Learned the Basics, What next ?

[vasuvius]

I started learning to sail this summer. I completed the ASA 101, joined a local club and sailed J29s in the NY harbor area out of Jersey City. Then I completed the ASA 103 and 104. The NY harbor is great training ground with the tide, currents, traffic, 2 rivers, and shifting winds due to the tall buildings.

I also spent sometime sailing with my brother-in-law on his Beneteau 323. Helped him get it out of winter storage, rig the sails in the furlers, and move it from Long Island to CT. Then we spent 5 days sailing to Block Island and back.

I'd like to learn more so that I can charter a boat for European vacation next summer - either Greece or Croatia.
What can I learn more to be ready for it. I learn quickly and am comfortable with sailboats, fixing stuff etc. Is a 104 certification sufficient to charter a boat?

Are there opportunities to spend a week or 2 in Florida in the winter and learn more skills? I have the time now.

Next summer I might look into buying a small sailboat in the 30 ft or smaller range that can be sailed singlehanded.

Any and all suggestions appreciated.

Thanks, V

[dougweibel]

Hello V

Welcome to the forum. ASA-104 is certainly enough to charter, though I cannot comment on what is required by European charter companies. You can certainly charter in Florida for a week or two and build your skill. If you are flying anyway you could consider charter opportunities in the Bahamas or Caribbean as well. Chartering will help you build skills for managing a boat, not just sailing it.

Good luck and enjoy!

[LittleWing77]

Keep sailing. Build your sea-time.

(Well done, btw.)
LittleWing77

[vasuvius]

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

Keep sailing. Build your sea-time.

(Well done, btw.)
LittleWing77

Thank you. Yes, I plan to. I'm looking for ideas on how to find opportunities. I've starting combing the Classified for "crew wanted". Hoping .....

[chris mac]

We did a "live and learn" sailing course. But we did it through an independent live aboard couple.
We were the only guests, so had one on one instruction. We spent a week on their live aboard going through as much as possible for learning.
He was an instructor for for space so we also received several certs.
You can do these through companies as well but they tend to fill the boat with customers and you get more limited practice.
The other benefit is it was actually cheaper than renting a charter.
So I would recommend looking around for someone with this kind of arrangement. We found it very helpful

[vasuvius]

Originally Posted by chris mac

We did a "live and learn" sailing course. But we did it through an independent live aboard couple.
We were the only guests, so had one on one instruction. We spent a week on their live aboard going through as much as possible for learning.
He was an instructor for for space so we also received several certs.
You can do these through companies as well but they tend to fill the boat with customers and you get more limited practice.
The other benefit is it was actually cheaper than renting a charter.
So I would recommend looking around for someone with this kind of arrangement. We found it very helpful

Where does one start looking for such opportunities?

[jskarda]

We did a 'Try a Catamaran' with Jeff and Jean, Two can Sail - We went to Antigua on a 40 ft Fontaine Pajot - us and 1 other couple and Jeff and Jean. Was a fun week and learned a lot about chartering - things such as getting groceries and provisioning for a week, anchoring, controlling a catamaran in a mooring field and many valuable skills without having to have responsibility of being the captain in charge of a vessel.
I had obtained my ASA 101/103/104 a couple years prior, yet still learned a great deal on this trip, plus was first trip on a Cat as my ASA week was on a monohull.

Try A Catamaran

After that a year later we did a family charter by ourselves on a 40 ft catamaran in the BVI. This was also a great trip with many memories, and the BVI is very easy to navigate and learn for your first charter. The Moorings was also easy to deal with as a charter company - probably not lowest price, but they are very supportive. We had an engine go out one day while grabbing a mooring and they sent out a couple repair techs and we were back up in about 3 hours - a water pump on one of the engines had gone out.

The thing I would be concerned with in Greece or Croatia is how their navigation rules, mooring and other rules differ from those in north America and the Caribbean.

Navigating a catamaran in tight spaces with surprisingly easy - I think much easier than a mono-hull because you have excellent steerage using just the two engines and locking the steering wheel.

If it's possible to do a 'Try a Catamaran' with someone else in the area you wish to charter in Croatia or Greece that would be idea just to get more familiar with the area before you go on your own.

Fair Winds!

[Stewie12]

A boat with an instructor would be an ideal way to go rather than charter for the first time on your own.

