How necessary is ASA

[Saleen411]

Maybe not necessary depending on what you want to do, but what's the harm if one has the time and money. Learning and education is always a good thing.

I'm no sailor even though I've been chartering since the mid 80s...but I'm going to do the basic ASA courses this October in the BVIs. I want the paper for the charter areas that require it and I'm looking forward to the learning experience.

[leftbrainstuff]

Not necessary but lowers our full insurance cost.

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[Hearts Content]

there are those that need to be led and those that can find their own way.

[cruisernewbie]

When I learned how to sail a few years ago in the Caribbean BVI, I took US Sailing live aboard intensive courses through Offshore Sailing. It was intense and fun and lots of practical tests besides written. We had to prove that we could sail and do the drills to pass the course. Well worth it for me since I had zero prior experience with sailing.

[ingrid75]

I have been cruising full time for 21 years and visited over 40 countries. No one has ever asked to see an ASA certificate. And I doubt that any official, anywhere would have any idea what an ASA certificate was. (Of course I suppose that if you were ever in a really bad storm or dragging onto a lee shore, you could whip out your ASA super-sailor certificate and show it to the ocean and all would be okay again)

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Bobbyewe

Definitely need certification outside the U.S. for chartering.

This is not true at all. There may be SOME areas where you "definitely need certification," but I don't think there is anywhere in the Caribbean that any sort of certification is a requirement. I have chartered many times without any certification.

Of course, it goes without saying that additional learning never hurts. Nothing wrong with getting the certifications, but the question wasn't whether or not the learning was useful. The question was, are the certifications necessary? Answer: absolutely not.

[Mithril Bham]

Got a used book. "Get Your Captain's License". Comes with CD that prepares you for test. Read Chapmans. Read Annapolis Book of Seamanship. Paid $50 and took USCG license test. That is your best certification.

Was responsible for vetting charter guests. Mainly looked at their resume. Checked them out on boat. Main concern was their ability to handle boat around dock. Docks & Rocks. Miss both and we were happy.
Mainly putting in the time.
Caribbean will charter to anyone.
Never had a problem in the Med. May have changed.
Canada might be toughest but not that tough.

[Sailingketch]

I am one of those newbies that took the ASA courses, got certification, and then bought his own 36' ketch. I took the courses at three different ASA schools and had excellent instruction in all of them. I chartered a 42' sailboat in Greece and they definitely wanted to see paperwork so I got the International Certificate from ASA and they accepted that. I haven't chartered in the Carib yet.

The instruction I've been given was very good but I agree that you could learn it on your own through the school of hard knocks. But why would you want to when so many other people have gone before you to show the way?

Getting good training is paramount to enjoying sailing. Without it you are going to have far more costly adventures than you may wish for.

But, in the end, spending time on the water is everything. Time and experience will carry the day every time.

Cheers to ASA

[SaltyMonkey]

I'd say take a real hard look at the school and the agenda they are teaching and ask yourself if you will get anything out of the curriculum you don't already know.

More importantly, is there anything on the curriculum that you think you might need brushing up on or that you think you might have mis-interpreted.

Then there are other courses such as diesel mechanics, celestial, radar, welding, boat maintenance which I think are extremely valuable that no one takes.

[Sonosailor]

ASA (acetylsalycilic acid) is very necessary for owning and running a large boat. So many headaches ahead - I mean, just from hitting it on the bulkheads, let alone maintenance and repair! (A little voice from Canada ;-))

[Cheechako]

Not necessary. I've never needed it to charter even. I just give them a sailing resume. Not sure if that will continue or not though.

[bkrizmanic]

True that you may not need ASA, but if you go to Europe you will to have a International Certificate to charter. Last year in Jamaica a USCG license captain was given a hard time because he didn't have ASA or a IC.
The ASA 104 will get you a IC.

[a64pilot]

There are idiots everywhere. I went to get my tanks filled, only had my cave card and my tri-mix card with me.
Idiot wouldn't fill them without a Nitrox card, so after thinking for a minute, I told him fine, fill them with tri-mix, 32-0, he went to do it, then figured out that was standard Nitrox

[bvisailing32]

Well,

needing an ASA international certification.....we twice skippered motor vessels up the river Shannon for two weeks....two different years. I was with emerald isle curises, via Le Boat thru the Moorings.

My U.S.C.G 500 tons License was just fine. Actually, at that time, for Ireland, I don't think any certification was required.

But for other outfits and different countries I can see that they would want you to be up on the navigation, and buoyage systems, and other aspects of rules of the road, and whatever that we are not used to here.

I have no idea what the ASA International Certification seminar includes, but so far in the Caribbean, Austraiia, Tahiti, Tonga, etc. no problem.

However, we would definitely find out what the requirements would be by contacting the charter companies and be 100% certain of their requirements before actually booking anything.

Thanks for the heads up....long, long flights across the U.S.A. and then across the Atlantic, only to find your are not taking a vessel anywhere due to not having the required certifications.

Ouch !

[Cottontop]

This thread reminded me to get my ASA International Proficiency Certificate (IPC). I completed ASA 104 a couple of years ago. The price for the IPC was USD39.00 (plus 5 bucks to mail it). Here is a list of the countries where ASA claims the IPC is accepted:

Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Turkey

I think I have read that Croatia is a stickler for proof of proficiency, but I may not be remembering that right.