AM I TOO LATE?

O.K., I just turned 62-years-old and after 25-years with one company, the last thirteen of which as the General Manager, I find myself unemployed. Well, at least I have my house and a rental property. Oh wait, I owe more than they're worth. Hmmmm. Well, at least I have my 401k; Oh, wait, I had my 401k; it seems to have gone south as well. If I draw that down at the rate my accountant wants me to I'll be able to buy a really nice suit by the end of the year.
So, I do what everyone else does, file for unemployment and look for work. The unemployment went fine, the "finding the work" part less so. While looking for work I got in the habit of stopping at the local Safeway grocery store each morning and getting the paper, a cup of coffee and a bagel.
Everyone kind of got to know me. One day I looked around at the poor homeless people who gathered here, and thought "these are my peeps now"? I've gotta get out of here and do something because the prospect of a job "ain't lookin' none to good".
It's time to live my dream (as I once heard someone say) and go sailing. I could envision it. It became my goal, my sole focus. I've sailed a 25-foot Catalina the past half-dozen years on a high mountain lake in southern Oregon. But I'm talking about real sailing; as in ocean, island-hopping, canal crossing; conch eating sailing.
Where to start? My sailing knowledge has been mostly self-taught. Since Florida and the Caribbean were my intended sailing grounds I wanted to find a sailing school down there. It's a long ways from Oregon, but at least it's warm...or supposed to be anyway.
After investigating a number of schools I zeroed in on the "Offshore Sailing School" at their Ft. Meyers, Florida operation on Captiva Island. They've been doing this since 1964 and I liked their testimonials and I liked the way their courses were laid out. The people who answered the phone were very helpful in talking to me about my skills, my goals and placing me in the right courses. I also liked the idea of the US Sailing certifications offered.
Although I had learned a lot on my own, I thought it best to get the formal instruction by beginning at the beginning. So, I signed up for classes in December and again in January. I've taken the first steps to realizing my dream.

December Classes:
The December classes were for three different courses; "Basic Keelboat", "Basic Cruising" and "Bareboat Cruising". There were only two other students with me so we got plenty of one-on-one attention from the two instructors that shared responsibility for the courses.
The first couple of mornings began with classroom instruction with Ryan as the instructor. Following the classroom work, he took us out on the Colgate 26 that Steve Colgate (Founder of the Offshore Sailing School) designed. Basic parts of the boat, terminology and sailing in the bay were taught. On day 2 we went into the Gulf of Mexico, which was kind of a big deal for me, being from Oregon. In the Gulf we practiced MOB drills, how to hove to and how to use a preventer.
The next five days were spent living aboard a 43-foot DuFour sloop and now Andy joined us as the instructor.
After sailing in the ICW we anchored for the night behind York Island. The next day we continued on the ICW en route to Ft. Meyers Beach, tacking, jibing and practicing more MOB drills.
The weather wasn't quite what I had in mind for Florida. It was freezing. But, we all came prepared and had multiple layers of clothing on so it was bearable. Plus, we were having so much fun no one really cared. That night we put in to Moss Marina at Ft. Meyers Beach to plug in to some electricity to make sure the boat stayed warm.
The next day we sailed around Sanibel Island to Captiva. The winds were calm in the morning when we left and a little overcast. But, by mid-morning the sun was out and a nice breeze allowed us to turn off the motor and sail.
Thursday night we dropped anchor at Cabbage Key. This was one of the highlights of the week. We hopped in the Dingy and motored to the island which sits 38 feet above sea level for some fine dining and great wine. Besides the fact you can only get here by boat, the most unique thing about this lovely resort is all the walls and ceilings are covered with dollar bills. We met some great people, had a lot of laughs and a memorable evening. The resort first opened to the public in 1944. It is very cool.
On the final day, we dropped Captain Andy off and the 3 students took the boat out by ourselves. We sailed in the Gulf all day practicing what Andy and Ryan had taught us that week. My two new friends dropped me off at the airport the following morning to return to Oregon. I was anxious to get home and tell my friends about my trip and at the same time anxious to return in January for my next set of instruction. The January trip sounded exciting, but at the time, I had no idea just how exciting.

