You’ll leap off the bow and feel the warm water. It is not as refreshing as you would like because the water is warm but it is invigorating. The crystal clear water will envelop you and when you surface, you’ll look back at the boat. Your sense of accomplishment will come from understanding that you can sail that vessel. Your time spent learning to sail in the British Virgin Islands will afford you the ability to dream of one day being able to do it alone.
Your British Virgin Islands learn to sail vacation might take you to North Sound to sail what looks like a large pond reserved for sailing instruction or you’ll dart between islands and learn the art of tacking into the wind while watching megayachts that seem to ignore the rules of the water. Your man overboard drills will be honed off the coast of Spanish Town in the shadow of the Baths.
It’s the middle of January and you may be suffering from the winter blues but a group of ASA members is sailing on Arabella in the British Virgin Islands. You might be a bit envious when you see what they are up to right about now.
However, you should know that you could be doing the exact same thing. Take look at https://asa.com/arabella/ to find a trip that fits in your schedule.
For now, live vicariously through a few images of what life is like right now aboard Arabella in the British Virgin Islands.
Raising the Sails on Arabella
Guests aboard Arabella can help with getting the yacht ready to sail or they can sit back and let the crew hoist the sails. In this case, you can see that all hands were on deck. As we left Soper’s Hole, West End, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, most of the passengers helped with the sailing. From hoisting the sails to taking a turn at the helm.
Soper’s Hole, West End, Tortola, BVI
The view of Arabella’s rigging from the bow
Scrub Island
North Beach, Scrub Island
A quick walk from the dinghy dock and the main entrance to the Scrub Island Resort, North Beach is a Caribbean paradise. Clear warm water and cold Island drinks. Don’t forget the cracked conch and the conch fritters at the One Shoe Beach Bar.
The Painkiller With a View at the One Shoe Beach BarThe View from Donovan’s Reef Restaurant at Scrub Island Resort
North Sound
Virgin Gorda: The Baths
The Baths at Virgin Gorda can be impressive when they are not bombarded with tourists. The secret is to keep left on the trails and go away from the crowds. These quiet beaches had very few people on them even though most of the site was crowded. The tip is to get to the Baths as early as possible.
Exploring a Cave at The Baths
Cooper Island
The Patio at Cooper Island Beach Club
The quaint, boutique Cooper Island Beach Club is perfect for an afternoon off the boat. While some guests went snorkeling, a few hit the rum bar which boasts the largest rum collection in the Caribbean. 280 rum choices waiting for you to spend an afternoon with them.
Jost Van Dyke
White Bay is home to the Soggy Dollar Bar as well as numerous beachside restaurants. There is no dinghy dock so you have to get wet if you are coming ashore.
Tom Tursi holds a USCG 100-ton Ocean Masters License, is an ASA Certified Sailing Instructor and a part owner of the Maryland School of Sailing and Seamanship. He teaches navigation and offshore courses, and establishes school sailing programs and policy. He is the author of instructional texts, including two adopted by ASA, Coastal Navigation & Piloting used for the ASA105 course level and Docking Techniques used for the ASA118 Docking Endorsement. Tom is a lifelong sailor, owning a number of different racing and cruising sailboats, and has completed over 70,000 miles of blue water ocean sailing throughout the world in addition to extensive coastal cruising.
The American Sailing Association is the largest sailing education organization in the world. Sure, there are over 400 schools and 7000+ instructors. Yes, ASA is part of a community of sailors who are advocates for the health of our world’s oceans. Over 500,000 people have learned to sail with ASA, but why should YOU be a member?
ASA members get discounts from Dream Yacht Charters on sailing charters in over 60 locations worldwide. Your membership can save you as much as $600 on a bareboat charter. Do the math. You are making money by being an ASA Member!
If you travel or sail or enjoy the ocean, you’ll appreciate DAN Boater. ASA members receive an astounding 50% discount on a family membership. You and your family have access to emergency services through DAN Boater. DAN offers its members a medical information line, a 24/7 emergency hotline, worldwide medical evacuation and repatriation services, search and rescue expense coverage and more. Your ASA membership discount gives you peace of mind.
ASA members save on SailFlow and iNavX. What does that mean? With SailFlow you get access to exclusive pro-weather stations and professional meteorologist forecasts to help plan your sail, be it a long passage or a daysail. iNavX allows you to navigate directly from your mobile device with the #1 rated Chartplotter on the market. Here are two more discounts that pay for your ASA membership.
ASA members are informed. Not only do you receive the monthly American Sailing Journal that is chock full of sailing stories, sailing tips and sailing vacation ideas, you also save on sailing publications. Sailing Magazine and Cruising World deeply discount their magazine subscriptions to ASA Members.
You no longer have to dream of sailing; you can get out and do it! ASA sponsors and organizes sailing events for its members all over the world. As an ASA member, you get special pricing on these sailing excursions as well as an opportunity to connect to a global community of sailors. The GoSailing app connects you with sailors in your area, our Facebook groups help you become social, and our events introduce you to more ways to get out on the water.
Enough reasons to be an ASA member? Maybe not. Let’s talk about sailing excursions on the Mega Sailing Yacht, Arabella, a 157 foot, three-masted luxury sailing vessel. Exclusive ASA member tours are available to you. Join us and tour the British Virgin Islands or explore the waters of New England.
We can’t forget to mention some ASA member direct benefits like discounts on Weems and Plath gear and West Marine purchases as well as gear in the ASA store. If that is not enough, ASA members also save on instructional videos that supplement your sailing education.
As a kid, I never sailed. I lived close enough to the ocean that people I knew would go there, but my working-class father never really saw it fit to head to the shore for a day at the beach. He certainly did not need to be on a boat. “I have legs that work perfectly fine on land. I don’t have fins. I don’t need to be surrounded by water.” These were common refrains by my landlubbing father.
Fast forward to me becoming a father, and times have changed. While dating my future wife, we would eye sailboats and talk about “one day” becoming boat owners. We sailed on boats in Mexico, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. It was only a matter of time before we were the proud owners of a 1977 Catalina 27. It also meant that our family would be boat people. When our family expanded to three and then to four, it meant that we would have more hands on deck.
Happy New Year! You know what that means, this is the year that you will be productive and resolve to do everything you have ever wanted to do. We are sailors so no resolutions about losing weight or reading more or even being nicer to your in-laws. Instead, sailors make sailing resolutions and we are destined to finally make a New Year’s resolution list that we will adhere to.
Considering a sailing vacation is often just a far off fantasy for plenty but once you obtain the confidence through your sailing education it feels like a charter boat is that much closer to becoming a reality.
Have you obtained ASA 101, ASA 103, and ASA 104? Are you confident in your ability to head out and bareboat charter?
Being on the water is in Anne Alberg’s DNA. Her great-great-grandfather Anders Persson’s boat is displayed in the harbor in Boren, Sweden. Beginning with several boating vacations to Desolation Sound in British Columbia around the age of 10, Anne has dreamed of sailing to faraway places like the South Pacific, Croatia, Myanmar and Belize. Sailing to Captain Anne has always been about freedom, adventure, exploration and discovery. In addition, it is a captivating and magical feeling being at the helm connecting as one with yourself, the boat and the wind. Anne also loves the social side of spending time with like-minded people sharing stories, learning from their experiences and connecting over their mutual love of sailing.
