The first snow has come. And, thankfully, gone. The boat is under wraps in the boatyard. Your foul-weather gear is in the closet waiting for springtime. So now what?
Winter can be a great time to enhance your boating skills and make next summer safer and more fun.
– Sign up. The U.S. Power Squadron and the Coast Guard Auxiliary offer low-cost courses. The boating skills and seamanship courses cover a variety of subjects: boat-handling, rules of the road, navigation, weather, marine radio communications, aids to navigation, engine troubleshooting and lots more.
There is also a basic boating course that focuses on sailing.
For those who have completed a basic course, there is a 12-lesson advanced instruction program covers coastal navigation, piloting and seamanship.
The advanced navigation course starts Jan. 21 at the Belmont Harbor facility of the Chicago Yacht Club. A basic boating course starts Feb. 2 and a basic sailing course Feb. 4 at 721 N. LaSalle St.
For information on any of these courses call 312-322-8151. On Feb. 3, Feb. 11 and Feb. 19, basic boating courses are scheduled at the Chicago Park District Headquarters, 425 E. McFetridge Dr. Call 708-544-0080.
To find other courses nearby, call the Boat/U.S. Foundation Courseline at 1-800-336-2628.
– Sail away. Another way to hone your skills if you have the time and the money is a boating vacation.
You can charter a 30-foot Catalina sailboat in St. Petersburg, Fla., for $1,297 a week. Out of Ft. Myers, Fla., a 27-foot Island Packet goes for $1,352, and a 42-foot Pearson ketch rents for $2,250 per week.
Looking for a more trendy destination? A Beneteau 35 is $2,340 weekly in the Virgin Islands, where a 50-footer that accommodates eight costs $4,193 per week.
For power boaters, a 32-foot Grand Banks trawler can be had for $1,897 per week, plus fuel costs, in Ft. Myers, and a Grand Banks 36 goes for $4,000 a week in the Virgin Islands.
Bob Tate, who heads the Chicagoland Bareboaters Club says captains are also available for about $100 a day.
“The `Rent a Stateroom’ program is really gaining in popularity,” said Tate. “For a couple on board a 65-foot sailboat with a cook and a captain, and all meals included, expenses run $1,500 per person for six nights.”
The same programs are available in Tahiti and Australia, with 50-foot boats for about the same price.
But not just anyone can rent a boat. You must have experience with the type of craft you want to rent and demonstrate you know what you are doing. Give Tate a call at 1-800-767-8760.
– Been there, done that. John G. Raffensperger, a retired pediatric surgeon from the Near North Side, is back in the Windy City resting up after a trans-Atlantic jaunt via Madiera, the Canary Islands and Barbados.
Raffensperger said it was not really as adventurous as it sounds. OK, Doc, but dodging supertankers and 10-day segments of ocean travel are plenty adventurous for this sailor. He made his crossing in a Shannon 43 Ketch named Lady Luck. The May/June edition of Ocean Navigator published a nice story he wrote.
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E-mail boatnews@aol.com or write to William Recktenwald, City Room, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611-4141.
