WOW!!! This is by far the most fun we’ve had...EVER!! We booked this as a shore excursion on our cruise in October 2007. We loved every minute of it. The Captain and First Mate were awesome, knowledgeable, helpful and patient with those who had not sailed before. We had a variety of folks, from those who were just along for the ride, those who had no experience and a couple of veterans. Every person was able to be involved (or not) as they felt comfortable and every person without exception had a fantastic time. They take pictures of you throughout that you are able to purchase at the end. Kinda pricy...we split the disk with another couple on our ship. We took the disk home, made a copy and mailed them the original. This is the day that made our entire cruise worthwhile. I would return to St. Thomas just to do this again.

My goal for this excursions was, quite frankly, to do nothing during it. I wanted to lash myself to a rail and cheer everyone else on during the race. However, due to the way they split up the 13 people in our shore excursion group among the three yachts, it wound up being just my friend and I on a boat with the skipper and first mate. Therefore, I wound up having to do EVERYTHING, and I'm so glad it worked out that way. It was the best experience I've had in quite a while - challenging, but not too hard - and above all, fun. The two crew guys were hilarious; it was sort of strange to tip them at the end because it felt like we'd known them forever. After the race we both had a chance to helm the yacht as we headed back to the dock.

Since it's a bit difficult to take pictures while you're racing, the crew members do it for you (the pics are available to purchase after the race at the obligatory rum punch party, or through the company's web site.)

Fair warning - it can be a little tough on the hands if there aren't others to switch off the winching with - my friend wound up with a couple of blisters. And for those thinking along my original lines, be aware that there really AREN'T any rails to lash yourself to. Or at least not on the smaller Farr 40s that the company uses during the winter months.

Overall, a great experience that I highly recommend to anyone visiting St. Thomas!

I am not a boater nor have any experiece but what a blast we had on the ONDECK OCEAN RACING experience in St. Thomas USVI. Its located in the Havensight shopping area where you see the huge cruise ships dock.. The boats were Farr 40 and so beautiful!!! Even dolphins swam with us! We were given a "job" on board and the crew were awesome!! My job - grinder! Fun, fast pace and the wind in our hair!!! We raced another boat of folks and we won!!! They took pictures of us and we got a CD of us doing our 'jobs' on board and even took our turn at the wheel as Captain. Did I mention we were a party of four and all women!!! Talk about team work, we are still talking about it!! And can't wait to go back and do it again! The best $99 I ever spent!!! Worth every penny of it!!!!

While in Charlotte Amalie on a cruise, we independently booked a sailing trip with OnDeck at their office next to the cruise pier at Havensight Mall. We got there just as they were finishing up their morning trips with cruise ship passengers. We paid more ($99 per person) than we would have paid booking through the ship ($89 per person) but we also got to go out with just the four of us in our group. The other boat went out with only OnDeck crew to race against us.

The ships appeared to be new and in great condition. Our group (four guys in fairly good shape in our mid-30s) all had a great time and were able to participate in several tasks for sailing the ship.

We were actually out on the water for a little less than two hours. I think it was advertised as a three-hour trip, so I'm not sure if they count some sort of on-short orientation we didn't get. Coming in as we did at the end of the day, maybe we got shorted a bit.

The crew was friendly, professional, and entertaing. The race part, itself, was interesting and fun, and we ended up with a tour around the bay before heading back to the dock for a rum punch (on board, they serve water or soda).

All in all, even though it was pricey, I'd do it again at that price as long as we had the boat and crew to ourselves.