Newbie! Certification / Resume for Bareboat Worldwide?

[traveler73]

Hello! My very first post. I'm 47 (closer to 48) and really want to learn how to sail. It's actually something I've wanted to do for a long time.

My ultimate goal is to achieve not only the certifications, but the resume and the personal confidence to rent bareboat anywhere in the world and for boat owners to feel comfortable renting their boats to me. I'm not sure I care to own my own vessel, at least not in the reasonably near future, unless I need to in order to gain enough sea time to build that resume.

I live near St. Petersburg, FL, which I think would be a great place to learn sailing. I haven't reached out to them yet, but there is an ASA certified school I have my eye on. My thought was to start with ASA #101, 103, and 104. After that, gain some experience on the water locally by renting bareboat charters from the same place that I earned my certification.

I have a couple of starter questions.
1) Is ASA recognized world-wide for the most part?
2) What do boat owners and charter companies look for in approving individuals to charter bareboat for multiple days away? (One of my eventual goals is to fly to Tahiti and explore the chain of islands for a few weeks, for instance).
3) What creative ways can you suggest for me to gain the experience, confidence and resume without owning my own boat? I've heard there are opportunities to be crew on other boats. I don't know a lot of people (any really) who sail, so getting myself invited onto private boats is something I'm not sure how to accomplish yet, but I can certainly work on it. If I have to, I'll buy a boat to reach my goals, and I may even change my mind about this once I get out on the water, but right this minute, buying my own boat isn't particularly important to me. Maybe a sailing club with shared boats?

I'm just trying to figure out if I'm on the right track.
Thanks for your advice, thoughts, etc.

[tkeithlu]

Welcome to the forum, Traveler. You are on track. Opportunities to crew will probably grow out of your experiences in sailing school. Immersing yourself in the community, helping at your local yard, and making new friends who share your goal will get you there.

[JoeRobertJr]

Hi, Traveler73

Given your location, going through that ASA series sounds like a great start. By the time you have completed the 104 course, you will be better able to assess your plans for the future. I recommend adding the docking course to that series. Of all the ASA courses I took, I found that to be the most beneficial.

Regarding bareboat chartering, each company will have its own process of assessing whether their boats are relatively safe in your hands. You can search online for charter companies, in Tahiti for example, and read what they have to say about their prerequisites. Some sailing areas are technically more challenging than others and will require more experience.

Best wishes in your sailing future. I did some ASA courses and some bareboat chartering, and really enjoyed it.

[jackdale]

If you wish to charter world-wide I suggest you look at getting an International Certificate of Competence or its equivalent. https://asa.com/international-certif...of-competence/

Experience is a big factor; not only the amount of experience , but the experience in different conditions. In British Columbia companies are concerned about the ability to handle large tides and strong currents.

[sail sfbay]

Originally Posted by traveler73

................I have a couple of starter questions.
1) Is ASA recognized world-wide for the most part?
2) What do boat owners and charter companies look for in approving individuals to charter bareboat for multiple days away? ..............
3) What creative ways can you suggest for me to gain the experience, confidence and resume without owning my own boat?...........

1) You are on the right track with getting ASA certification.
2) In my experience charter companies look for years of sailing experience and especially on similar size boat(s) that you plan to charter, may require you pass a written test and may have you demonstrate how well you can safely maneuver in/out of a berth and around a marina.
3) Join a sailing club that has a fleet of sailboats you can quality on, crew on as many sail boats as you can, then start chartering.

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by traveler73

After that, gain some experience on the water locally by renting bareboat charters from the same place that I earned my certification.

This is what I did. Builds confidence for both parties and likely gives you access to bigger boats faster.

