Do you have any Facebook friends with awesome pages? Wendy Frigge is one of mine. That’s Wendy on the right with another of our students, Denise, on the left. They are relaxing in Madagascar during a sailing trip they undertook last year.
On our website we say “Learn to sail and live the dream” and she is proof that it is true. Here is her story to inspire all you would-be sailors with photographs from her Facebook albums.
Wendy first contacted me in Autum 2008. She wanted to come to Greece the following spring to learn to sail and was prepared to put in the time to do it properly. Wendy spent a month with our school in May-June 2009 during which time she completed her RYA Competent Crew, RYA Day Skipper theory and practical, and participated in a milebuilding trip to the Cyclades.
Wendy is on the left in the top photograph with the other students on her Day Skipper course. Immediately to her right is Denise Wilson, whom she met on the course with us. The two girls became firm friends and Denise shared in many of the adventures that followed.
Be prepared to be envious …
In the next photograph are the crew of an earlier week sailing. Pierro (behind the wheel) – Lebanese, Don – American, Denise – UK, Mark (instructor) – UK. Wendy, who is Dutch, is not in this photograph as she was taking the picture. She reports “We had a ball.”
Above – Denise and Wendy in the Millenium Cafe in Mandraki during their course. Below – getting the spinnaker out on our yacht, Valentine.
The next two photographs were taken on last year’s May milebuilding trip to the Cyclades. As you can tell from the jackets and sea in the first photo the weather at times was slightly rougher than in our more sheltered Saronic Gulf.
After completing her courses with us Wendy decided to be a sea hitch hiker and life her dream and enjoy sailing…
The photographs show Kithnos in the Cyclades and Captains Ian on his 43 ft Amphitrite “Spirit of Vortigern” and Tasos, with whom she spent 2 weeks sailing around the Sporades on his 43ft Swan.
In order to get more experience, and a tidal qualification, Wendy attended RYA Coastal Skipper shorebased and practical courses in the UK. She also did a crossing from Hamble in the UK to Bayona in Spain. She reported that they “did the shortest ocean crossing possible. 605 nm non-stop thru the Bay of Biscay… after one week of hard core sailing, sleep deprivation, sea sickness for 48 hrs and dehydration we arrived in Spain and changed to lazy boat bums cruising around the rias…”
The photograph below, taken during this time, she titled “you do think from time to time… why did I want to do this? Haha”
the better part of sailing… sunrise after a night watch
At the end of last summer Wendy met up with Denise again and they chartered a 32ft Jeanneau Sun Odyssey for a week to cruise around the west Peloponnese. It was the first time that the girls had sailed alone and Wendy’s first time completely in charge of a yacht. They did well even though they ran into some inclement weather.
Time for more travel and sunshine … In October 2009 Wendy and Denise flew out to embark upon a sailing adventure that took them from Nosy Be in Madagascar, down the West coast to Juan de Nova (a French island just west of Madagascar) to the Bazaruto Archipelago in Mozambique and on to South Africa. They sailed with Anthony Burke on his 38ft Inerga Puma (ketch) called “Grain de sable”
The photographs are of Krater Bay Marina , Nosy be beach, and a beautiful beach in Mozambique … wow!
She reported “The life of a yachtie… is not too bad!”
Sunday afternoon in the tropics… how horrible!
Denise returned to the UK after the momentous trip but Wendy remained in South Africa to earn some money. She has since taken part in Cape Town sailing week and I’ll finish with some photographs of that.
I wish you all the best, Wendy. Fair winds and calm seas. Keep in touch and let us know what other exciting sailing trips you do.
Read what some of our sailing students have to say, explore our course catalogue, and contact us for more information about each course and our availabilities to come and sail in Greece!
