Come sail to infinity with Buzz

BAILA LAZARUS EDITOR

One of the beauties of British Columbia is being able to stand on a shoreline and watch sailboats as they float by. In the setting sun, the sails' colors compete for attention, whether cruising at a leisurely pace or flying past buoy markers in a regatta.

Around the Lower Mainland, vessels of all sizes are available for rent, but that's not much help if you don't have the proper certification to rent them. And even if you just want to join a racing team for a day, knowing your sheet from your lanyard sure puts you in the good books with the crew.

Enter Amanda Morris. The registered Canadian Yauchting Association (CYA) instructor has just started giving classes at her new school, Go Sailing, and can turn any landlubber with two thumbs into a seaworthy crewmate. And she does it with a patience that is enviable.

Morris teaches out of Spruce Harbor Marina on False Creek, just east of Granville Island. She takes classes as small as four and combines about 10 hours of land-based training and theory with about 26 hours of practical lessons on board her 30-foot Capri sailboat, Buzz Lightyear. While on the water, students rotate through various responsibilities on the boat so that by the end of the course, every part of the vessel will be familiar.

Morris is especially concerned about fitting the lessons into people's schedules. She can adapt to daytime or evening classes, weekdays or weekends, or any combination, as long as they total the hours necessary to complete the course. At the end, students take a CYA exam for their certified Learn to Cruise designations.

For more information about Go Sailing, call 604-783-2713 or visit www.gosailing.ca.

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