# Learn to sail charters



## Co_Sailer (Dec 12, 2017)

My wife and I have sailed dinghies and our day sailer keel boat here in CO. We want to learn more about sailing bigger boats on coastal waters and are looking for charter boats that offer learn to sail charters focusing on ASA 101, 103, and 104 curriculum with or without the certifications, as we are looking more for experience for our resume right now. 
We have found a few in the PNW, but wanted to see what folks here have to offer.


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## mbianka (Sep 19, 2014)

Co_Sailer said:


> My wife and I have sailed dinghies and our day sailer keel boat here in CO. We want to learn more about sailing bigger boats on coastal waters and are looking for charter boats that offer learn to sail charters focusing on ASA 101, 103, and 104 curriculum with or without the certifications, as we are looking more for experience for our resume right now.
> We have found a few in the PNW, but wanted to see what folks here have to offer.


I think any boat you might Charter the captain would be glad to show you the ropes if you let them know ahead of time that's what you would like to do. In fact I'm sure they would be very glad you are eager to take the helm and help out with things like anchoring and docking. Personally having done over 25 Charters over the years I prefer to sit back with a nice cold drink and stare out at the scene while underway. Hoisting sails, checking engine fluids and fixing things are things I do on my own boat. We Charter crewed boats so we can just relax and depend on the captain's local knowledge to find the best snorkeling spots.
One of the good things when you Charter is you can try sailing various sailboats and designs. You will be learning how each one performs and which ones may meet your needs should you decide to buy your own.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

You could go with @capta on this forum but he would probably teach you to sail and not be a 101 infantile... But he is in the Caribbean which might be too nice for folks from the PNW. LOL

Message him.


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## Co_Sailer (Dec 12, 2017)

I do not have a passport yet, so it has to be stateside. Through ASA, I have it narrowed down to 3 places, 1 in the PNW and 2 in Florida, but am still open to other ideas.


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## danvon (Dec 10, 2012)

San Juan Sailing in Bellingham, WA would have the classes you want & is good to deal with. Did my 104 class with them & felt like the instruction was great. The San Juans are a great place to spend some time too.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

Narragansett Sailing School and Charter out of Barrington RI does this, and is an ASA affiliated school. As an instructor, I find that the focus is different when you are taking a certification course rather than taking a captained charter. 
Captained charter = focus on the client enjoying the cruise
Certification course = focus on the client passing the test


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## jblumhorst (Apr 14, 2002)

If you want to learn how to sail with confidence, even in challenging conditions, consider a week or two on San Francisco Bay between April and July. Throw in an overnight navigation trip along the coast to learn night sailing. 

There are many good sailing schools on the Bay. 

We get lots of sunshine, lots of wind, and lots of strong currents. You are almost guaranteed to have steady winds over 25 kts every afternoon at least 4days out of 7. And if you come near a full or new moon, you’ll learn how to work with currents to your advantage. 

Some folks say that if you can command a boat well and safely on SF Bay, you can do it anywhere. There’s some truth in that.


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## Scandium (Mar 27, 2018)

Co_Sailer said:


> I do not have a passport yet, so it has to be stateside.


Just curious why is this a problem? Apply for one, and have it in 1-2 weeks. Are you going that soon?


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## PhilCarlson (Dec 14, 2013)

I took ASA 101, 103, 104 with Blue Water Sailing School and thoroughly enjoyed it. I went from their Ft. Lauterdale location, but they offer several other locations as well. 6 days live-aboard.

https://www.bwss.com/


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## Co_Sailer (Dec 12, 2017)

Thanks for the all replies. We have chosen an ASA school in St. Petes that comes highly recommended for a 7d/7n ASA 101-104 live aboard class for just the two of us.


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## PhilCarlson (Dec 14, 2013)

You're going to have a blast! Key to increased enjoyment: make sure you complete your books before you arrive.


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## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

Co_Sailer said:


> Thanks for the all replies. We have chosen an ASA school in St. Petes that comes highly recommended for a 7d/7n ASA 101-104 live aboard class for just the two of us.


FWIW instructional programs cramming three classes into one week are educationally unwise. You hopefully will have a fun experience, and remember it for a long time but you will develop only a portlon of the expertise you would if you took the classes in the normally allocated nine days. I guess it depends on what your priority is, just dont go in fooling yourselves.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

sailingfool said:


> FWIW instructional programs cramming three classes into one week are educationally unwise. You hopefully will have a fun experience, and remember it for a long time but you will develop only a portlon of the expertise you would if you took the classes in the normally allocated nine days. I guess it depends on what your priority is, just dont go in fooling yourselves.


I completely agree, and have railed against these "Fast-Trac" courses elsewhere in this forum.

ASA 101 should take 3 FULL days with an instructor. - Ideally, the students should be able to take a similar boat to the one that they learned on for a day _*without*_ an instructor after the class.

ASA 103 should take 3 FULL days with an instructor.
ASA 104 should take 4 FULL days with an instructor. I have taught this course in 3 days, but it was not my choice.

