Association Forum - Sailing Course? Looking

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Sailing Course? Looking

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Scooter
Navigator

Member Avatar

USA
228 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/18/2006 : 08:05:45

I'm looking for a "Boot Camp" style live aboard course. Probably about a week or so. I might even entertain a few weeks live aboard transport combo.

My wife and I did a course several years back but we were disappointed. It was more of a day sail and we didn't learn much if anything. A complete waste of time and money.

I have more experience than my wife so we may have to do separate trips??

We are sailing farther and farther off shore and I am looking for more off shore navigation and foul weather sailing methods. My wife needs more of the basics in order to start catching up.

There are so many schools out there and we both still work so we don't want to waste out time learning what we already know. We do understand the need to re-enforce what we already know or un-learn bad habits etc..

Any experiences out there? We live in NC so probably Florida or even the islands would be fine but we are looking for quality.

Thanks,

Scooter
C25 '89 SR/WK #5878 "Square Knot"
Vandemere NC.

Edited by - on

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2006 : 08:19:58

Check out US Sailings (ussailing.com)web site. They have a number of courses including one on cruising. They may also be able to point you in the right direction to find a good on the water course.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2006 : 08:26:28

Although I have no personal experience with the [url="http://www.offshore-sailing.com/"]Off Shore Sailing School[/url], they appear to have quite a selection of courses for cruisers.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
5905 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2006 : 09:24:53

I have no experience with the Maryland School of Sailing and Seamanship, but they also look like they offer what you're looking for. They have an advanced coastal cruising course that amounts to a circumnavigation of the Delmarva peninsula. It starts from Rock Hall, MD and goes out the Delaware Bay to the Atlantic; then south to the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, then up the Chesapeake and back to Rock Hall. It's a 7 day trip and costs about $1700.

They also have a bluewater cruising course, the least expensive of which costs about $3600. I think it goes from the Chesapeake to Bermuda.

Their website is at the following hyperlink. http://www.mdschool.com/courseDe.htm#Offshore%20Passagemaking%20 ASA#108 ?OVRAW=Offshore%20Sailing%20School& OVKEY=offshore%20sailing%20school& OVMTC=standard

As for heavy weather sailing, there are only two ways I can think of to learn about it. One is to read about it, and the other is to get out and sail in it, preferably with an experienced instructor. I read "Heavy Weather Sailing," by K. Adlard Cole. He analyzes all the various techniques, and describes how and when to use them. It's an excellent book, and a fascinating read. Regardless of whether you take a bluewater course or not, you'll learn a tremendous amount about heavy weather sailing.

If you take a course, let us know how you liked it. I, for one, am also thinking about a similar course, and would like to hear about your experiences.

Edited by - on

Kip C
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
243 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2006 : 20:45:04

I was bit (an understatement) by the sailing bug back in 2000, when my wife and I took a 4-5 day sailing trip with 3 other couples to the Dry Tortugas on a Catamaran. After that, I was determined, to find and get into, what ever sailing could be done in.... Cincinnati, Ohio?

With Cincinnati not exactly being synonymous with sailing, I looked at several schools offering week long, live aboard, learn to sail courses. It came down to the Annapolis Sailing School, Colgate's Offshore Sailing School and Blue Water Sailing School. I decided on BWSS. Besides being ASA's sailing school of the year the previous 2 years, they were Florida! After recruiting my brother-in-law and a friend, we scheduled their A plus (bare boat chartering) coarse for the 1st week of December of 2001. Because we booked 3 berths at once, they gave us 10% off. As it ended up, it was only the Captain and us on a 42ft Beneteau. For two of us, our sailing resume consisted of a long weekend sailing trip, plus a few dingy attempts. The other grew up occasionally playing with a "Klepper", a folding, portable sailboat.

Considering that we were nearly complete newbys, the week was pretty intense. We didn't think to check what the water felt like til Thursday, and we had arrived on Saturday. Doing man over board drills in 15-20 knt winds in Biscayne Bay, anchored several night ( arriving to our anchorage usually in the dark), covered basic traditional navagation, and boat handling manuvers at Anglefish Creek. It was an awsome week!

In hindsight, for sailing on a small inland lake and just beginning, the course might be overkill, but it sure was fun.

They also offer an intermediate bareboat course, advanced coastal cruising and offshore passage courses. The intermediate and advanced courses sail to the Bahamas and back, at least the Ft Lauderdale location does. The offshore varies. They do have other locations for both mono hulls and catamarans, plus they have a charter business. I think they will tailor a course to what ever you want.

All in all, we were vary satisfied. Here's their link. http://www.bwss.com/

Edited by - on

EAbrams
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
130 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2006 : 16:43:45

Hi Scooter

I was surprised that the self proclaimed Sailing Capital of North Carolina has only a few schools. Oriental School of Sailing and Bow to Stern Sailing School in Oriental, NC offers off shore courses. They are affiliated with US Sailing and ASA. I only took the basic keel boat course from O.S.S. in August of 2005 so I can not advise how happy you would be with them. Being you could almost walk to Oriental from Vandemere you probably already know about those schools.

BTW I finally bought a trailer. thanks for your help

Edited by - EAbrams on 12/20/2006 16:52:20

Bruce Baker
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
402 Posts

Response Posted - 12/21/2006 : 10:50:25

You might also consider J World--they have facilities in Annapolis and in Key West. Friends of mine took their cruising course to get "certified" for charter purposes. They also have racing courses. I plan to take the racing course this summer.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 12/22/2006 : 06:50:29

I was hesitant to chime in with J World since it is primarily racing however the cruising classes offered seem fairly robust and the boat size seems adequate for this type of class. I was concerned that the class would be on a 105 or 24 which wouldn't have been enough boat for the objectives.

Here is the link to their cruising page:
http://www.jworldannapolis.com/course.aspx?coursegroupid=13

My only concern with this is the internet URL lists their cruising classes as Group 13.....

:)

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.