By Morgan Murphy
Reprint courtesy of Southern Living

Sailors love the South. Blessed with thousands of miles of coastline, crystalline waters, steady winds, and such ports of call as Savannah, Key West, and New Orleans, our region beckons all those who dream of the sea.

My sailing vision is to skipper a 50-foot yacht with my wife and three other couples for a week in the British Virgin Islands or perhaps St. Martin. Sounds like it costs a fortune? The cost per person, per day could start at just $79. Because the wind is your power, the boat costs very little after the initial charter price. The only extras would consist of provisions for a week and a plane ticket. Pick a smaller boat or ad another couple, and the cost decreases dramatically. Few vacations offer so many beautiful ports and such absolute freedom for so little; all you need is to learn how to sail.

Sailing may seem like a tall order. What if I don't have sea legs? What the heck is a boom vang? Which way is starboard? What if we hit The Perfect Storm? Every beginning sailor has a litany of questions. 

But learning how to sail in the South is easy. I recently took the Learn to Sail course offered by Offshore Sailing School, run by Steve and Doris Colgate. The nation's largest sailing school, Offshore has classes all over Florida: in Captiva, St. Petersburg, and the Keys, I chose a convenient location and was soon in a classroom with two other students, both beginners as well.

We began our three-day course by learning nautical terminology, rigging, sails, tacking, jibbing, and a lot of theory. By the afternoon of the first day, however, I took the helm of a 26-foot sloop and plied silently across the waters. 

I'll admit that I was intimidated at first. I'm a Navy guy used to big ships. If an aircraft carrier heels 5 degrees, everyone aboard says "whoa!" On a 26-footer, we routinely listed more that 25 degrees and just knew we'd capsize. I began humming "For Those in Peril on the Sea" and imagined our Editor's letter as a memorial piece, headlined "Travel Editor Fails to Sail."

But by day three, we were old salts, yelling "Ready about?" and "Jibe ho!" Getting the mess of ropes and sails to push us where we wanted to go became as natural as putting a Chevrolet in reverse. We learned foul weather preparation, crew overboard maneuvers, and even sailing backwards. This class qualifies me to rent small sailboats (less than 30 feet) or help as crew aboard a larger vessel. I can't wait to take the five-day course, Bareboat Cruising Preparation, which will give me the skills needed to achieve my dream of chartering one of the big boats for that Caribbean cruise. 

Upon returning home, I strode through the front door a sailor and with my best lockjaw, said, "Lovey, pack your bags!"