Colgate Sailing School

[sck5]

"does this mean that the companies that rent the boat for a week will not let you sail alone if you only have ASA. Does having one or the other certification make it more difficult to rent the boats? "

No. Both are good assuming you go through a comparable level. I did ASA but Colgate (US Sailing) has as good a reputation as any school out there. But really the most important question for a lot of the charter companies is "Did your check clear?" I exaggerate but not by much. They have big honking insurance policies so if you seem to know what you are doing they will be fine.

[Rubikoop]

Charter companies each have their own criteria do determine what minimum standards are required. As correctly stated, that standard may indeed be that your CC cleared!!! Other companies look at a variety of things including prior boat ownership, size of and experience in years on boats, previous charters, anchoring, docking, navigating etc. Formal training is included too.

So would you rather toss the keys to one who has circumnavigated without any formal training or to one who has picked up a few certificates during a 7 day class and has very little other experience?

The best place to ask what is needed to charter a boat is the actual charter company you are interested in.

[Piglet]

My wife and I had a wonderful experience taking the ASA 101/103 combined course from Emerald Coast Yachts in Pensacola, Florida. The instructor was very professional, knowledgable, and patient. We liked the fact that they cater to couples, so we were the only two in the "class" and were able to stay aboard the boat during our few days there.

[capt.bobfm]

Having been an ASA instructor and also US sailing, (with offshore sailing school), instructor, in the cruising courses, I can assure you that it all comes down to the instructor and their interaction withn the student. The students who take the instruction seriously and actually read the books, do well. Students who take the course and think of it as a "sailboat ride"or a "sea cruise" don't. Just like anything else in this world,"You get out of it just exactly what you put into it". The ASA tests are probibly a bit easier than the USS exams, but there's not as much unrelated stuff in the ASA tests. By the way, in the USS books, there are one or two mistakes in each. They are there on purpose. Did your instructor get you to figure out the mistkes and explain to him/her why they were wrong ?

[Whisper2Me]

I took the Colgate Fast Track to Sailing course over Christmas 2007. It was especially challenging as there was just one other student on both parts of the course. Being given a brand new Hunter & being told to set sail, see you tomorrow was an amazing experience & great for building self-confidence. I then didn't sail much for several years until this last summer when I bought a Viking 22 to learn on. I live in Canada in northern Ontario so I've found lake/channel sailing to be quite different to coastal sailing but i've found that I was taught everything I need to know. I'm saving up to take their racing course now :-) I would strongly recommend them!

PS I took my course in St Pete's & the B&B for the first part of the course were also fantastic!

[Juliette Sierra]

Great info in this thread , very helpful to me, thanks everybody. I'm actually moving to Ft Myers in about a month and was looking at taking classes at the colgate school. Their prices are about 2x the cheapest program I found but the program is the longest and I seem to hear nothing but good things about their courses and instructors.