The Practical.

Five of us from Argo flew off from Tortola to St. Maarten to do our IYT Practical training and exam. Intense, to be sure. The six days here were broken down as such: first day: paperwork, arrive at boat and get oriented as well as store the provisions. second day: instructor arrives, more paperwork and discussions, orientations, and Hey, let's go sailing! This is in 25+ knots of wind. And out of one crazy-ass channel.

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We made our way out into the Atlantic and headed over to Ile Fourche and picked up a mooring for the night. This is also where we (I) lost our boathook (used for picking up moorings and such...). Also, we'd noticed the headsail was coming off the furler, as well as our furler was giving some bad warping feedback on spinning, so Mel (our instructor) went up aloft in a jury rigged boatswain's chair (yes, those knots do come in handy!) to do some metal bending at the top of the mast.

Day three: we did a lot of mooring practice in Ile Fourche, then headed out to Marigot (back to the Island of St Maarten). We hung out there for the evening. Day Four: we sailed over to Anguilla, enjoyed a first rate squall, and practiced our anchoring. Day Five: we got an early start and headed back to Marigot to clear back in through customs/immigration, then over to Oyster Pond to practice docking. Day Six was to be the big exam day, and nerves were a bit high. Day Six: exam day - weather's nice, we all did well and passed, but it was pretty difficult. More on that another time :).