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thanks to steady winds and temperatures points and ports while factoring in tidal
ranging from around 70 into the 80s, with flows, compass diviations and directions
low humidity. using charts and almanacs.
By comparison, it can be much hotter And, of course, we sailed. Lots. On one
and more humid in the Mediterranean dur- lovely afternoon, we were accompanied by
ing the summer. And winter is cold in the several pilot whales and at least three pods
Med. of dolphins that played in the wake of our
“Likewise, we’re reaching out to sailing sailboat and even appeared to be surfing
clubs in North America because our re- the waves off our stern.
search shows that conditions in North Fortunately, we were not accompanied
America can also be muggy with marginal or bothered by any pesky orcas, which - at
winds at times in places like the East Coast least up around the Strait of Gibraltar -
and Midwest,” he said. “Better yet, there have been bumping sailboats. And in at
are direct flights from Newark to the Ca- least a few cases, actually bitten off rud-
naries this summer.” ders.
After a welcome dinner the first night at On our second night, we sailed to San
the Sakura Tieppanyaki Japanese restau- Sebastian on La Gomera, where I found two
rant, I bunked down on my vessel - a 37- statues celebrating Columbus. One of them
foot Bavaria dubbed the Bonni 1 - for my depicted him holding up a globe, while in
Day Skipper course. Which, if I passed, the second his face appeared to be weirdly
would qualify my to hire a boat from many melting.
charter companies around the globe. We dined that night at a seafood
My crew mates for that first week were restaurant called El Pajar after having
a British couple, a young woman from Van- drinks in a small plaza under giant ficus
couver, British Columbia who worked in Mu- trees. It rained hard during our meal, with
nich and her boyfriend, a fellow from drops pattering on a corrugated roof.
Liverpool, England. As I drifted off to sleep that night, I
Our captain was Michele (pronounced mused that La Gomera might be a nice
Mee Kay Lah) Giordano, an Italian origi- place to buy a sailboat, moor it in the San
nally from Turin who had worked for a wine Sebastian marina, live on it for a year while
company in London. But he’d burned out studying Spanish, taking guitar and pottery
and become a sailing instructor in the Ca- lessons, writing and sailing to my heart’s
naries during the winter with Canary sail. content. But if I did that, I might never re-
And then during the summers in Croatia turn to Wisconsin…
with another outfit. The next morning, I dined on muesli, yo-
“My job became too corporate and I got ghurt, a small portion of cheese omelette
tired of sitting in an office too much of the and chatted with a Welsh/Finnish family
time,” he said. “Being outside and teaching with two small boys who were living on
sailing is much better.” their boat. We spent the day sailing along
During our week on the Bonni 1, we the southern coast of La Gomera - where
learned to prepare the yacht and a crew nudists lived in caves - and practiced an-
for a multi-day trip, pilotage, seamanship choring and other nautical skills before re-
and how to safely depart from and dock in turning to the San Sebastian marina for the
the marina. We also worked on our crew night.
overboard skills, plotting a course to way- On the third day, our crew spent an hour
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