All voyages have captains, crews and boats. You need them to feel safe as if you were still in harbor. And yet you want your sail to capture the rapture of feeling fully alive. The best captain for that experience is Valerie Weingrad. Anchored in deep knowledge of the sea, her passengers are allowed to float unencumbered by any worries. And yet she sails not by the wind but by the stars giving us the sense literally that the sky is indeed the limit. For a woman captaining in often male dominated waters like those of Italy and Greece, she holds her ground and her ropes. And when she is in port its hard to leave the vessel as Valerie and crew have prepared a local feast often trumping than those on land. Her boats are beautiful testaments to the wonder of the sea. And the adventure she will bring to your journey is magical and unforgettable.
Joey Reiman, author of Thinking For a Living, sailed with his family throughout the Greek Islands
It’s a kick to watch the locals and other captains staring with a look of concern as a female piloted the boat into some pretty tight slips. We never had a problem, which almost seemed to disappoint them!”
Everyone is on a journey to discover who they are and all they can be. For me the sea has always been a canvas to paint my dreams upon. Indeed, my greatest visions have presented themselves as I was traversing our many oceans.”
After sailing through the Aegean Sea (Greek Isles) with Custom Sailing I can truly say it was one of the best sailing/travel trips I have ever taken, if not the best in my thirty years of sailing. Here are some of the things that made it special: Custom Sailing says it best: we (the crew) got to select what islands we wanted to visit, how long we wanted to stay, and what we wanted to do while in a port. You could sail the boat (helm time, trimming the sheets, tacking ect.) as much as you wanted, or maybe you just wanted to relax in the cockpit with a good book, it was your choice. The knowledge and skill of the Captain… we can all read a chart but it is quite another thing to sail with someone who has been in and out of the various harbors many times, knows where to anchor, how to anchor Mediterranean style. It was comforting to sail with a Captain who stressed safety, and at all times all of us felt safe and in the most capable of hands. Valerie, our Captain introduced us to some of the locals and we even had some meals with them, as well as being invited to visit their farm/home. I think one would be hard pressed not to enjoy sailing the Greek Isles, but sailing with Custom Sailing made it a truly remarkable, memorable experience.”
Hank, Aloha, Oregon
It’s taken us a few days to get back into the swing of things once we got home. Between work and the kids we were ready to get back on the plane and go back to BVI the day after we got back. But again, we had a great time! Thank you for your patience and your expert sailing lessons. I’m looking into taking some more sailing lessons this summer so I’ll be ready for that marathon sail to Crete next year!”
Barb, Virginia
I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know what a GREAT time I had. We cannot stop talking about. We are definitely going to do it again!!!! Getting our pictures today. We will send you some.”
Kathy, New York, New York
We had six guests on our boat, three had previous sailing experience, the other three had never been on a sailboat, and two had never spent more than a couple hours on a boat at any one time. Valerie made everyone comfortable and provided an opportunity for all to participate in the sailing to the degree they were interested. Valerie is a great story teller, this and her knowledge of the islands and their culture kept things interesting and helped us decide how to spend our time at each stop. I don’t know how long Valerie has been making the Greek trip, but we were surprised how easily she interacted with the locals. I probably sound like a Custom Sailing commercial, but we obviously enjoyed the trip – enough so that some of us are sailing the British Virgin Islands with Valerie next month.”
Johnathan, Atlanta, Georgia