Local Notice to Nauticals
August 2023
Plenty of Season for Sail
Although our days are shorter, the sailing season is extended due to a lake that stays warm through much of October, offering plenty of time and opportunity to BE-Nautical.
This month, I'll focus on a Pirate's Favorite Letter — the "C", using C to represent Convenience and Continuum.
I describe sailing as a continuum — a coherent whole characterized as a collection, sequence or progression of values or elements varying by minute degrees.
Each time you're out, you and I learn something new. The more the data points (elements) the greater the value to the experience.
BE-Nautical tries to offer as many values and elements through professional instruction and experience. Here are a few ways to consider:
Practice Courses - continually updated and listed here
Crew Opportunities - put your name on the list for a LNN's offering opportunities to race or crew
Re-Sail Opportunities - a human retains about 30% of learning. Return for skills or basics (ASA101 and 103), even a refresher before you charter (ASA104 & 105). The investment is 50% less than the full cost (I wish I could return to college at that price).
Stow-Away - get a headstart on a course by taking it non-certification at half the price, a preview of sorts, learning what is to come.
A new certification course - plenty of opportunities to move from your skill level to a new one, increasing your progression or values on your sailing continuum.
As you consider enhancing your skills, consider the convenience of packaged learning (packaged digitally in the form of videos and more), with more to come. Use these as a refresher or preview to courses to come.
Speaking of digital courses…
BE-Nautical will be adding hosted webinars this season on Anchoring, Docking and Basic Navigation — perfect to enhance skills and other. Look for other skill videos on cruising and hands-on subjects as well including Boat Systems (engine, electrical, water, cooking). They can be helpful to refer to before or during a charter when you have a question — digitally and environmentally packaged learning, that is infinitely recyclable.
Filming to start at the end of the season (we may need "extras" as crew) and edited over the winter. If you're interested in attending or participating, please leave me a note here.
Courses
Lest I get all "Environmental" on you, the earth and our climate are changing because of our conveniences. From heating our home to powering our lives, transporting ourselves and packaging and storing our foods, fossil fuels have made life better for all of us. Even the very thing we use to enjoy the water has moved to a more convenient platform - fiberglass.
As we enjoy a beautiful day on the water, using the wind, a renewable resource to power our boat, the very craft we sail upon is made from fiberglass, made from virgin plastics. The boating business is way behind the automobile industry where nearly 80% of a car can be recycled at the end of its life. Although fiberglass components, after being disposed of, will break down in 50 years, the materials used for bonding these components will never break down. At end of life, boats are stripped for anything of value and then crushed or cut-up and disposed of in a landfill. Worse yet, those sunk from hurricanes or other storms breakdown leaving microplastics.
The industry, minute compared to automobiles, is working to make the industry more sustainable by using different natural materials, hemp, volcanic rock and others, and aluminum. While perhaps decades off from a major shift, the industry realizes and is altering course to more sustainable platforms.
As you consider purchasing a boat, look to more sustainable boating platforms for an end to end sustainable time on the water - it’s all a continuum, afterall.
BE-Nautical is passionate about removing plastics from our water streams, including our boats — shifting some of our sailing platforms to wood — eventually all will be converted, so at the end of my/our days, I'm not leaving behind a problem for others to deal with. Materials and production means are available to leave a legacy to the next generation.
Interested in learning more? Reach out to me and I'll help guide you to what I've already researched.
Craft
Learn, Practice and Explore environmentally sound topics with BE-Nautical.
Welcome aboard!
Brian
Captain Brian Earl
BE-Nautical
847-917-7245