If learning to sail is like riding a bike, I’m in the phase where you fall off and get your knees scuffed.

The wind adds a dimension of complexity to sailing that is only hinted at in the RYA Day Skipper Theory course. In theory you can chart a course to sail but the wind might have other ideas.

This week I’m going to spend mastering the basics of sailing – tacking, and gybing. I am going to try to ace the RYA Competent Crew course as opposed to slogging through the RYA Day Skipper course, and making myself miserable. This decision was not without some disappointment, but it comes as a welcome relief from feeling rigid, sweaty, and stressed that our crew was about to crash onto some rocks or a reef.

I’m going to have fun this week. I’m in Antigua. Dolphins swam under our bow today. We’re anchored at Hermitage Bay tonight. I’m using WIFI, on my laptop and it’s quite naughty of me because it’s so picturesque. Later, we’ll be having a fabulous supper on the boat. I might sleep on deck.

It won’t be long before I’m living aboard full time, and the course requirements for RYA Day Skipper won’t seem beyond my reach.