Sailing Story: Dave Work

Dave Work started sailing about seven years ago and immediately fell in love. 

“I went with a buddy of mine, who took me on a charter, and then since that first charter I’ve just kind of gotten hooked,” he said. “I think it was love at first sail. I just loved it.” 

Since his first sail, Dave has kept up with bareboat chartering once a year, every year. He’s up to seven trips in seven years.

“Being able to kind of chart your own course, create your own adventure, do whatever you want,” is what Dave says he enjoys most about bareboat charters. “You can either go to places that are a little busier and have sights to see and things to do on shore or you can go to places that are a little bit more private and secluded and I kind of like both whenever I am traveling.”

However, Dave knew that if he wanted to keep up with sailing, taking formal courses would be an important step in his journey.

“I wanted to feel more confident in myself, bareboat chartering and running a larger boat on my own, and also— frankly, it was a requirement I think for some of the chartering companies. They want to see some of your ASA stuff, especially if you do it overseas. They want to see the IPC [International Proficiency Certificate].”  

Dave’s previous trips and informal instruction made for an easy transition into his ASA courses with Go Sail Virgin Islands.

“The guy that I learned from, thankfully he really taught me some of the knowledge that he had learned through ASA classes that he had been a part of so I felt like I had a really good intro coming in. There was definitely some terminology stuff that I needed to learn but other than that everything felt pretty familiar.”  

Even with his prior experience sailing, Dave said he walked away with a lot more than just his ASA certificates and IPC after his ASA courses with Go Sail Virgin Islands.

“Just getting a different captain’s perspective on how he does things and seeing a different way of doing it— not that necessarily the person that the person that I learned from was wrong— but you know, everyone kind of develops their own philosophy and preferences on how they like to do things on a boat. And so being able to see something new was helpful, I think, because now I have kind of two points of reference,” he said. “There were some preferential things that I think, for me, was interesting and may shape the way I do things in the future.”

Now, Dave is already planning his next trip to French Polynesia — and practicing his newly honed sailing skills on his 26 foot, 1988 MacGregor monohull back home in Indiana!