TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands -- Later today, we will sail from Bitter End to Marina Cay. But now, at 7 a.m., it is quiet and I am alone on deck while my shipmates sleep below. The sun is warm. The only sounds are those of the water gently lapping at the boat and the occasional pelican, plunging into the water, diving for breakfast.
How is this possible, that a landlubber like me is crewing on a sailing ship in the British Virgin Islands? How, indeed.
Six Boston-area women -- mothers and grandmothers -- are the crew of the 45-foot sloop Free Spirit. Toby Langerman, Diane Becker, Rhoda Goodwin, Susan Kaplan, Sondra Shick, and me. We are all in our 60s and are on board for a week of instructional sailing under the tutelage of the estimable Captain Carol Morley, 59. More than six months ago, my friend Toby and I heard of Womanship. We were intrigued: a sailing school just for women, of any age and whatever skills. Of the latter, I had none.
My little knowledge of a vessel was all at fault. . . . There is not so hopeless and pitiable an object in the world as a landsman beginning a sailor's life.
''Two Years Before the Mast"RICHARD HENRY DANA, 1840
We spoke to someone who had sailed before with Womanship. We had questions, mainly about whether it would it work for people like us with little or no experience.
''Absolutely," was the reply. Some women came to improve their skills, others to develop them, still others for the personal growth experience. I was definitely in the last category.
The boat held seven, including the skipper. We put together a crew of friends and acquaintances.
Diane once owned a small sailboat and knew something about sailing. Susan is a scuba diver but had never sailed. Sondrawas as inexperienced as I but as eager. Rhoda, who loves sailing, is the most experienced of us all.
We scheduled a ''get-acquainted" dinner a few months before the trip. We seemed a congenial group. Talk ranged from sailing to families to work. Diane is a social worker, Susan works for public television, Sondra is a retired lawyer, Rhoda is a psychologist, Toby is an antiques dealer, I am a writer.
Day 1: Sunday Winds are blowing up a bit, but it is warm on Tortola, about 85, when, dragging our backpacks and duffels, we arrive at the marina at Soper's Hole to meet our boat and our captain.
. . . many masters are obligated to sail without knowing anything of their crews until they get out to sea.
Captain Carol is barefoot as she welcomes us aboard with a grin. Short hair, trim body, fit and fine like her boat, Free Spirit.
We get the tour. Three cabins, three heads (bathrooms). Sleeping quarters are tight but adequate. I will learn to sidle into the bunk I share with Diane without kicking her or bumping my head on the low ceiling.
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