[Jaqun]

Call local yacht clubs or go on their website and find out what days/evenings they race. you can ask someone at the club or just go down before the race and ask if anyone needs crew. someone always does. Great way to meet people who sail and get new skills. You can start out as rail meat (basically just ballast) and work you way up. Also a great couple of hour vacation from life. Unfortunately need to find out COVID restrictions. Might be better to do towards the summer. (When I started writing this forgot all about the pandemic...sigh)

[George DuBose]

I have been sailing for 62 years, Sea Scouts, US Navy and so on. I want to take my US-flagged boat to Croatia in a year or two and Croatia demands a sailing license of a specific level. ICC is one license they accept.

I found that NauticEd would let me take the theory text online and then I had to make a six hour practical test with one of their examiners.

NauticEd's Bareboat license was on Croatia's list of required licenses. Cost me about a grand including the six hour charter of a boat for the practical.

I am also a member of the RYA, but their course for a Day Skipper (accepted by Croatia) was at least a six day practical training program plus a theory. It would have cost a lot more, especially if I tried to do it as an individual.

The whole process took me a week and one afternoon in Tampa Bay.

Neat, sweet and complete.

[skipmac]

I have only chartered a few times in FL and the Caribbean and based on this history, the charter operators were more interested in your knowledge, experience, and capabilities than whatever classes or certificates you might have. In fact I have never had the first formal class nor do I hold any certifications but had no problem with charters. That being said, ASA and/or ICC does not hurt and is a good place to start.

Regarding experience, there are frequent opportunities to crew even for total newbies. This could range from starting as winch grinder and muscle power in local day races to crew on a delivery when someone is moving a boat. The move could be more or less local to across the ocean.

I have seen ads for delivery crew that ranged from we charge you for the experience to we pay your expenses to we pay you a salary. A lot depends on the move, the boat and captain and your experience level. On your side it will depend on your ability to be available for the time required for the delivery which often changes a lot based on weather.

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by traveler73

...
I have a couple of starter questions. ...

Your questions OP effectively require enormous generalisations to be made by any of us trying to answer. And the World is a really big place. Every charter company will have its own requirements. They may even differ within the same company by geographic location.

1) Is ASA recognized world-wide for the most part?
No not really, the more commonly recognized qualifications are issued by England's Royal Yachting Assn (RYA).

Be aware too that all the qualifications expire, usually within 10 years, some as short as 4.


2) What do boat owners and charter companies look for in approving individuals to charter bareboat for multiple days away? (One of my eventual goals is to fly to Tahiti and explore the chain of islands for a few weeks, for instance).

Personally I would be sending emails to a few Tahiti charter companies, I'd found on the internet, asking them directly what the deal is with chartering their boats. I think that their answers will be considerably more reliable than asking a bunch of us keyboard sailors.

Charter companies want the money. If they (or their insurance company) don't think you're up to it they'll suggest a skipper. Some would want to see more than a bit of paper, they'll want to hear about your documented experience. And want references.


3) What creative ways can you suggest for me to gain the experience, confidence and resume without owning my own boat? I've heard there are opportunities to be crew on other boats. I don't know a lot of people (any really) who sail, so getting myself invited onto private boats is something I'm not sure how to accomplish yet, but I can certainly work on it. If I have to, I'll buy a boat to reach my goals, and I may even change my mind about this once I get out on the water, but right this minute, buying my own boat isn't particularly important to me. Maybe a sailing club with shared boats?

I love the word 'creative'.
OK, well for a start learn the metric system.
Understand too that the IALA buoyage system is backwards in the USA. So everything you learn will be in reverse in virtually every other country.

Perhaps the most 'creative' I would suggest is find/make a friend who will share your interest and learn along with you.


Seriously there's only one way to learn sailing and that is to go sailing. Sure do a little basic course at the closest sailing school. Sailing in dinghies is better as you learn much more than on a keeler. But go sailing often.

Then buy a little boat and go sailing. Personally a little trailer sailor would be my preference. You can pick them up for under 2K. Then do lots of sailing, in good weather and bad. Once you've a little confidence then go out in stronger winds.

