Can you recommend a charter/sailing school?

[Canibul]

Wife and I are working on the boat angle, but in the meantime we are discussing taking some kind of cruising catamaran sailing course. We are thinking we would like to be able to fly somewhere and bareboat charter as a way of getting more into it before buying our own boat.

Two places we would like to spend some time cruising, for example, are Greece and northern NZ. We are never going to sail our own boat from here to either of those places, but could probably spend two weeks in each of them, spread out over a year or two.
I dont really think I need any instruction in navigation, or onboard systems. What I need is experience sailing something that big and wide.

Does anyone know of a charter company who sell a course that is recognized by other charter companies, so that a certificate of some kind from one would be accepted elsewhere in the world? We are interested in cats in the 35-45 ft. range. Not to buy, dont want the maintenance costs ( see I DO listen to you guys) but to rent from time to time.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Canibul

Does anyone know of a charter company who sell a course that is recognized by other charter companies, so that a certificate of some kind from one would be accepted elsewhere in the world? We are interested in cats in the 35-45 ft. range. Not to buy, dont want the maintenance costs ( see I DO listen to you guys) but to rent from time to time.

Canibul,

The so-called "bareboat certification" seems to be a bunch of baloney. Most charter companies will charter to a warm body with a wallet attached. They don't make any money with the boat sitting at the dock. They ask for a resume of your boating experience and some check you out by asking you to take the boat to the gas dock. Some might make you take a skipper for a day or two. In your position I would charter a cat and ask for a skipper. You will learn a lot from one of these skippers. You might need him/her for a few days or retain the skipper for the whole charter. I think the rates for a skipper's about $150 a day and you have to feed him too. I have seen some in the BVI where the skipper gets off at the end of the day when you're securely anchored or on a ball and comes back in the morning.

[Chuteman]

You may want to throw this question in the Multi-hull section too.

Do you have a US Sailing or ASA Bareboat certification already? Have you chartered larger monohulls before?

Catamaran Training - Agree with V that if you charter a Cat the charter company will gladly arrange a skipper to help & coach you for as many hours/days as you want.

ASA also offers a separate Catamaran course (#114) but I think it requires BBC certification...............here's a link with USA schools but courses are held in foreign ports too.............scroll down to see the list of schools for Cats
http://www.asa.com/offshore_celestial_schools.html

If you are comfortable with > 35' monohulls & definitely > 40' monohulls the transition will not be too bad. There are certainly differences especially getting used to the beam or tacking but there are advantages that help too ie; two engines (in bigger cats). Good Luck

[btrayfors]

I agree with both these posts, and would also encourage you to charter with a captain aboard for however long you need to.

And, the good news is that you're very near one of the best places in the world to do this: the BVI.

Check out the Moorings, Sunsail, or others there for rates, availability, etc.

Bill

[ASkok]

Canibul,
We did just this last March in Bay of Islands NZ. My Wife and I have a 44 ft Cheoy Lee and we got interested in a Cat at the Annapolis Boat Show (just interested). We wanted to see how different they were so we chartered one from Moorings out of Bay of Islands for a week with a skipper. He taught us what we needed to feel comfortable without a skipper on a future trip, and we had a great time. Moorings did not require a skipper (we had to insist they find one) and other than my claiming I owned a boat never asked for any type of certification.
Bay of Islands was a terriffic destination, I'm sure we'll go back, unfortunately probabbly not with our Boat we just don't have the time.