Basic Coastal Cruising

My BKS certification allowed me to crew on boats up to 20' (22' at Spinnaker) in moderate wind and sea conditions in familiar locations. I decided I wanted to know more about the boats, navigation, tides, currents, weather conditions, and to be able to skipper a larger boat, not just crew. So I signed up for Basic Coastal Cruising (BCC) classes in July.

I walked in the first day and discovered that Leslie Waters was my instructor again! I was in for some tough love again. By now, I'd run into Leslie a couple of times at club events and knew that all that yelling out on the water was nothing personal. He just wanted me to learn... and learn I did.

BCC was great! We had a great group of people in our class and had a really good time out on the water. Not only did we spend all of our time in the south bay (not in the channel, as we did in BKS), but we went under the San Mateo Bridge and north. That was quite an experience! Because of the strong currents under the bridge, you have to tack 4-5 times to avoid hitting the pilings just to get through. After we got through, Leslie put me at the helm and went down below for a while. "Just stay on course, Cheryl!" Ok...

Leslie came back up and shot these photos of us on the return trip.
Before BCC, I was terrified to get up on deck while the boat was moving. I had challenged my fear to the point where I could stand up by the mast, holding on for dear life, while we were in the channel and the boat was completely horizontal. But Leslie made me reef the main out in choppy water in the bay, heeling at about a 45-degree angle. Everyone cheered for me when I was able to do it! Since then, I'm much more comfortable walking around up on deck... not completely! But I'll go up there and do what needs to be done now without hesitation.

I passed BCC with flying colors on July 22, 2007.