ASA Courses NC/SC

[Carolina Blue]

Hello, I am signing up for the ASA 101 (and maybe 103) course this summer and want to know if you guys can suggest which school would be better or of higher repute. I have looked at the website for the East Carolina School in New Bern, NC and the Charleston Sailing School in Charleston, SC. One cost slightly less and the other is slightly closer (canceling out the difference in $). I am also willing to consider other schools in NC or SC.

My lean is toward the outer banks because I have never been and want to go.

Please lend your advise on Sailing schools in this area (NC/SC) in specific OR on how to choose a sailing school in general. Open to all opinions.

Thanks,

[advocate777]

I have taken courses at Maryland School of Sailing and Seamanship - Chesapeake and water sailing">Blue Water Sailing School - ocean off s. florida and Biscayne bay. I picked them because I wanted to get instruction in the same waters I wanted to sail in. So I took classes on the chesapeake and also wanted to sail in the sub tropical ocean -
As I researched the top ASA schools on the east past and these two schools came up-
Also you can look and see which boats they teach you on - each school uses if different ones and I wanted to see the difference between a full- keeled boat, different sizes, etc. for instance the chesapeake school used and Island Packet 31 and the Florida one used a Gib'Sea 51
So- on what I've boat do you wanna learn on? Some schools use a smaller day sailor like a 26-28 foot and some you live aboard that are bigger-
So- where do you enter to sail and what type of boat would you like? What are your goals & pick a school that might meet it-
Then-- a school is only as good as its instructors so see what their experience is
Me- I wanted a instructor who had a lot of ocean experience-
As for the Carolina's I would just google 'ASA school of the year Carolina' and see what comes up
That what I did-

[cheoah]

Hi CB, missed this one. Years ago I took a class with Ocean Sailing Academy in Charleston, but they are no more, and looks like a franchise- On Deck. So no comment there, and it was US Sailing I think, didn't really matter to me.

I did like that I was learning to sail in an area with lots of current and commercial traffic. I soon bought a trailerable and started sailing out of Charleston, since it is closest to WNC at 4 hours.

Now I'm in the Pamlico Sound area, and there are classes here in Oriental, plus the ones you've already located. I hear good things about Bow to Stern in Oriental. It is 7 hours away from WNC.

I like the advice to see what boats they use. And I like the idea of learning in an area where you want to continue sailing.

[Carolina Blue]

Thanks Advocate and Cheoah,
I plan (and a tentative plan it is) to sail the outer banks down to South Carolina (Charleston and Hilton Head) and possible up coast toward Chesapeake. This is the early on sailing I want to do. Once I have solid experience I would like to expand from here.
I will look up the Oriental Schools.
Thanks for the replies.
CB