumen. Since I am currently out of work, my ideas haven't been limited so much by a lack of time, but rather a lack of commitment. I had considered volunteering as a deckhand on boats in the Mediterranean and South Pacific, joining a sailing club with boat-sharing privileges and even purchasing my own yacht, but each of these ideas fell through. Thus, one year on from becoming a certified, yet woefully inexperienced, Day Skipper, I am no better yachtsman than I was when I left Puerto de Mogan, Gran Canaria.

The Aspiring Yachtsman is my attempt at changing tack in an effort to make more headway in my journey as a sailor. Keeping a log will help to ensure I stay on course. by holding me accountable to my goals. At the moment, those goals are to increase my confidence and abilities on the water, to achieve a greater understanding of the physics of sail power and fluid mechanics, and to spend more time participating in an activity I love. These are modest goals for a start, but no matter my ultimate destination along this journey, any progress I make towards them will add wind to my sails.