BVI Sailing Certification

 

Our instructor Maria Powell did a fantastic job of teaching us how to sail in the Caribbean ocean. We had both theory and practical teachings on the boat for 4 days, and the last day, sailed just the 4 of us.

 

Our final destination was a nice pirate boat ( called Willie T's ) full of fun people, where you can have a beer to finish off your day. The next day we brought this boat back to Tortolla in 22 knot winds, reaching about 8 knots of boat speed.

 

After 32 days, the wave motion has not left me, ( hey I must have been a dolphin in a former life ). The feeling is fun, so it doesn't matter how long it takes for it to stop, in fact I hope It never stops.

 

In the process I dropped my iPhone 4GS 32GIG into the ocean ( leaving the Tortolla port ), broke my prescription sun glasses, had my cowboy hat stolen in Puerto Rico, cut my toe during parking practice, went down bare foot 60 feet in the ocean, through out my cigars, gave one of my favourite books called "Les Masques Tombent" from Pierre Morency to Ramin, Met this super doctor Called Dean (foot123.com) on the way back, but most of all had the blast of my lifetime.

 

A beautiful mermaid brought me an iPhone 4S not too long ago. Hey when things go good, it just gets better and better every day. I received an iPod Touch first generation when it had just came out as a Christmas present ( the same beautiful mermaid got that one for me too ). I have always loved the interface. The 4S has a really fun assistant called Siri ( for intelligent assistant ). You talk to Siri, and she talks back!. If you insult her, she will remind you to stay polite. I Asked Siri if she would like to change her name to "Tuby", and she told me that she could not do that. Hats off again to apple.

 

If you want to get a feel, one song was playing often during our sailing : "The Lucky One" by Alison Krauss & Union Station.

 

Some fun things we did : we woke Ramin up one morning with the Boat Bell. Another day we waited watching Craig walk from his bedroom to the head ( bathroom ) and spilled water from above on his head ( we almost got him ). We got a T-Shirt for our teacher, and in the process I negociated and obtained 8 beers for $2 in the pirate boat. This negociation lasted all most a half an hour.

 

I went back to my gym, and while running on the treadmill, it seems to be turning towards starboard side all the time, kind of strange. When I get the pictures from the other people, I will add them to the page.

 

PS I had just stopped smoking not too long before this trip. I used to smoke 2 packs of those green Export "A" every day. Think of it ! I used to spend $7,000 CAD per year on the smokes. I did the entire course on 21mg patches, and with some "opsite" over the patch they held, even swimming in the ocean ( we had several morning snorkling outtings ). As of Dec 19th, I have not smoked about 3,500 cigarettes.

 

If you want I could tell you about a little walk I did in Spain with my brother. It's easy really, you walk 27-30 km every day, repeat for a month, and you arrive at Santiago de Compostela. What a blast that was too!.

 

The last day while sailing to drop off our teacher, I took a few minutes to listen to "The Orinoco flow", or "Sail Away". This closed the loop on a 25 year dream that came true.

 

My iPhone is alive again. I got my old phone number back ! + Siri to work with me and make me and my son laugh.

Special thanks to the Manager of the Apple store in the Carrefour Lavel for his special attention to my iPhone problems !

 

My glasses will be fixed soon.

I will have to drive back up to "Mont-Laurier" to get another cowboy hat, but even with all this, one thing no one can take from me is the fun I had with my Sailmates, and our teacher.

 

 

Thanks for reading :)

More pictures to come shortly. Marc Johnston

I Hope that Ramin is enjoying one of my favourite books : "Les Masques Tombent" from Pierre Morency for his Christmas Hollidays. What a book, what a reflection about your life, Just try it for fun :). You might like it! . By the way Ramin Speaks French, as well as a bunch of other languages. Good Job!

Pierre Morency also says that it is fun to through food in your kitchen without thinking of the consequences. I Agree! and have tried and appreciated it!! Big Time!.

Thank you to all my shipmates for keeping the fun going after the sail, and posting pictures in Flicker.

Merry Crhistmas to all!

Last Update : January 5th, 2012, 10:10 AM.