Ahoy!!

Today I went to the 1st "Curso de Vela" in Concon at the Yacht Club.


(the yacht club)

The day started with Scarlett and I meeting in the center of Vina to take out the money necessary to pay for the class - which would end up being about $100 USD.

After visiting the bank on Av. Valparaiso, we tried to find a micro (bus) that would take us to Concon along the water, so that we could get off at the right place. After asking a couple of drivers, we finally found one, where the driver assured us that his micro would take us there.

We rode through Vina, through Renaca, and when we were the only ones left on the micro, the driver told us that he had forgotten to tell us when to get off. We hadn't been driving by the ocean, so we had no idea where to get off. He told us that we would need to catch a micro back in the same direction to get there. (Since micros are privately owned and not run by the government, the drivers always want you to get on their bus, which means they will basically tell you that they are going where ever you need to go).

We had no idea where we were or where we were going, so we figured we would walk along the ocean road - since it would be more likely that the club would be along there than up in the hills somewhere. After popping into an empanada shop to make sure that we were going in the right direction and that it was too far to walk, we knew that we had to catch a micro.

Only 20 minutes late, the other students were already learning how to rig the dingy. Two boats went out with two experienced sailors and two novices while the rest of us jumped in a motor boat to follow, watch and learn. Two by two, the people in the boats were switched out, and we were thrown into learning to sail.


(some of the boats... but not the ones we sailed on)

Luckily, I was last and got to sail with the most experienced sailor there. After about two minutes in the boat, we caught some wind and I almost fell into the freezing water, and I probably would have if Mr. Experienced Sailor didn't know what he was doing and pull me to the other side of the boat.


(my extremely wet pants from various incidents in the boat)

Adding to sitting in a lake in the boat, every time the boom hit, I would duck under it, as you are supposed to. But, since my life vest was ripped and the foam was coming up above my head, I would get stuck on the boom. Very annoying and very frustrating. I was probably only in the boat for 7 minutes or so before time was up and we had to go back in.

Needless to say, I was quite upset. I was wet, cold, frustrated, and hadn't really done any sailing.

And then I thought, it is probably not worth it. The $100 dollars that I would spend on these lessons could probably be better spent in another way. Adding to that, I chose not to have classes on Fridays so that I could go places and do things, and if we have these classes on Fridays, the whole idea is defeated.

I think sailing lessons are a no.


(the continuing adventures of [E]Scarlett and Kristina)