There’s no better way to learn the ropes of blue water sailing and passage making than to jump on a seaworthy boat with an experienced and professional skipper and sail over the horizon.
Sail training expeditions have been around for a while with skippers like John Neal (Mahina Expeditions), John Kretchmer (John Kretchmer Sailing), Hank Schmitt (Offshore Passage Opportunities) and Andy Schell (59 North Sailing) all providing adventures and solid instruction while at sea. All four operations offer seriously cool offshore experiences that really help new cruisers build skills.
Fairly new to this list is Sail Libra, which is run by American skipper Ryan Rayfield who hosts his crew members and expedition participants aboard his lovely, classic Tripp-designed ketch Libra.
Ryan learned to sail as a child on the lakes of Alabama, but his sailing experience has taken him around the world hosting day charter operations in Asia and delivering yachts far and wide. Aboard Libra, he now takes 120 sailors a year offshore and to many favorite and famous cruising grounds.
Libra was built in Germany in 1969 and has now completed two circumnavigations. A classic displacement design from the Sixties, she has a comfortable motion at sea and is a perfect platform for developing a real pair of seas legs. Plus, the cutter-ketch rig is set up for serious heavy-weather sailing and there is nothing Libra likes more than a piping near gale and a screaming broad reach.
Ryan’s schedule of expeditions is divided between the Northeast of the U.S. in summer and the Caribbean in winter. For those wanting long offshore passages, the legs to and from the Caribbean will give you a thousand sea miles or more.
For coastal legs, in summer Libra is in Maine and southern New England, while during the winter she will be found making runs from the BVI to Grenada and back.
If you want to go to sea on a truly classic yacht that will look after her crew in all conditions, and learn the blue-water game from an experienced skipper, then signing on for a leg with Ryan aboard Libra may be just what the doctor ordered.
