CREW STORY · 15 May 2015 · BY Dmitry Badiarov
Borrowed Miles
Before I ever skippered a yacht myself, I sailed under quite a few people who already did. Looking back, I suspect I borrowed a little from every one of them.
| DatesFrom / To | VesselClass, size, tonnage | VoyagePorts visited, capacity in which sailing | Days on board | Distance logged | Night hours | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 May 2015 – 15 May 2015 | Yacht Wissel | Enkhuizen - Hoorn - Volendam - Lelystad; crew | 3 | 35 NM | — | Force 3 (7–10 kt) |
From the member's personal logbook.
Some passages are wild. Others barely seem to move at all. This was one of the slow ones. It was my ninth passage, only two more before I would qualify as a skipper myself. Looking back, those miles turned out to be far more valuable than the number itself suggests. Especially after my first attempt, which had been a complete disaster and left me with rather more self-doubt than confidence. People often ask where to get a skipper's licence. Or what they should know before the practical exam. Or how to manage a crew. I don't think any of those are the right questions. Any school of sailing can issue a license. Every skipper has strengths and blind spots. Every crew notices different things. Every boat and every voyage teaches something the previous one didn't. This passage was under the command of a friend with whom I would later share many more miles, including one of my favourite voyages around the Mull of Kintyre and through Scotland's Crinan Canal a couple of years later. Looking back, I probably learned as much from the people as from the sea. The theory course teaches you the Rules of the Road. How to handle the boat. Weather. Safety. And an incredible amount more. Experience teaches you when and why to use it. Crew—like the captain on this voyage—teaches you to find humour in almost everything. Even in the moments that don't seem funny at all. Experience never arrives all at once. It accumulates, passage after passage, skipper after skipper, conversations around one cup of tea after another shared with trusted crew in the cockpit during a voyage. So whenever somebody asks me how to get a skipper's licence, I usually give a rather disappointing answer. Go sailing. Then go again. And again. Not because you cannot get a license without prior experience, but because theory alone does not replace ten thousand cups of tea—sometimes with a splash of salt—in the cockpit. After ten thousand cups you can get your licence wherever you like. So, don't wait until you feel experienced before skippering a boat. Experience doesn't come from sitting on the couch. It comes from taking responsibility before you feel completely ready. The sea is the best teacher. And a trusted crew can go a long, long way.