Aa female sexualized environments feel normally uncomfortable Arriving to a dock and treated as second class or outcast of sorts , while local Male fishermen arriving after me are served up with cheer. Yes the types of truthful anecdotes which add up to accumulate into our lives and psyche. This is one story in the life of a woman sailing solo and one tail ...one pin drop in the map, ...one story spanning two years, a fraction of time, to fill of gaps of space that were previously free of male bias. It was about two years ago from today, we were all about to discover or had already covid was going to rack the reality of everyone in some way. From a child I knew i was going to be a sailor. So after very hesitantly leaving Portugal, and all the heavy lock down bull shit was happening I "seized" the day and enrolled to obtain the course certificate through Mariners learning center for the operator of uninspected passenger vessel license Coast Guard Approved. I was elated when my materials arrived and I could get going! Shortly after I started the course I came to the conclusion this format was not working for my style of learning. Knowing that I needed to collect more sea time, I decided to ask for a refund and take a class in person once they started back up again after covid outbreak with the control . I contacted the Mariners learning system by telephone provided in New Jersey. The person with whom I stated my case was curt and short , then promptly dismissed my request for a refund or partial refund. I accepted my fate , after seeing how resolute the reaction was to my case, was already demoralized because i had realized at my self teaching skills were not up to par.'' Fast forward to today, for the last two weeks i have delved as deep as possible into chart plotting I've had two coach sessions with a local retired ferry Captain who hold valid current tonnage unlimited license and multiple other endorsements. We had two sessions each over two hours, and he left me with a review of my course material. He said it was "confusing and adding unnecessary mixed up . and verbose. After more days of consideration , I decided it would be a better use of my time to enroll myself into a better course where the company's mission is to stand by their process and get their students licensed! I decided to talk with someone who could refund my money or give me some type of resolution. A woman named Sammy was put on the line to field my inquiry. When I asked her why this offensive mnemonic device was allowed to be printed by their company, she told me they had changed all the materials out, and it was no longer on their site. I asked her how she could not know what content is on their own site, so she handed me over to the owner Bob Figular. He also denied the content was still on his site. He said that I was rude by telling him my feedback about the program and how I could trust them with my education when they don't even know the content of their own site. I also have in my possession a paper version with this printed on them memory aid to correct true and magnetic on a compass. True Virgins Make Dull Companions Just Add Whiskey, I then asked him is he had daughters and how could even anyone with consciousness would recognize the acceptance of this as an acceptable nmonic device to put in print is someone who fails to see it as accepting subliminal messaging normalizing sex assaults'. A true professional would not allow this either , why use an aid that could trigger someone with ptsd or even a person with a moral compass can see this is poor practice. Mr Figular reply to me when i was imploring with him to at least meet me halfway on some mutually agreeable solution was that he didn't care that i was having multiple challenges with his course and tht i was highly triggered emotionally disturbed at his clear lack of giving a fuck about any of my challenges when i asked him how i could had better communication with him to prevent any further inflammation, hung up simply hung up on he call and refused to answer that question or any of my previous questions, other then he will not even refund a percentage of the fees,. As for now I will diverge from people and scenarios that are harmful. I will enroll in a better course where I will get support, i will move on to compensate for some of my trouble with this very rude and unemphatic male species who does not care about his customers. In the meantime, I will be sailing, teaching yoga, cooking , singing and loving living. #lookingforseatime