Spring Plans 2026

When me crew and I concocted th’ plan to sail ‘round th’ world, there be only one cursed problem starin’ us in th’ face: none of us be knowin’ how to sail, by Davy Jones’ locker! This sort o’ thing sends shivers down me spine, but Alex be always there to calm me nerves, sayin’ we’ve got all th’ time ’neath th’ skies to learn, and learn we will, come 2026!

Preparation

We be aimin’ to test different types o’ yachts, firstly to gain sea legs and secondly to ken th’ sort o’ vessel we can see ourselves livin’ aboard.

Such yachts can simply be chartered, or as th’ salty dogs rightly call it. Ye’ll be needin’ an internationally recognized sailin’ license and a chatterbox… I mean, a radio license, says I! Last autumn, I snagged meself th’ German Sportbootküstenschein, SKS, and Alex, th’ clever lass, got th’ RYA radio license.

The Plan

From March, we’ll be spendin’ nearly two moons in Croatia. Croatia be th’ sailin’ destination in Europe and be mighty kind to greenhorns with top-notch riggin’. Moreover, our sailin’ school, JoJo München, hoists its sails there.

SKS includes a three-day theory course and a week of practical trainin’. I still don’t be feelin’ bold enough to commandeer a yacht, says I! Therefore, I’ll first tackle a week of Skipper Training: An advanced course fer those holdin’ SKS.

Th’ followin’ week, Alex will then pursue her sailin’ papers. She weren’t keen on th’ theory-laden and somewhat antiquated SKS. Nay, she’s settin’ her sights on th’ US version o’ th’ American Sailing Association, ASA 101, 102, and 104. They claim to cover theory and practice in a single week, says I! The course be in Rjieka where we’ve also secured quarters fer two weeks.

Since we’ve got our sea dog Charly with us, we’ll be alternatin’ ’tween courses and dog-sittin’. I reckon it’s no bad thing if we undertake different courses alone, so we can learn from each other’s tales.

Monohull

Following that, we’ve chartered a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 for a week and then a 440. The Sun Odyssey be the pride of European shipyards. Top modern and fer a price no buccaneer can beat. But these so-called production boats be bearin’ a scurvy reputation: they be crafted fer th’ charter market and thus only need to last but a few years. Theoretically, we can very well imagine such a ship, let’s see what practice shows.

Catamaran

A catamaran be a beast of a different nature: with two hulls, it sails worse, I tells ye, slower and ye can’t sail as close to the wind. However, ye have a treasure trove of space and comfort. Since it sails differently, and especially maneuvers differently, we’ve booked another week of catamaran training at JoJo, I tackle th’ first half of th’ week and Alex th’ second.

Then we’ve booked a Nautitec 40, theoretically our clear favorite so far, and then a Lagoon 380. The Nautitec be relatively rare, th’ Lagoon again th’ mass production, with correspondin’ quality curses.

We be excited and reckon after these four vessels we’ll have a better feelin’ fer what modern boats can offer. In th’ fall, we plan to delve into one segment and possibly also charter older, higher quality boats, but as beginners, we don’t need to scuttle a fine ship right away, says I!

And then

Then it’s almost summer, and then we’ve no desire to charter boats: First, it’s as crowded as a port o’ call on raidin’ day and second, th’ vessels quickly cost twice as many doubloons in th’ high season. We will voyage through Italy to Greece (we want to stay in the EU ‘cause of Charly). And then from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria we’ll slowly trek home. Along the way, Mäge will join us somewhere fer a spell, or I’ll feed ye to the sharks!

This blog post has been automatically translated by a Large Language Model.

Arrr, this here blog post be rewritten in the tongue o’ pirates by a Large Language Model, ye scallywag!