JANUARY LESSONS
It was a Tuesday, January 18th that I flew back into Ft. Meyers, Florida for my next set of lessons from the "Offshore Sailing School" founded by Steve and Doris Colgate.
This time I'm going for certifications in "Coastal Navigation" and "Coastal Passage Making". The latter one being the one the students were most looking forward to; overnight sailing in the Gulf of Mexico, hopefully down to Key West!
On Thursday our four-days of navigation school began. Kevin was the instructor. He was great. He had a great sense of humor, took his time to explain everything well and worked individually with anyone who was having difficulty understanding something. He was patient.
The course books the school sends to you in advance of your course were a huge help to me. It had been many years since I sat in a classroom doing algebraic equations and taking tests. Damn. I was crummy at this when I was a kid. And taking tests was never my strong point. There were less than a dozen students in this class. On the fourth day (Sunday) we took our 3-hour test and six of us would continue on for the "Coastal Passage Making" class and board the 43-foot DuFour that afternoon, along with two instructors.
On Monday we spent a good part of the day going through the entire boat; checking bilges, thru hulls, fire extinguishers, on-off switches, galley use, head use, sail inventory, etc. We also discussed where we were going to sail to.
A storm was due within the next 36 hours or so. The Captain and lead instructor, Josh, suggested we head north, towards Tampa. The students really wanted to see Key West and convinced him to sail south. Plus, we reasoned, what better time to learn how to sail in stormy weather than with two instructors on board? Didn't they realize we had no idea what the hell we were talking about?
Late that afternoon we headed down the ICW towards Ft. Meyers Beach where we dropped anchor behind a sheltered island to make dinner. That evening, around 9PM, we weighed anchor and headed out into the Gulf of Mexico, south, towards Key West.
The winds were perfect, with almost a full moon. Our watches were 2 hours on and 4 hours off. My first turn at the helm was around 3AM. I had several layers of clothing on and was nice and comfortable. One of the instructors was with me while everyone else was below catching some shut-eye. About the only thing I remember that first night is how my face ached from the huge smile on my face as I sailed under a bright moon, in the middle of the night in the Gulf of Mexico. Wow! That's what I'm talkin' about.
The next afternoon we landed at Key West. The students decided we'd all chip in the $20 or so and grabbed a slip at Conch Harbor Marina for the night. This way we could easily take a shower and walk into town and see what Key West and Duval Street were all about. It was quite educational for us to dock the boat using spring lines on pylons. We had a great time and most of us were back to the boat at a decent hour. All of us had a taste of Key West and agreed we all would return one day to explore this area again.
Around 9:00 the next morning we had a nice breeze with overcast skies. As we left the harbor a large Coast Guard Cutter was alongside heading out to sea. As I snapped a picture of the ship, I turned to my fellow students and asked if it meant anything that the only other boat leaving this morning is that humongous Coast Guard ship? No one answered.
Our goal was to sail to Marcos Island and spend that night there. It wasn't meant to be.
As we sailed on, the seas grew and the wind picked up. First 2-4 feet, then 4-6 feet. We were bundled up with multiple layers of clothing. Each day, each student had a different job. One day you might be the skipper, the next day the cook, the next day the engineer or navigator, etc. We reefed the main, then reefed again. We all wore our life vests and harnesses attached to a jack line. We lowered the roller-furling genoa to hank on a jib, only to learn it was the same size as the genoa. We took that off and put up a "screecher". This was a light weight, colorful sail about the size of a 150 genoa. That stayed up about five minutes and then it came down and the original roller-furling genoa was put back on.
The wind was howling. The instructors gave us great direction on how to "feather" the boat going up and down the waves and how to cope confidently sailing in these conditions.
It was evening now, and colder. The seas continued to grow and now were more like 4-8 feet with an occasional 10 footer. Around 9 or 10PM I was at the helm and the Captain was with me. We heard a loud bang. A really loud bang. I yelled below if that noise had come from down below. The answer was no. The Captain studied the rigging from the cockpit, then went to the bow of the boat and studied it more. There was no moon to help him. Then he looked at me and yelled, 'tack, tack now, tack".
I tacked the boat and he came back to the cockpit. "What is it?", I asked. "An upper shroud broke", he answered. "We have to stay on this tack to take the pressure off that side of the mast", he explained.
After consulting with the rest of the crew, the navigator suggested we make way to Little Shark River where we can drop anchor and see what to do in the morning. We got into the cove around midnight and we all drew a collective sigh of relief.
Early the next morning we gathered on deck to examine the problem. The upper shroud was dangling against the mast. The pin holding it to the spreaders had broken. One of the students, a farmer from the St. Louis area threw out and idea. We all agreed farmers know how to jury rig just about anything and we should go with his idea. The captain went up in the boson's chair and in a short period of time had fastened the shroud to the spreader with a wrench holding it in place.
We headed out; the seas and wind were still aggressive and we kept one eye on that spreader. We sailed all day and could have made it to Ft. Meyers, but instead the Captain decided to grab a buoy at Ft. Meyers Beach for the night. It was late afternoon and we were all exhausted. Several of us decided we couldn't wait any longer and took a shower on the boat; the others were going to wait until tomorrow when we reached the marina.
That last night on the boat we had dinner and one of the students brought along the movie "Captain Ron". Several of the guys had not seen the movie. The boat had a nice flat screen TV on the saloon bulkhead. So the last night we ate and watched Captain Ron.
The next morning we took our exam as we sailed the 20 miles or so up to South Seas Island Resort where the sailing school is based and disembarked. As part of our package we all had rooms waiting for us at the resort.
That evening several of us gathered for dinner, beers and to celebrate our adventure and new friendship. We all shared a feeling of accomplishment. We departed for our respective homes the next day, much more confident in our sailing abilities and smiles on our faces, each of us already planning our next sailing adventure.
As for me, well I'm letting things sit for a few months as I decide whether to blow my 401k on a boat or to save up and buy a fancy suit. It's percolating in the recesses of my mind. Stay tuned.