"Who Sailed The Boat?"

Our trip to the islands consisted of chartering a 40’ sailboat on which we stayed while island hopping. By far, the number one question has been, “Who sailed the boat?” Since many of my friends know very little about sailing this is a legitimate question. It’s how the conversation goes that I struggle to understand. Here’s an example:

Me: “Yea, we just got back from a short sailing trip where we chartered a boat …
Other person: “Wow! That’s cool! Who sailed the boat?
Me: “We did. You see, I grew up sailing, and its just something I’ve really always know how to do….”
Other person: “Cool, but who sailed the boat?”

This is where I get a bit confused. After studying communication intensely for four years, I feel as though I am loosing the art of it.

Me: “We did. We chartered it from a company, loaded some food and our stuff, and away we went...”
Other person, “Yeah but who sailed it?!”

I thought I would take this entry to explain how sailing, and then bareboat chartering works. First, sailing.

To sail you really need 4 things. Namely, you need a sailboat. After that, you need a captain, or someone with some reasonable sailing experience. Then depending on the size of boat, it’s easier if you have reasonably sober crew (this can be as simple as 1 other person). Lastly, to get anywhere, you need some wind.

Got those four and you are ready to go sailing. First getting on a sailboat the things you see can be a bit overwhelming for the inexperience. But it’s really not complicated.

Here’s a quick summary on boat identification. The simplest boats have two sails: A main sail, this is the sail over the back of the boat, and a Jib sail, the sail in the front. All sailboats have a large metal vertical pipe in the center. This is the mast. It’s used to hold the vertical side of the main sail. Off of the mast extends a horizontal steel pipe: The boom. This holds the bottom of the main sail. There are some steel cables on the sides, front, and back. They keep the mast from falling over and are called shrouds (side cables) and stays (front cables). There is a rudder. This steers the boat, which on big boats is attached to a steering wheel. Turn the wheel left, the boat goes left, turn the wheel to the right right, and, well, I think you get it. Lastly, that there are some ropes. Only the ropes have names and can be categorized as a halyard, a sheet, or a line.

Here are the very basics of sailing. You use a halyard to hoist your sails. HALYARDS hoist. That’s all they do. After your sails are up, you are done with halyards. Now that the sails are up you steer the boat where you want to go and use the sheets to adjust the sails accordingly. Each sail has its own SHEET, so there is a Jib SHEET and a Main SHEET. Releasing the sheets, lets the sails extend outward for sailing downwind. Pulling on the sheets, pulls the sails closer to the boat for sailing upwind. Because sails have to be filled in order to get anywhere, the only direction you can not sail is directly in toward the wind.

When you get where you are going, you release the HALYARDS, the sails fall down, and the boat stops. Drop the anchor attached to the anchor LINE, the boat becomes secure and now you are ready for a rum drink (one of the most important parts of sailing).

Sure, as you get better, there’s more to learn, but you could reasonably start to sail with the information above.

Once you get some experience under your belt, you can charter (rent) boats from individuals or charter companies. You pay some money, they turn over the boat to you for an agreed upon time, and away you go. If that sounds a bit overwhelming to you, then you can arrange to charter with a captain. In which case a captain will join you and your group and, well, he will sail the boat.

The Caribbean is perhaps one of the easiest places to sail. The water is deep, so there is nothing (or at least very little) to run into. There is always good wind, and the islands are spaced so you never lose sight of land (imagine a big lake).

That’s that. Let me know if you want someone to take you sailing!