3 + 1 + 3 + 4 = 10 days MINIMUM. By cramming everything into 7 days the school is shortchanging you. I support schools that combine ASA 101 and ASA 103 into a week. Similarly, I support schools that combine ASA 103 and ASA 104 in a week.

Unfortunately, it seems that many schools either believe that they are responding to the customers need, or they are responding to an opportunity to make quick money, by cramming a "Bareboat Certification" course in a week. Hey, I think that most of us would like to have received a Bachelor's degree in less than four years, but I found that was not possible. YouTube has several videos of the incidents these "credit card captains" have caused.

Personally, I would want all the training that I could get before taking the helm of a half-million-dollar (+) boat.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

Co_Sailer said:


> Thanks for the all replies. We have chosen an ASA school in St. Petes that comes highly recommended for a 7d/7n ASA 101-104 live aboard class for just the two of us.


I think you have chosen wisely. Having sailed in the PNW and the Bay Area. One has too much wind for a vacation, the other does not have enough to learn to sail.

I agree that 7 days is not much to learn all 3 levels of ASA but living 1000 miles from the ocean do what you have to. I also doubt the average person can learn from no sailing experience to chartering half million dollar boats in 10 days. Put the ASA certs in your pocket this summer and hire a Captain for a charter next summer to see how much you remember.

One suggestion if you think you have the experience, ask to challenge the ASA 101 class on the first day. Study the book ahead of time and it should be easy to pass. That way you could spend the whole week concentrating on ASA 103 and 104.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

My wife took the week long liveaboard course from Offshore Sailing School in Tortola. I was absolutely amazed at how much she learned in one week. She became a reasonably competent fair weather sailor capable of sailing a 40ft keelboat. I know some of our local instructors push back on these and for good reason. However, I think the question is one of aptitude. Some will take to it faster and better than others. In fact, she learned how to do things the right way that many or most lifetime sailors do wrong.

If the OP already knows how to sail dinghies and small keel boats, I'm willing to bet they are far enough up the aptitude curve to benefit from a fast track course.

The trick with anything that is learned fast is keeping from losing it fast. You absolutely must put what you've learned to use asap. My wife was able to immediately reinforce her new knowledge aboard our own boat. 

Offshore Sailing School also had a location in Florida last I knew.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

Minne - you may recall that I am a former OSS instructor. They currently offer US/Sailing (not ASA) certification classes from resorts in Florida (3 locations) and the BVIs.

Realize that many people take sailing lessons before they have consistent access to a sailboat. Most of the students were on a week-long vacation with their family and want to learn to sail so that they can bareboat charter, without a captain/instructor in the future.

The claim for the Fast Track is that you can go from zero sailing experience to "knowledge, skills and confidence to handle sailboats up to 50' without hired captain or professional crew" (Couch to Captain's Chair) in one week. Your wife presumably had some experience and access to sailing with an experienced sailor (you) on your boat where she can learn, practice and build muscle memory.

When I would teach the first two days of their Fast-Track, I sometimes felt that the students were shortchanged. In essence, the Fast-Track course is US/Sailing's Basic Keelboat, Basic Cruising, and Bareboat Cruising courses combined into a week. The first two days of the Fast Track are an abbreviated version of the OSS's three day Learn-To-Sail (US/Sailing's Basic Keelboat) course without the opportunity to take a boat, a Colgate-26, without an instructor. In my experience leaving, sailing, and returning to the dock without an instructor is the part of the Learn To Sail course that cements the lessons of that course. 

You can learn about the US/Sailing curricula here: https://www.ussailing.org/education/adult/certification-courses-endorsements/basic-keelboat/
here; https://www.ussailing.org/education/adult/certification-courses-endorsements/basic-cruising/
and here; https://www.ussailing.org/education/adult/certification-courses-endorsements/bareboat-cruising/​
The Fast-Track course adds time on a larger boat (Jenneau 43 or Lagoon 48), close quarters manuvering, docking, rules of the road, anchoring, navigation, and systems (and troubleshooting) to this, and provides the student with a half-day on the larger boat without the instructor to cap the class. There is so much material to cover in so little time that many things (knots and cleating as an example) can only get cursory coverage. I believe that this course would be a great follow up for somebody, such as your wife, that had some sailing experience, or someone who has the opportunity to sail again with an experienced captain. Based on the post by @Co-Sailer (dinghy and day sailing experience), I suspect that it could be a good fit for him. However, I do not believe that it is going to make someone that has never sailed a boat a *competent* charterer or boat owner.

I have a lot of respect for Offshore Sailing School. I believe that they offer _excellent_ and _consistent_ instruction (Steve still has his hand in the curriculum development) aboard meticulously maintained boats. However, I believe that Fast-Track courses, regardless of who is offering them, are promising something to everybody that they can only deliver to students with the right background.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

eherlihy said:


> ......I believe that Fast-Track courses, regardless of who is offering them, are promising something to everybody that they can only deliver to students with the right background.


E... to this point, we fully agree. No good way to know if one has the right background. I usually add the point about needing the opportunity to set in the muscle memory, when one returns, as well.

