[byrnesp]

Hello all,
We''re thinking of some of the same issues the rest of you are. Most of our experience is on our 26'' MacGregor doing inland lake sailing, so we''re trying to figure out what we should think about and prepare for before we do extended charters... so far our chartering has been limited to couple of day charters plus the ASA classes we took. Glad to see Randy on the board and read his informative reply. We just went back to Santa Barbara last Feb. & took some more classes/certifications (bareboat, coastal nav). One concern I would have would be that, although my wife and son have plenty of sailing knowledge, at 4''11" my spouse isn''t going to do much America''s-cup-style man-handling of sails and winches. The Catalina 320 (Heather Jean) we took out to S. Cruz island during our class had an in-mast furling main, which could be a real boon to skippers whose spouses/guests aren''t hearty sailing types. How common are these in charter fleets, anyway? Just bought a dinghy as a tender for our Mac and as a fun toy for Jerry.We''ll be on a mooring this summer, so that we be a plus for doing a BVI charter. Pat & Carol Anne Byrnes, Albuquerque, NM