Date: 07/13/2011Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FLWeather: Sunny and HotTitle: Day 3 of Megayacht Deck Course Today was the first day of our 2 day Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) course, which was mostly a review for me because we mostly covered rules of the road and VHF Radio procedures. We had a test, (I didn't have to take since I already had a licence) which resulted in getting a VHF Radio Operator Certificate of Competency which is recognized by the MCA. So now I...

Date: 07/12/2011Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FLWeather: Sunny and HotTitle: Day 2 of Megayacht Deck Course We had a nice surprise today that fit right into our curriculm. The IYT Skipper of the company's training yacht, Doug, had to have some help moving it across the Port Everglades basin to a ship yard for some maintenance. So our class instructor volunteered our class as crew. So I got some good helm experience behind a 40' twin screw diesel motor yacht.

Date: 07/11/2011Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FLWeather: Sunny and HotTitle: Day 1 of Megayacht Deck Course International Yacht Training (IYT) is only a 10 minute walk from where my crew house is. I arrived early this morning so I got to meet Kathy, one of the administrative assistants. There are only three of us in this class and I am by far the most experienced of the three. I'm also old enough to be their father. Our instructor's name is Lou, and today we co...

Date: 07/10/2011Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FLWeather: Sunny and HotTitle: Crew House Last night was a very long and uncomfortable night in the Jacksonville bus station. But the bus to Ft. Lauderdale was right on time. The rest of the trip to Ft. Lauderdale was uneventful and I was really anxious to get off the bus there.Finally, I arrived right on schedule about 2:15pm. I got a cab to take me to my crew house on Miami Rd. When I got there, there were 3 other gu...

Date: 07/09/2011Location: Jacksonville. FLWeather: RainyTitle: Florida Once Again It was interesting making my way south and going through towns like Richmond, Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Savannah. About 8pm we pulled into Jacksonville, Fl. Up until now, I managed to stay ahead of schedule but now my luck ran out. I was stuck here until 4:45am. Orlando was the first bus station that provided armed security and passenger screening prior to boarding. I had to m...