A sailing adventure all over the world

As I've always said - learning to sail is a hands on process. You've just got to have you hand on the tiller or the wheel to get the feeling of what a wind gust does to the boat and how to automatically correct it. Like burning data onto a cd, your brain has to be burned in with the feel of the wheel. That's why NauticEd takes care of the theory so you know what is happening, why and how to correct it plus other things like rules of the sea etc. But there is something bigger to learn as well - if you're up for it. That is world cruising, making a passage, sailing in unfamiliar territories. And that is what Seafaring360 is all about. An Adventure - on a GLOBAL scale.


Seafaring360 is for anyone - whether experienced or not. It's a 1/6th sailboat fractional ownership in a Beneteau 57 ft sailboat or Shannon Global 52. The yacht is on a 4 year circumnavigation of the world, stopping in most ports for about 3 months at a time. Owners fly in and use their boat as they wish. There is a full time captain on board to take care of all the details. Thus owners experience levels can range from novice all the way to experienced. Each owner has 8 weeks per year to use their yacht. Owners can either do a passage from one cruising ground to another - or they can just fly in and use the yacht in and around any particular place of their choosing. Or they can make up any combination. For example, an owner may fly in with friends and family use the yacht for a week in Tahiti, then who ever wants to stay on for the crossing to Tonga will stay while the others hang out in a spa for 10 days then fly to Tonga and catch up with the others. And perhaps the group may then cruise the Tongan cruising ground for a week before flying back home.

It gets even better, the logistics of destinations and boat management are handled by a professional team headed up by the Latitudes and Attitudes magazine staff. Their experience and resources is par none in this arena.

If someone wants to immerse them selves in the world of sailing and really experience a sailing adventure at the same time, Seafaring360 is it.

Newbie and wantabe sailors

A few years ago - the phone rang and on the other end was a guy asking me if I could teach him to sail around the world - I had five years to do it before he retired. I said it could be done but he'd need to get started on learning to sail right away.

I got him in a boat in a sailing fractional ownership program because he was new and wasn't sure if sailing was totally for him yet.

Well - actually that was 5 years ago now. Alan doesn't necessarily want to sail around the world anymore but he has done some cool sailing trips including from Fort Laurderdale to Corpus Christi, Texas, The british virgin islands twice, and Croatia.

He is hooked on sailing and is now a pretty competent sailor.

The point of this post is that if some one wants to get into sailing - well - just get started. It's simple - it's certainly fun because you end up sailing to really cool places like the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Pacific and even just out for a nice night sail. And - you get to say that you did something that is a little different.

Speaking of different, in the next post I'm going to talk about adventure sailing with a company called Seafaring360 it's about sailing all over the world.

Power boaters switching over to Sailing

It is happening - slowly but it does happen. One of the big wake up calls this season has been the dramatic increase in fuels prices. I meet people all over who say - "Sailing - that's too much work" or "Sailing - Isn't that difficult". I think this comes largely from other people. Because once on a sailboat with the wind in your face you suddenly realize it. And at the end of the day both the sailboat and power boat end back up in the same place - the marina. Yes the power boat has traveled a further distance but the end point is the same. Yet I tend to think that the end point of the mind is different. Your body and mind naturally have to de-stress on a sailboat.

One of the missions of NauticEd is decrease the intimidation factor of the "learn to sail" stigma. Having to go to a sailing school and sit in a class room is sometimes hard to do time wise. So being able to discover through on-line sailing courses that sailing is pretty simple is simple in it self. Now- however - once the theory and basic theory is down - one must get the practical time through a hands on sailing school. However that it time on the water anyway W5 (which was what was wanted).

I hope that anyone who has hesitated about getting out on the water this season because of the shear cost of it reconsider that boating is right there for them inexpensively through sailing. I spend about $20 in diesel every 6 weeks and I sail actively. Just enough motor power to get out of the marina and pull out the sails.

Come on every one - lets get back on the water - the Icing on the cake of life is time on the water.

New Boaters into sailing

I just returned from the Annapolis boat show and it is comforting to find that so many people were talking to me about getting back into sailing. Some because of the cost of fuel, some because the kids had left and some just because they had discovered how much fun it is though a friend.

I worked on the Beneteau stand where we had an impressive line up of the entire fleet from the Beneteau 31 through the new Beneteau 54. The walkway was quite packed and the party on friday night was certainly elbow to elbow. And despite the economy, there were lots of purchasing of new boats going on. Not quite as many as last year but of similar magnitude.

I worked the Beneteau Fractional Ownership section and I have to say wow! People were really interested in fractional ownership of a sailboat. Fractional sailing has gotten to a point in the industry that people realize it is here to stay and there are some good options. With Beneteau stamping their name on their plan we know that it is not only reputable but has been designed well.

For every new sailor or those who hadn't sailed in a while I introduced them to NauticEd - online sailing courses. It was well received.

Two friends of mine came to the show this year from Austin. we sail together on our fractional ownership Beneteau 373 on Lake Travis. It was their first time to come to a show of such magnitude. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I'd recommend every one to attend the Annapolis sailboat show if you can every October.

Learning to Sail - Practically or theory

Certainly all would argue that learning to sail is a hands on learning requirement. And here at NauticEd, we agree. All the theory in the world won't have you sailing a straight course the first time you're out. However a grounding knowledge in the theory is highly necessary to be ultimately skilled in the art and have a good safety background. NauticEd.org advocates both theory and practical learning. There are many sailing schools that can be found online in anyone's local sailing ground. NauticEd has taken a consistent and quality approach to the theory of sailing by delivering it via online sailing courses and clinics.

Learn To Sail Online Courses

There are a few online sailing courses out there, but none have gone to the level of NauticEd.org. NauticEd uses highly qualified and sailing experienced authors to create the online sailing content. This is the first in blogs that NauticEd will write to provide learn to sail instruction for new and experienced sailors. From Sail Trim courses to weather and bareboat chartering courses, NauticEd has the sailing content. NauticEd also provides an online E-Certificate so that students with passing grades can print out, frame or email to prospective sailing charter companies to prove their theory competency.