Laura Braive

I don’t have the impression that I was on a sail-training course at all. Rather, I feel I was invited as a guest by a passionate person, willing to share his knowledge, his skills, and cooking art ;-) . Leon is not teaching in the traditional sense – he is passing on his deep knowledge and passion about cruising and you can’t help just becoming sucked into the desire to learn and understand.

 

Leon explaining the effects of sail trim

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My fellow sailing mates listening attentively to Leon’s lecture about sail trim  

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Guests do therefore not only leave the boat with a lot of newly gained knowledge and sailing skills, but they go back home with something very extra, which is difficult to describe in words. Maybe it’s inspiration, maybe it’s self-belief, maybe it’s a better understanding, maybe it’s love for a lifestyle and maybe it’s just a mix of everything. Guests just go home with this extra like they caught a bug of something – while they enjoyed every moment of this very unique experience onboard Regina Laska.

 

Sailing on Regina Laska is sailing in a human atmosphere, even though you might not even know the people you are sailing with. The group is small, and so is the shared space, and, yet, the experience is so great!

 

How does sailing on Regina Laska differ compared to other, similar, sailing experiences? Well, on Regina Laska you increase your horizons, while, at the same time, you reducing your stress. Stress is so often caused by lack of knowledge, know how, and the missing courage to try out something new.

 

Leon is demonstrating the anchor-sail

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We’re trying out the anchor sail

Leon aims at detecting and understanding the individual underlying motivation of each of us. He succeeds in letting us all actively getting involved in the action and the decisions making and we all participate, without the slightest hint of stress or discomfort. The outcome is as effective as it is surprising: Without even noticing it, I learnt so much!

 

Passage planning among the thousands of islands in the archipelago

And I handled the yacht in a way I wouldn’t even dare to imagine before.

Obviously, this needs a lot of confidence, patience and passion from our host… Needless to say, it worked wonders!

 

Thank you Leon, and all the co-mates onboard, to have made of this week such a week full of learning and full of unforgettable experience…

 

 

As Leon says: In style and in comfort and in such beautiful waters!

 

 

 

Laura Braive, Belgium, sailing on the all-women sail training leg 15-2016 in the Swedish west-coast archipelago