There is a broad point that should probably by mentioned. I taught scuba diving, when I was in my 20s. My standards for what one should and should not do were substantially more strict than the average bear. For example, I was a zealot on never putting one's mask on their forehead. The only real downside was that it could be knocked off and you could lose it. How often does that happen? Almost never. An instructors standards are just much higher than absolutely necessary.

I look around my marina and see all sort of sailors, competencies, backgrounds and skills. Many taught themselves to sail or had little more than a friend or camp get them started. Some do all sorts of stupid things after many years on the water, because they don't know better. I'm going to throw a number out there, without any real support, but it feels right. The Fast Track course taught my wife more in one week, than half the marina of lifelong sailors ever taught themselves. I certainly wouldn't disagree that more time, more training, more attention, more follow up are better. Whether necessary is dependent on the individual, I think.


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## 22catcapri (Feb 21, 2017)

My wife and I chose Offshore Sailing out of Ft. Myers. BUT, after that we did a flotilla in BVI with Sunsail. The BVIs were a good classroom and Sunsail flotilla gave us some route planning freedom.


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## Minnesail (Feb 19, 2013)

I think you can learn a lot in seven days, if it's mostly practical hands-on stuff. 

If you do all the reading and studying ahead of time so that once you're there on the boat you're not wasting time learning what a stanchion is, you should do well.


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## isuee94 (Mar 9, 2018)

I'll chime in here since my wife and I did essentially the same thing.

Feb. 2017, we did a week on a 38 ft. catamaran in the Caribbean and did ASA 101/103/104/114. It is a TON of information to cram into a week and I don't think everyone can or should learn this way, but it does work for some. That said, we spent a TON of time preparing ahead of time. We read all the books, took all the practice tests, did some dingy sailing at a local sailing club, practiced knots, watched some ASA prep videos on Udemy. Once we were on the cat, it clicked fairly fast for me and I was able to get my ASA 101/103/104/114. While my wife did great, it didn't click quite as fast for her so she only got her 101/103. There were some topics that were rushed and if we'd had another 1 or 2 days, I'm confident she would have gotten her 104/114 as well. 114 is just a cat specific test, and a pretty easy one at that, but 104 is a prerequisite so she couldn't get that cert.

Summer 2018 we purchased a 22 ft. trailer sailboat on Craigslist and sailed that on local lakes to keep practicing our sailing skills.

Feb. 2019, we did a 7 night bareboat charter on a 40 ft. catamaran and I skippered. The charter company did ask that we take one of their skippers with us for the first 2 days just to check us out and make sure we knew what we were doing. He was a good dude and we got some good pointers and it got us off to a good start. After that we were on our own and everything went well. We were on/off the dock 6 times during the course of our charter (1 practice dock with our checkout skipper, 1 docking to drop him off, 2 dockings to top off the water tanks and 2 more to fill up fuel and water on our last day - 2 because I pulled up to the wrong dock first and had to move because their fuel hose wouldn't reach). I say this because you hear of charterers that never dock the boat once during their charter.

We were also approved to go to Anegada, something that apparently not everyone gets approval to do as it's based on experience / skill level. But, after two days with our checkout skipper, he felt comfortable that we knew what we were doing. Again, we studied the charts and the entrance ahead of time and I had Navionics on my phone as a backup with the location of the where the channel markers should be pinned (because sometimes they aren't all there).

I think the ASA 'learn to sail' charters can give some people the false sense that they can go from 0 to bareboat in a week. You get what you put into them and you need to go into them with a certain level of understanding of sailing. That said, if you're the type of person that learns quickly and put in the effort, you can get to a reasonable competency level fairly quickly due to the immersive, hands-on nature of a week long liveaboard experience. In our case, we had a good experience and were able to do an amazing charter in the BVI's as a result. I certainly still have a lot to learn and will continue to do so. I'm the type of person that once I get interested in something, I'm all in and want to learn as much as I can, so I'm constantly reading, watching videos, etc. to absorb as much as I can. We'll also be sailing the crap out of our 22 ft. sailboat this summer to keep learning.


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## isuee94 (Mar 9, 2018)

Duplicate post...


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## chuck5499 (Aug 31, 2003)

Co_Sailer said:


> Thanks for the all replies. We have chosen an ASA school in St. Petes that comes highly recommended for a 7d/7n ASA 101-104 live aboard class for just the two of us.


Right On - have fun - But study the material first and treat it like a college masters class. a lot of work.

We did something similar - we had never been on a sailboat before we took asa101 in Houston as a lark when we had nothing to do for a very long weekend in Dec. 2000. In fact it had to be spread over 2 weekends as the day we got there weather set in and it poured rain for the entire weekend so we did class room one day and came back a couple of weeks later for the on water.

We liked it so much we did the next 2 classes in Punta Gorda Fla and took the boat for a week. It was only 4 days of classes and then we had the boat to ourselves for 3 days. The great thing of our capt was he made us work as a team - I cooked she cooked, I had the helm she had the helm, everything we did we had to work as a team and it was great. We still do it.

Just make sure your capt makes you work as a team and get the little stamps in the book. We have used that as our qualifications for countries that require such.

Have fun


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