Something knotty, and a new launching

In addition to my 100 ton license, I also have a Yachtmasters license. In the US the coast guard is recognized as the standard in licensing, but in Europe, Yachtmasters is what they focus on. We charter from time to time in Europe, so I wanted a Yachtmasters license. Their training is quite different from the Coast Guard courses. Whereas the coast guard focuses on book learning, and rules of the road, the Yachtmasters program has a significant component which is “on the boat” training. Yachtmasters is a more “hands on” course. I negotiated with an instructor from San Diego to come to Cabo to give my training. However Yachtmasters requires that your teacher can not do your testing. So, I had to pay for a second person, a tester, to come to cabo, to go out on the boat with me. On the first day of my Yachtmasters training I told the instructor that I wanted him to spend a lot of time on knots. I confessed that it was an area that I was weak in, and wanted to master. Then we did our 10 days of intensive training, including four days at sea, including a night passage, and arriving in port after dark (without instruments). Then came testing. The tester also did sea trials with me, and then finished by saying “OK – let’s run through your knots.” Oops! The instructor and I had gotten so busy we had never talked about knots. I was sunk. The first think the tester did was to tie a knot at the end of a rope, lie the knotted end of the rope on the ground, drag the rope along the floor, and ask “What knot is that?” I was dumbfounded, and suspected a trick question. After sweating for a few minutes I confessed defeat. “A dragon knot” he said. Now I realized I was being had! He was having fun with me, and went on to do about 10 more silly knots, all of which I wish I could remember, and none of which I can. I realized I must have passed, or we wouldn’t be having fun. Yay! Which is all a long way of introducing this link, which I just discovered (actually someone else posted it on the Nordhavn owners group). If you’d like to polish your knot skills, I think you’ll like it.

Second Nordhavn 68 – Grace of Tides (http://www.graceoftides.com/)

And, on a completely different topic: I’m very pleased to announce that the second Nordhavn 68, David Sidbury’s boat, was just delivered, and David just completed a 390 mile passage off the coast of Florida. Congratulations to him! We’re going to fly back at the end of July to take a tour.