OnDeck Charleston Comments |
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| Date Submitted: | July 1, 2010 |
| Sailing School: | OnDeck Charleston |
| Location: | SC - Charleston, United States |
| Classes & Instruction: | 10 out of 10 |
| School Facilities: | 10 out of 10 |
| Accomodation: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost & Expense: | 8 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | Six days learning to sail Let me take a minute out of my too busy life to tell you about my experience at your school. We learned a great deal without question and enjoyed ourselves in the most meaningful way, learning something valuable. Our instructor in basic keelboat I provided the kind of hard core training that got us fully trained very quickly on all aspects of the fundamentals of sailing. While he was very serious , thorough and effective he was also very nice and even took us on his own boat in a race Wednesday night which we enjoyed immensely. I think our instructor in basic keelboat II will attest to the fact that we were well trained when we began this second course (we took the two courses consecutively over a 6 day period). Our keelboat II instructor was simply a gem. He was so natural at sailing and teaching that it was as if he has sailed from birth. He was so intuitively connected with all aspects of sailing. I have taught medicine in Med School for more than 40 years and know something about teaching and the challenges it presents and I have never known a person more able or attuned to the teaching of his subject than this young gentleman Both my son (19) and I (67) loved working with him and learning from him. My son has fallen in love with sailing and your instructors had a lot to do with it. I had sailed as a child and only came back to it after more than 40 years but your instructors showed me the FUN of sailing while teaching me the fine points that made everything I had learned much more doable. For example, because of my age, old sports injuries and second degree burns on my knees (sun burned to the extreme on our first day in spite of SPF 50 sun screen) it was extremely difficult and painful for me to get from one side of the boat to the other fast and efficiently enough to tack or especially jib a boat. My instructor in keelboat II watched my suffering for just a few minutes before showing me how I could bring each tack or jib to the midpoint, then get up slowly, keep looking forward and get to the other side reasonably comfortably. This made a big difference for me and made what was real physical difficulty into good fun. All in all it was a wonderful experience and both my son and I enjoyed immersing ourselves completely in sailing by living on board the Sugaree and sailing all week. It was a terribly hot week and presented a lot of challenging situations but was true fun. I hope to return for a cruising class when it is cooler, maybe this fall and also do the bareboat class after that. Our family works too hard. I have grown children who are busy professionals and my youngest son is a college student with a difficult work load. My goal is to be able to get everybody together, do a bareboat rental somewhere exotic and all sail together removed from our hectic lives. This is a dream that your school can help me accomplish. Thank you for offering this opportunity and I would not only recommend but encourage anyone interested in learning to sail to seek out your remarkable school and try to learn there. |
| Submitted by: | Tom Wagner 67 year-old :: Male Reviewer :: Greenville, SC |
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