Sailing Can Take You Around the World

While most of us sail near home on local lakes or the coast, sailing offers an opportunity to explore the world.  And you do not need to buy an offshore cruiser to do so.

If you open any sailing magazine (or webzine) you know that there are great places to charter a boat all around the world.  You can get a taste of the Caribbean by sailing the BVIs, learn about other cultures by chartering in Greece, Croatia or Italy, explore the San Juan Islands or check out the Great Lakes when it is too hot to sail in Texas. 

Last week, our local club sent a couple of teams to the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta.  This was offered a great opportunity for both teams.  Team Trident (our local ASA Sailing Academy) chartered a Beneteau Oceanis 46.1 to race in the bare boat fleet.  The great thing about this fleet is that they made a one design fleet with 13 charter boats on the line all exactly the same.  The bareboat fleets sail under main and jib only and have full control of their boat.  Being a cruising boats, the boat also have accommodations for 6-8 crew members.  The team finished well, and won the best party team on the island.  We suspected they would take home this award  when we walked into the Yacht Club on our first night and mentioned we were from Texas and was asked if we were sailing with Team Trident by one of the old timers at the yacht club. 

Our team (Scupper Bungy Racing) decided to take a different approach.  We chartered a Ocean 40 class boat designed for Trans Ocean Racing.  We raced against other 40-50 foot race boats that all featured professional crews.  The competition was tough, but we managed to beat a couple of boats.  The boat has a huge 1600 square foot spinnaker which allows it to surf down waves regularly hitting 16 plus knots throughout the week.  Our usual race boat is a Catalina 30, so this was a little different experience.  While the boat does not like going upwind, when we hoisted the spinnaker, it became a great ride. I would highly recommend chartering a race boat.  There are several options.  Just make sure you do some research because we saw a huge difference in the quality of the boats, even the same type of boat.

Both teams got to experience a new world of racing.  New boats, new waters and racing against boats and sailors from around the world.  I would highly recommend that you do this.  If interested reach out to our friends at Trident Sailing Academy, I have a feeling they will be doing instructor led trips back every year.