Opinions on ASA 105 and ASA 106 courses?

[ejwheeler3]

Hi all,

I'm planning on joining an organized 7 day sailing trip out of Traverse City in late June, partly because I love the area but mostly because I want to see if I enjoy living on a boat for a week at a time enough to invest into a cruising boat of my own.

I already have the ASA stickers for Basic Keelboat and Basic Coastal Cruising - I picked those up in San Francisco years ago when I lived out there. I did a whole lot of day charters back then, mostly in the 30 to 35 foot range. (Gotta love the wind there in the summer!) But being able to return a boat to a club and let them deal with pump outs, mechanical issues, etc. is a whole different kettle of fish, I'm thinking.

For the last 5 years I've been living in the midwest, and my sailing has been on Lasers and Hobies, 2 to 4 weeks every summer - but the larger boats are calling to me.

As part of this 7 day trip, I for sure plan to add ASA 104 (Bareboat Chartering) to my collection of stickers. So finally to the questions: what do you all think of ASA 105 (Coastal Navigation) and ASA 106 (Advanced Coastal Cruising) ? The incremental cost to add these to the trip are $250 for ASA 105 and $150 for ASA 106.

It if changes your thoughts on the matter, I'm thinking likely an older classic plastic 30 to 35 footer, should I decide to buy - likely based out of the Port Clinton area of Lake Eric.

Thanks in advance!

[nautical62]

I see little value in adding the advanced coastal cruising to the Bareboat.

I think the value of the navigation, depends on your curent navigational skills and ability to learn without the course.

If you get into chartering someday, I think it's the Bareboat Cert. and your resume that will be the primary factors, not other, smaller courses.

Take the other courses, if you feel the content would be helpful.

I think the most important thing is that the Bareboat course is a "liveaboard" course.

[BWB75]

I would recommend taking the extra courses. The incrimental cost is slight, and the opportunity to learn more and enhance your experience could be very worth while. I enjoyed my 105 course and even if you are proficient with navigation you will likely enjoy the refresher and/or walk away with some little nugget.

As for advanced coastal cruising, well, it never hurts to have more mandatory practice drills and more stickers. You might even learn something of great value or, more likely, be reminded of something that you might not have thought about for a while. If I remember correctly 106 includes overnight sailing and some more hands on stuff with systems. If you are thinking of owning your own boat i would imagine night time experience and systems could be quite valuable.

This is one of those propositions where the downside is pretty minimal and the upside might be little or it might be big. You really can't lose with more training. I got the extra stickers and never regretted it. Just my two cents.