Looking for private ASA certification - Boston

[usawiwasu]

Hi Everyone,

Now that we are in the virtual covid world, and with elementary schools going to remote learning, my wife and i have decided that we should take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity and explore the large world around us with our family.

We are in the process of finding/buying a boat and want to become ASA Certified on our own vessel. I've done some fresh water sailing on lake Michigan but have no real blue water experience and my wife has no experience at all.

i would expect to do the coursework online with the practical training on the boat over an extended voyage. One of the boats i'm looking at is in Ft. Lauderdale. I was thinking of finalizing the sale at the Annapolis boat show and sailing it up to Boston with the family and instructor. We would like to finish with as much practical knowledge as possible and see where we end up on the certification route. Ideally we would like to get ASA 101,103 and 104 by the end of the voyage though we are more concerned with learning the skills than trying to cram the information in over a 4-6 day trip. It would also be great to climatize my children to sailing and see what they pick up.

Our dream has always been to sail around the world in retirement; now we have the opportunity to do it while we are younger and allow our girls (6 and 8) to see the world rather than read about it.

I'm not sure if this is realistic but I am interested in the forums thoughts and suggestions.


Regards,

Mark

[hlev00]

Have you checked with any of the ASA schools in the area?

[usawiwasu]

I have called to the local sailing schools. I've not heard anything back yet; kind of an odd request.

Mark

[dannc]

Originally Posted by usawiwasu

I have called to the local sailing schools. I've not heard anything back yet; kind of an odd request.

Mark

Try Jason at https://myrtlebeachsailingschool.com/, which is in SC. I know he does deliveries and he is a great instructor so he might be able to work this into his schedule. Last we heard he was fully booked in August. Bill is the other schools instructor, and is also very good, but the last we heard, he is locked down because of the virus from his other job so he is not available.

There are multiple other discussions about trying to get the ASA classes done in a given amount of time that you might want to read on CF.

We took the ASA 101 and 103 over a 6 day course and it was a great deal of work. It was worth it but we were studying and doing, i.e., working, from about 8:00am until 10:00pm or 11:00 pm every day for just two classes. Each class had a 100 question test along with the knot test and practical sailing tests. It was fun, very educational, well worth the time and money but it was a lot of work.

If the passage was long enough, I think one could do the classes. But there is quite a bit of book learning one needs to do besides the practicals. Having said that, a big part of the course, and the hardest part since it put all of the sailing skills together, was the man over board drills. This took quite a bit of time and practice which would somehow have to be inserted into the passage.

Later,
Dan