Day 2 of the ASA 101 course is supposed to be 80% on the water, and the other 20% is the written exam. But at the start of the day, the wind was so low that we had to postpone sailing for the afternoon.

So the written exam was first. I had a chance to study a bit in the morning, so I did fairly well on the exam. After the exam we headed for lunch, and by 12:30 PM we were on the boat leaving the marina for the bay.

After a bit of cruising around and practicing tacking, we quickly moved to the man overboard drills. Each person had their hand at it, and at the end of my turn lightning began to strike so we started to head back as quickly as we could.

The wind picked up a lot, so we turned into the wind so that we could reef the main sheet to reduce the sail’s power. This is where the importance of knowing the knots by heart really sunk in for me. With a storm coming strong and lightning nearby, securing that mainsail quickly with a series of square knots is critical.

After I guided us to the channel leading to the marina, the instructor fired up the motor and we headed in. Again I was reminded of the knot knowledge, because as I sat down at the bow to lower the jib and secure it to the deck, I must have taken 3 minutes to tie that damn square knot 🙂 And by that time the rain was coming down in buckets. I’m so glad I remembered to bring my fancypants rain coat and then left it in the trunk of my car! Note to self, learn those damn knots!

Anyway in a few minutes we were at the dock, we quickly tied the boat to the dock (again the knots) and ran for shelter, thoroughly soaked through and through.

I passed this certification, but there are two more to go before I can charter a boat on my own – “bareboat” chartering, they call it. (Bareboat means the charter company does not provide any skipper or crew to accompany you) I’m on my way !