Sailing Story: Bill Reed
For some sailors, their lives contain chapters and chapters of Sailing Stories. Bill Reed’s Sailing Stories could easily fill an entire book. They include memories upon sailboats in Florida as a young child, sailboat racing stories on the lakes of Michigan, and informal teaching stories on Montana’s Flathead Lake. Bill’s most recent Sailing Story is his journey of becoming a certified ASA sailing instructor with Go Sail Virgin Islands.
“We had 6 different people qualifying and we were all different personalities,” Bill laughed. “Anybody with enthusiasm is great to sail with.”
Even though Bill has spent the majority of his life sailing, the ASA courses offered him a variety of new experiences. “I loved that experience down there because we got to sail on a little IC24. It’s a learning boat so it has a bigger cockpit.”
Bill also found himself learning a lot from his fellow sailors. “I may have had a lot more sailing experience but they had a better way of explaining things,” he said. “[like explaining] the physics and dynamics of how things work on a boat.”
Ultimately, the humility of every student aboard is what made the class flow so well. “The more that you go out, you learn something new every time you go out no matter how seasoned you are,” he said. “That’s what all of us did.”
Through the course, Bill also found himself falling in love with the U.S. Virgin Islands. “The food was really fantastic down there. The wind was fantastic. The climate is unbeatable,” he raved. “That makes me smile even just thinking about it.”
Even better than the sailing, the food, and the weather, though, was the people. “The culture, the people down there are so amazing. I don’t know if I’ve ever met friendlier people in my life. People you don’t even know will wave at you,” Bill said. “It was just cool to see the way of life down there.”
Now Bill is certified as an ASA instructor and has found his love for sailing in the U.S. Virgin Islands, it’s time to open the next chapter of his sailing story. Look out for Bill to join the ranks of the Go Sail Virgin Islands captains next!