Sailing Skills and Experience

I love to sail. Any boat, any time. I have been sailing on and off since I was a kid growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan. You can see my sailing adventures on my YouTube Channel, Sailing Mother Earth. 
https://www.youtube.com/@sailingmotherearth

            I started getting serious about sailing in Feb 2020. That´s right when Covid 19 started to get serious around the world. I had signed up for sailing lessons and my training ended up being, "Get in that Lazer and figure it out." It was the best they could do at the time, so I was all about it.
            I quickly learned I needed a bigger boat. So in August of 2020, I bought a 3 meter sailboat. A 1974 Cal Jensen, drop keel sailboat with a small 4 HP engine that I maintained myself. I picked up some maintenance skills working as a mechanic to pay for my college. So I became good at keeping that going too.
               I took the US Sailing, Basic Keelboat course and set off on my way! It was a great boat to have around the Charleston Harbor, but was not very sea-worthy for the open ocean that I longed for. 
             That´s when I found the Spirit of South Carolina in early 2021, a 40 meter (120 ft) All wooden, beauty of a Tall Ship Schooner. She is a period correctly built flagship of South Carolina permanently docked in Charleston. And it needed volunteers to help keep her up. So I volunteered on it and before long, instead of scaping varnish and emptying the bilge, we were sailing! I sailed that ship many times over the years and even did a few overnight passages on her. She is a great ship and I love to catch up with the crew there whenever I am in Charleston. You can see me in their Blog over the years as I went from a green deckhand, to an "old salt" who was training other deckhands. 
               As far as the experience on the ship goes, I started out as a deckhand practicing knots and maintaining the brightwork on board. 
Then I moved up to the coxswain of the ship. Since all it had for propulsion was a single prop, I had to push it into and away from the dock with a little powered pushboat. We maintained that ship like it was our baby for years. Then my time in Charleston came to an end and I had to say goodbye to the old girl. I´ll be back again someday. But I would love to find another ship that could use a little love and elbow grease. So if you are a sailor looking for another mate, let me know! I´m always looking for the next adventure.