Real sailing experience in the DR

[Hooley]

Can anyone out there help me to arrange a real sailing experience in the DR? (Just a couple of days). Not looking for a Cat with 75 people aboard! Not looking for a charter serving pineapples with umbrella sticks in it. Would like to feel the sheets, will cook. Can pee over the side! (I squat) You know what I mean.

[Hillbilly]

He is the Resident Sailor here. Knows all about sails and hawsers and lines and so forth..

I should imagine that either in Samaná or perhaps La Romana, that might be something that would work for you...

Come on Ken, show up...

Oh Yeah, the "visuals" are funny!!

YOu know what I mean

HB

[Chris]

Ken knows the waters very well and we know the waters. What do you want to arrange? A boat, mmm, difficult in the DR. Do you have a boat? Have you read Bruce van der Sandt, A Gentlemen's Guide to Passages South? (Despite the title, he knows about squatting)... and DR sailing - possibly even better than Ken or us.

Are you a sailor? Do you need a captain? Do you require crew? Or do you just want to hop aboard?

Tell us a little more please. This is not a sailing paradise. If you're looking to crew it may be an idea to catch a ride from Miami/Ft Lauderdale south.... Winds are variable this time of the year... so you can also catch a ride from the Virgins North. Generally this time of year, you ride the fronts to pick up the North Westerns's going south, or you beat. Going North, you ride the South Easterly's between the fronts, nice runs if you have time. Prevailing trades are the South Easterlys...

[Ken]

On the north coast, the two harbors where you might find somebody to give you sailing experience are Luperon and Samana. That is where the cruising sailboats are.

Problem with Luperon is that you would be sailing in the Atlantic and that can be very rough this time of year with the cold fronts coming down from the US. In Samana, you would have the option of sailing in the very large Bay of Samana, so that you could enjoy the sailing without fighting the conditions. The other option is to go out into the Mona Passage, and that is best on days when there is a weather window. During the winter, ther is no telling how long you would have to wait for one of those.

On the south coast, I'd contact Capt. Forest Rodriguez at Centro Marina del Mar
http://www.centromarino.net/

[Hooley]

The ideal situation would be "hopping aboard" a boat that might be sailing from one perfect spot to work on your boat to another perfect spot to work on your boat. Say a sailing boat that might be making the move from Samana to Luperon or the other way around. I am not looking for a "passage" as such - just a few days of coastal sailing.

I have sailed, and have owned a sail boat. Am now boatless and live in a place where the water falls permantly from the sky! Would like to reexperience how if feels floating on it as compared to loosing your wellies in it!

Thanks for the replies. Hope this eventually leads to something!

I will be heading down to Samana Dec 24th and will be hanging around seeking people who walk with a tilt!