One Under My Belt...

So, this weekend, I taught my very first solo Basic Keelboat 1 class. I had four students on a Colgate 26. My prep work Friday afternoon was put to good use. At the end of Sunday's Day 2, I was asked to step out while there was a nervewracking debriefing by one of the Club Nautique staff. In the mean time, the Director asked me in for my own debriefing. This was the instructor I audited the class with last week. He was very encouraging, gave me some great constructive feedback, and said that I had a great future with the school, so I felt a lot better. They even forgave that a rather expensive part on the boat was broken on my watch. I won't let that happen again. Everyone, both staff and students, seemed very happy with the way I ran the class.

They've booked me for another BK1 in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to polish my technique. They want me to add additional classes to my portfolio, plus they asked me to teach any number of "Winter Wednesday" topics I want (i.e. splicing, diesel troubleshooting, coastal navigation, etc.). Some have the course materials already made up. I would be making up stuff for any new class I might add to their repertoire. I also get to audit classes with Arnstein Mustad, the guy that taught my captain's class and whose list for yacht deliveries I'm on. All in all, I'm pretty excited about this new career. With that being said, after dinner and a TV show, I crashed hard.