Chapter

The course

Today, my dad has sprung on me that he enrolled us on a 5 day RYA sailing course. Liveaboard and starting this Sunday.

 

I am mortified. Firstly by the fact that he has requested to do the Day Skipper certificate without any previous tuition, just pure arrogance and conviction that he knows everything. Secondly, considering I have absolutely no knowledge of sailing/yachting vocabulary in English or Russian, interpreting will be a struggle.

He stuck me on the Competent Crew, which seems to be ok for a complete novice such as myself. The thing that worries me the most is the legth of the course…

Now, I’m not proud of this, but I get seasick. Not just a bit, or occasionally, I mean ALWAYS and SEVERELY seasick. The only exception is the aforementioned sailing adventure with my dad, but that was probably down to being slightly concussed.

Apart from that I only had three opportunities to test out my sea legs:

Two ferry crossing, one of which I spent slumped on the floor in recovery position, the other ended in my ex partner wearing my lunch. The other time was on a diving boat – a safari of four sites. I managed to keep upright for the first two and participate in the diving, the other two were below my 30 metre threshold and I spent my time snorkeling or resting on the boat. It was surprisingly ok, mainly due to the breaks I had diving. Unfortunately the weather began to deteriorate, subsequently so did I. The remaining 3 hours of the trip are pretty vague – I was sat at the front of the boat with my upper body and head stuck between the railings, completely incapacitated.

All of the above were for half a day at the most.

FIVE DAYS. I can’t remember dreading anything more than I dread this.

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