Featured Instructor: Captain Michael Brown

Captain Michael Brown:

Well, unlike many other ASA instructors I did not start at a young age as a dinghy sailor at the local Yacht club. I took an elective sailing class in college where I learned basic sailing skills. The final day of class there was a race. This intramural event convinced me that sailing was going to be in my future. Let me explain. The start was crowded with aggressive sailors jockeying for rights to the line. As the fleet headed for the windward mark, I found myself in nearly last. This sadly continued until the bunched-up fleet started to round the last mark and head for the finish. Just at that moment, a sudden and extraordinarily strong gust, which is not uncommon in lake sailing, basically capsized the fleet. It would have also taken me down if I were not so far behind. Buy being a distant last I was unaffected. I eventually rounded the final mark as the fleet was still in the process of righting itself. As a result, I crossed the finish ahead of everyone and won the race. This taught me two things. One is that it is better to be lucky than good. The second thing is that sailing is for me.

Instructing’s most memorable and most rewarding moment comes for me when that first time student “gets it”. When the light bulb goes off in their head and all those foreign terms, and all that white board theory turns into meaningful reality. It is a special and gratifying moment for both instructor and student when they realized they are sailing the boat on their own; making it go through the water without an engine. Exciting.

Well, it is hard to beat the Chesapeake Bay and the Virgin Islands as best places to sail. The Delmarva Sailing School is another CIYSS school home-ported in historic Rock Hall Maryland on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is truly a national treasure, full of history and naval tradition. It has thousands of miles of shoreline, hundreds of tributaries with secluded anchorages and an abundance of fish, birds, and wildlife. For Island sailing there is the Virgin Island Sailing Academy located at Red Hook, Saint Thomas, USVI.

Captain Michael Brown:

People do not know until they have experienced it that once that engine is turned off, the world slows down, and it becomes incredibly quiet. Being propelled forward by wind and sails alone is extremely exciting and fulfilling. There is no combination of words able to describe that unique, wonderful, and addictive feeling.

Captain Michael Brown:

First, sailing is just plain old fashion fun. Second, sailing offers a chance to escape the fast lane of everyday life and enter a quite different world. A world that is only dependent on which way the wind is blowing. Where sailing skill and respect for nature win the day.