Episode 2 - Basic Cruising Standard

Donna and I took the next step in our sailing training by completing Sail Canada's 5 day liveaboard Basic Cruising Standard course. This course is designed to take people with no experience - like us - and give them the skills they need to sail during the day in familiar near coastal waters. The skills required are broken down into ashore skills (otherwise known as knowledge) and afloat skills (otherwise known as practical abilities) and virtually ALL of them were new to us. But thanks to our patient and capable instructor Gord (check him out at starlightsailing.com) we were successful and are now Sail Canada certified skippers at the Basic Cruising Standard. We completed this course aboard Gord's boat "Starlight", a 32 foot Aloha boat built in Toronto in the 80s. If you're curious about this model you can find more information at https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/aloha-32. She may not be the newest or most luxurious sailboat on the water, but Starlight had everything we needed and by the time we were finished our course we had a definite soft spot for this beautiful boat. Living aboard for five days definitely helped us start to get some ideas of what we want in our own boat when the time comes. The weather was all over the map over the five days, with gale-force wind-driven waves on our first day all the way to warm, sunny, and dead calm conditions on our last. We learned SO much and saw SO much marine wildlife! We were both amazed at how fast the time flew by - and how tired we were by the end of our cruise. Our focus was on learning so we didn't record any of our actual lessons. I am also learning more about what camera equipment I need to record interesting video out on the water. The action camera I have now is fine, but it lacks the image stabilization of newer ones so I've already picked out a replacement for it. I also unfortunately tried using a poor quality ND (neutral density) filter to help with overexposure on it and while the video looked fine on the camera's screen, once I imported it to my computer I could tell that it is yellowish and hazy. I've thrown that ND filter away and will make some other adjustments in the camera to improve exposure. Finally, I've realized that I need something better than my phone to record wildlife video. I haven't quite figured out what will work best for me in that department yet, but I have a few ideas. Just like we're learning how to sail, we are also learning how to tell our story through video. We'd really appreciate any comments you have, whether they are words of praise or constructive criticism. We're SO excited about this new adventure in our lives and we want to share it with you in a way that is meaningful, so we thank you in advance for helping us to do that. We can't say enough positive things about our instructor Gord. This is **NOT** a paid endorsement! We happily paid full price for our course and feel like we got our money's worth from Gord's calm but thorough instruction. If you are considering sailing or if you've even just wondered what it would be like, check out his day sailing opportunities or his more structured educational opportunities over at starlightsailing.com. Finally, we want to acknowledge the good work and advocacy that the folks over at Sail Canada provide. Their structured approach and easy-to-navigate website helped us figure out what training we wanted to do AND who we could connect with to complete that training near us. Check them out at sailing.ca if the sea is whispering your name. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:43 Sooke Harbour to Cadboro Bay 3:10 Cadboro Bay to Sidney Spit 9:05 Sidney Spit to Victoria Harbour 13:03 Victoria Harbour to Pedder Bay 17:24 Pedder Bay to Sooke Harbour 24:19 More about Sail Canada