[chris mac]

Originally Posted by vasuvius

Where does one start looking for such opportunities?

We found ours through word of mouth. Ask around marina, sailing clubs ect. References are crucial.
The one we used has since retire and sold their boat unfortunately.
I would think asa schools would be able to list some private instructors through their program

[Luna Loca]

Great fun, isn't it!!! With the 3 certs you have you can apply for ASA's "Certificate of Proficiency for Navigating in Mediterranian Waters (Yacht Helmsman)." Supposedly, European charter companies will accept this document??? I belong to a sailing club in St. Petersburg, FL, and have been keeping a log every time I go out, several times a month with some overnights anchored out; date, times, distance, winds, weather, crew positions, etc. I have been told with these I should have no problem chartering in Europe??? Worst case will be short voyage with charter company captain for approval. Fair winds and good passages!

[dannc]

To take ASA 104, the recommendation is for a minimum of 80 hours, after one completes ASA 101 and maybe ASA 103. One has to complete ASA 101 and ASA 103 but it is not clear to me if the clock starts after ASA 101 or ASA 103. Tis a moot point for us since we completed both classes at the same time.

Might just be us, but we do not count time sailing where there was an instructor on board or another captain, to get to the recommended number of hours. The ASA classes teach fundamentals, the real learning is when you are out there on your own, problems happen, and it is all on YOU to solve.

We have talked this over with our instructor and he said most/many people don't get the recommended 80 hours before taking ASA 104. Surely, some people are ready to take ASA 104 before 80 hours, I suspect we would be, but we enjoy taking the boat out by ourselves, it is fun, we are learning/relearning, are not in a hurry, and are not bored. So why push it?

Granted it is tough to find a way to get on a boat, especially if one only has ASA 101/103. How do you get the hours, by yourself, to get to ASA 104?

One of the reasons we picked the ASA school we attended, is that they have a rental program. Once you complete ASA 101/104 you can rent a boat and go for a day sail which is what we have been doing.

We learn, and sometimes relearn, a HUGE amount every time we take the boat out. Last trip, right after we left the dock, we discussed something we had just learned, and that if we learned nothing else that day, we got our money's worth. Well, it was the first thing we learned, but we learned and relearned quite a bit more the day.

Oh, yeah, we also had fun!

We will take ASA 104 at some point, hopefully next spring if weather, work and virus allows us to get our sailing time completed. We can then charter the larger boat from the school but we also plan to head to FLA to charter down there as well. Eventually, we want to take ASA 114 which I suspect will be done down in the islands.

Later,
Dan

[robwilk37]

get into racing. its a great confidence/skill builder, nTH-degree boat handling, seamanship, decision making etc. and you do it on someone elses boat...

[Noisykate]

Hi
Just in relation to chartering in the Med:
Firstly, covid may well be your biggest problem. It is not yet over. Lockdowns and quarantines are changing weekly all over europe, with no end in sight.

That aside, with what quals you have, you should be fine on a flotilla holiday - easy sailing, mostly line-of-sight, supervising boat nearby and in radio contact at all times, simple boats, daily briefing, etc.

You may well need more to convince somebody to rent you a 'bareboat'.

If budget permits, a skippered charter may work, although how much you learn from that would be dependent on the personalities involved.

Save visiting europe until you have got a bit more experience nearer home?

FWIW, most cruisers try to keep well away from charter boats...!

[jim King]

The ASA 104 is all that is required in most Med locations. I have encountered many boaters there that have gotten in over their heads with just an ASA 104 and little experience. Other bases (like Belize ) require a full resume of your last ten years of sailing experience and especially in the type of boat you're going to charter (ex; 45 catamaran). You may want to have some more experience as the captain in charge before heading off to the Med. In both Greece and Croatia there are very different styles of docking and anchoring. You will need to have the experience before you get yourself into a new world and new sailing requirements. Read up and practice dropping anchor 100' out and backing perpendicular to a dock until you are comfortable with this med mooring style before you try it for the first time in Greece or Croatia. There are also some very serious winds that can be on you in an instant in these locations. Better to have some serious experience before finding yourself in a serious situation.

[doublewide]

It would be good to read and reread “Chapman Piloting and Seamanship” in a recent edition.