We Go Baja Sailing

Episode 7 We Go Baja Sailing

In case you missed the tweet by an NBC “reporter” in Phoenix, we bought a boat. A sailboat. Not sure why he thought it was news, but what do we know!

The real news? We didn’t know how to sail! In episode 2, we shared our first learning experience aboard SV Akani with Matt from Catamaran Guru. We worked hard before our week living aboard and we passed the rigorous practicals required by the Royal Yacht Association (RYA). We aced our final exam and earned our RYA Day Skipper certification. But no matter how tough that course was, one week was not nearly enough for us to feel comfortable sailing American Honey on our own. So we headed south of the border for another week of American Sailing Association (ASA) training with Go Baja Sailing. Captain Chris led our band of 7 pollywogs on a seafaring adventure that included class work each morning, experiential learning through the afternoon, written tests by 4 PM, and anchoring just in time for Happy Hour. Our classmates, Claudia & Peter, were from Switzerland (and are now roaming the world in a converted military vehicle – follow them on social @dubu_and_more). Scott and Cathy from the great state of Washington had a lot more sailing know-how than the rest of us and really helped all of us thrive on board. A solo lady who had relocated to Tucson from The Northwest also joined our escapades because her friends scheduled a charter on a monohull with Go Baja Sailing, but they didn’t have the space to add one more guest, but luckily we did!

SV Manta is a 43 foot Fontaine Pajot catamaran based in La Paz, Mexico. Each week she is steered out into the beautiful Sea of Cortez by a seasoned captain and his or her students. The boat had some nautical miles on it, that’s for sure! We learned how to make a broken traveler and traveler car work so we could trim our jib effectively and ride the great wind almost every day. We had very limited cell service and we weren’t always sure if we’d be able to charge our devices. Captain Chris was very conscientious about water use – so much so that he forbade us from taking showers in either of the two heads, but we made due quite nicely by showering off at the back of the boat when needed. We snorkeled, paddleboarded, kayaked, and did dinghy duty each afternoon and evening. On the two nights we didn’t cook dinner on the boat, we found a couple of great little restaurants on the beach and had scrumptious shrimp tacos and great company - all with our toes in the sand.

At the end of the week, we celebrated 7 successful completions of ASA 101, 103, 104, and 114. We said goodbye to our new friends and Mexico and traveled back to Arizona still dreaming of American Honey’s arrival!

Follow us on FB & Instagram:
https://www.facebook.com/SailAmericanHoney
https://instagram.com/sailamericanhoney?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Want to know more about what’s mentioned in this episode? Check out these links:

https://twitter.com/brahmresnik/status/1633206175423684608?s=46&t=SYBCfGukK15pWIFsgwLpKA
Go Baja Sailing https://gobajasailing.com/
Follow Claudia & Peter https://www.instagram.com/dubu_and_more/
Charter American Honey www.SailAmericanHoney.com (email us at the link on the website)
American Honey branding (yes, that cute mermaid with an Old Fashioned) https://whiskeyginger.com/
Catamaran Guru https://catamaranguru.com/
Link to American Honey on Cruise Abaco site https://cruiseabaco.com/boat/american-honey/