Plus join a sailing club and sign up for racing. Get out on different boats to see how different skippers manage, and how boats all have differing configurations. Ask heaps of questions, most starting with why.

You'll likely find too that as you get to know people there, opportunities for short deliveries come about. Boats are always being bought and sold, so need moving. Put your hand up for crew. There's a section on this site for advertising your crew availability.

Do that for 12 months and then decide if you really enjoy getting wet, cold, hungry and sea sick. If you do then start spending the big bucks on the more advanced courses and also some decent (and expensive) wet weather gear.

[Mrfish]

Since you are in St. Petersburg, you might look at the Boca Ciega Yacht Club in Gulfport, they are a bunch of sailors. Right next door is the Gulfport Yacht Club, not as classy as BCYC but then BCYC is not as classy as St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

Willing to drive, the Sarasota Sailing Squadron or the Tampa Bay Sailing Squadron in Apollo beach. Sailing is everywhere in Tampa Bay, you just need to get out.

You might look at the Meetup Group Tampa Bay Sailing for connections.

Best of Luck.

[zstine]

If you want to learn to sail my recommendation is to buy a small 2 person dinghy like a 420 and go sailing. cheaper and better than the ASA classes. I did my first charter when I was 28 yrs old and had sailed dinghies for a decade and had a few big boat experiences out with friends... thats it. Sunsail in the BVI rented me their 34ft 'little pup' and didn't even make me go out for a checkout ride! a few years later I rented a 473, again no checkout ride. .. Now I believe in the EU many countries require certifications by law and I don't think an ASA 104 qualifies...? Every location has different laws and each charter company has different rules. 4 years ago I chartered from CYOA (cover your own a$$) in the USVI. We had at this point owned a Tartan 41 for 3 years and had over a thousand miles in a keel boat. But they made us do a checkout ride during which I was told to 'sit down and shut up.' They were checking out my wife to make sure she could handle the boat alone. They instructed her to back up to the MOB, which is not the way we do it and she had a hard time. (we pull up next to the MOB on windward and drift down).. Then they restricted our cruising grounds to St.Tom and St. John.. The joker valve leaked, block on main sheet failed, and the engine failed after 2 days.. what a PITA!

[jmschmidt]

In addition to ASA you will need a lot of sea time to be able to bare-boat around the world. Insurers, boat owners and charter companies won't touch you without it. I have over 1,000 documented sea days and three or four times that much of undocumented (but real) time in sail and power boats since the age of fourteen. I've part-owned a charter 47' sailing cat in French Polynesia, and currently own a 47' power cat in the Caribbean, now shutdown by Covid 19. At home we own a 41' sloop. I have a US Coast Guard master's ticket (aka a Captain's License or MMC) for sail and power, but alas, no ASA or RYM. I'm told I can't charter in the Med without one or the other and maybe not even with the ASA.
Sailing and racing as crew would be very beneficial.

I learned all my sailing, racing and power boating on my own by just doing it and reading everything I could find on the subject. I'm not against schools, I flight instructed for over 3,000hrs. in primary flight schools and a major airline, but there is no substitute for experience on the water when things hit the fan.

Insurance now drives the equation. The charter companies have been put on notice by their insurers that customers must be certified to provide a paper trail for law suits. I've heard that the insurers require any boat over 60' must have licensed personnel on the bridge. All this has little to do with competency on the water.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

In addition to ASA you will need a lot of sea time to be able to bare-boat around the world. Insurers, boat owners and charter companies won't touch you without it.

This is true in many places but I have read reports from cruisers in some places that basically anyone with the money can charter a boat. I have heard of this in parts of the Caribbean and the Med.

Seems like the situation varies quite a bit from place to place.

Even so, I would not want to charter a boat if I didn't have the experience and expertise to manage, even if the company would let me do so.

[goboatingnow]

The situation around the Med varies immensely as does the enforcement , ranging from non existent to zealous ( Croatia ).