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Have you ever thought about learning to sail?
For some people, including Matt, it’s been a lifelong dream and for others, like me, it sounds like a hobby that I would enjoy over the next few decades. Ever since he was a young boy, Matt has dreamed about sailing around the world in a Catamaran, and to be honest, maybe I shrugged that dream off a time or two. It seems pretty unattainable at first thought. But, I see more and more families doing it and sharing their journey’s on social media. Lately, we have loved watching The Sailing Family videos on YouTube! Some even have young kids and babies on board.
And while I am not sure I would want to do mom life on a boat, I can see us making it happen down the road. I actually think it’s a hobby that would complement both of us very well. It’s crazy to think that we are only 8 years away from being empty nesters and having (the wind and) a dream to carry us toward that is kind of exciting!
Learning to sail with the American Sailing Association
Our goal is to start our American Sailing Association (ASA) classes this summer and slowly but surely learn to sail. Maybe we will fall in love with it or maybe we will decide that it’s not our thing. But, we won’t know for sure if we don’t try! Living in southeast Alabama we are under 2 hours from Panama City, Destin, and Pensacola which all offer American Sailing Association affiliated sailing schools, so now the perfect time for us to hop on board.
If you are familiar with the ASA classes you know that the first requirement is a two-day Basic Keelboat Class that involves both classroom instruction and sails and concludes with a 100 question written exam. Then you move on to ASA 103 (Basic Coastal Cruising) and ASA 104 (Bareboat Cruising) at which point you can get your International Certificate of Competency and then complete a variety of other more specialized courses including ASA 114 (Cruising Catamaran).
That is a lot of time on the water and a lot of information to process and since we know basically nothing about sailing, we wanted to get our feet wet first. And we are always up for an outing on the water with the kids! So, for Matt’s birthday, I booked us the Experience Multihull Sailing trip at MidBay Sailing in Niceville, Florida, located just north of Destin at Bluewater Bay Marina.
Experience Sailing
MidBay Sailing offers a few different experience options: Experience Sailing/Cruising and Experience Multihull Sailing. These aren’t official courses but are more of a way to just learn before you learn. They are basically 2 1/2 hour sailing experiences where you can enjoy the boat and get a walkthrough of boating basics both on the dock and on the water.
And this is the exciting part where I tell you that it is way more affordable than you may think!
The cost of our Experience Multihull Sailing trip was $250 (plus tip of course) and it lasted 2.5 hours. And the price of these outings is per boat, not per person. So, basically, $100 per hour for a captained, private catamaran for up to 6 people. I personally think this is a great value! An experience like this would be the perfect gift for a parent or grandparent who has expressed interest in sailing.
MidBay Sailing’s Experience Sailing/Cruising option allows up to 4 people on a monohull sailboat and you can choose between the J80 ($210) or the Beneteau 331 ($250). While the minimum age for the ASA classes is 14, the experience sailing doesn’t have a limit as long as an adult is with them, but it is recommended for ages 7+. You can click here to learn more about their boats.
Our Sailing Trip & Lunch at LJ Schooners
Want to get a first-hand view of our trip? The best place to look is in our Sailing story highlight on Instagram. Our captain was the boat’s owner and he brought his sweet dog Leo and the kids enjoyed petting him as he snoozed down in the cabins. Capt. Tom took us out on his 36′ Endeavour Catamaran SV Per Diem and we had such a great time chatting with him and learning the ropes. Ha, I can’t stop with the sailing puns!
Check out our Instagram REEL from this adventure!
View this post on Instagram
We take you from start to finish and even share the cutest place for lunch that was such a hidden gem! LJ Schooners is located dockside at Bluewater Bay Marina and has been around longer than me! Since 1980, LJ Schooners restaurant and oyster bar has been serving up great food and drinks to sailors and landlubbers alike. Most of the seating overlooks the water and we loved dining outside. There is a little sandy beach and children were having so much fun paddling and kayaking around. Abby found a rope swing with a view!
PS: If you are wondering where the LJ came from in LJ Schooners, love dogs, and are looking for a good ugly cry, feel free to scroll down to the bottom of this page.
Charter a Sailboat near Destin
So, what if you just want to relax on a boat and aren’t interested in learning to sail?
Well, MidBay Sailing offers sailing charters as well and it’s basically the same price at $100 per hour for up to 6 people. These outings are customizable in duration and you can actually book them directly on their website which makes it so easy! Just visit their website, click BOOK NOW, and then a pop-up will guide you through the calendar and options.
There are still a lot of dates available for May and beyond and like I mentioned before this is such a great gift idea for the person who has everything. You can bring lunch and drinks onboard the charter and I can’t think of a much better way to spend a summer afternoon!
Take a FREE online sailing class
Before we did our catamaran outing we took the free online sailing class that the American Sailing Association offers on their website and I learned SO MUCH!
Click here to take the free sailing class!
If you took it leave me a comment here and let me know what you think! Having that knowledge came in so handy on our Experience Multihull Sailing trip and our captain used all of the terms that I learned in the class. I felt confident enough to help when asked and I can’t wait to learn more.
Make it an overnight trip
I know that many of you may want to make a weekend out of it and my last two blog posts are actually perfect for that. In my most recent one, I share how much we love The Island Hotel in Fort Walton Beach and it is about 20 miles and under 30 minutes away. And I have another post with 12 more family-friendly ways to spend a say in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area!
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Very cool, I have sailed maybe a few dozen times on friend’s and family’s boys and catamarans but have always wanted to learn how to do it on my own. This looks like a blast and a heck of an educational experience! Good stuff 👏
This is so interesting and right up our alley! We have serious boat dreams. They started at the beginning of Covid actually so we are new to all of this. My sister was in Florida when Covid started and while the rest of us were in lockdown mode, she was sending pictures of boat-filled waters and people having a blast. We were like – hmmm, well THAT looks fun! So, down the youtube rabbit hole we went. Reseaching boats and finding boat families to follow. We have been obsessed with Sailing Zatara ever since (are you familiar?) and have been wanting to go to a boat show ever since. We moved to California where all the boat shows were closed and we were traveling when Ft Lauderdale had theirs but it’s still high on our list. We also have a 2 year old, so we are thinking that its probably best to wait a few years anyway. Like you said, while I am not ready for this challenge right NOW, I can totally see embracing this as a new hobby in the future. This was really informative though… I don’t know anything about it and you’ve given me a great place to start!