pros/cons of getting ASA 103/104 vs just doing it?

[whynot929]

I took the 101, 103 & 104 courses. Toddster8 is correct about the reviews not being helpful. I took the 101 & 103 courses from one school and the 104 from another. The first school passed everyone and did a really poor job of training. The 104 school was very thorough and great.

I'm glad I took the courses. They were valuable. But when I was looking at the 106, it's basically sailing around the Delmarva peninsula in my area. I decided that I was comfortable doing that myself, so I'm not doing the course, but will take my boat on that sail July 4th week.

[SV Bacchus]

Agree with Roland. My initial sailing experience was on a Lazer, you do it wrong you get wet!

After we bought our Cat we did bring an instructor on board to teach us ‘cat’ behavior. He was also an ASA instructor so the wife and I were certified in 101, 103, 104 & 114. Our son received his 101, all he could get at his age.

It was a very positive, family learning experience. The certifications did zip for insurance. My prior USCG license and experience carried more weight.

[pete33458]

I took the ASA courses solely as a way to get out on the water when I didn't know anyone who had a boat and I wanted to move from sailboards and sailing dinghies to yachts. As it turned out, I got a lot of valuable information from them in a short time, learning the same stuff by experience might have taken years to acquire. In my opinion it is well worth doing, although certainly not necessary by any means. Of course, a lot depends on the instructor, I went to three different (and well known) schools, two of them were great, one was pretty much a disappointment.


Pete

[CarinaPDX]

It is interesting that no one has mentioned crewing as a way of learning; it seems that everyone wants to jump straight to captain. Volunteering to crew locally at first, then for more distant trips (deliveries?), is a great way to learn about ocean sailing.

Basic sailing skills are best learned in a small, responsive boat - a cruising boat is a poor place to learn the feel of sailing. Still, some study is valuable for becoming a capable sailor - visualizing center-of-effort and center-of-lateral-resistance and their interactions is part of mastering the art.

There is far, far more to learn than just how to make a boat move under wind power. It is important to also be competent in seamanship, piloting, and navigation. Then add in weather, engine maintenance, and operation of the marine electronics aboard. It all adds up to a large body of knowledge that will take time to acquire.

ASA came along after my time of preparation, so I will let others critique that approach. I have seen the concentrated RYA courses work well, assuming one has the months and money to pursue them. Personally I took all of the US Power Squadrons courses, which provided as much as could reasonably be expected from coursework but lacked much on-the-water time (which is where crewing, and sailing small boats, fills in). The USCG Auxiliary also offers similar courses. These two organizations offer classes at a much lower cost than ASA, but require membership and expect some involvement in their activities.

After courses and study it requires time to develop the procedures that apply to any specific boat and skipper. It still makes sense to start simple and local, and then push out the envelope as the skills are mastered. Give yourself time to prepare.

Greg

[leboyd]

I didn’t grow up on sailboats. I sailed very little when we decided that we wanted to charter in the BVIs. Of the two couples I would be the only one doing 90% of the work. There was no doubt that I would take all of the ASA courses, including the 105 and 106. We weren’t chartering a cat so I didn’t take the 114. Having sailed 500nm in the six months prior to BVIs provided the confidence necessary along with the knowledge that I didn’t know that much. Being conservative, we had a blast in the BVIs. Since then, I’ve completed the 114, sailed with several friends, taken private one-day lessons with a skipper on their boat and bought a little 15’ sailing dink to run around in. I don’t live close to water (2 hours away or more) so cramming was the best way for us.

The charter companies liked the courses being on there and I’ve appiled for some short-term crewing opportunities and they like seeing that also. It at least gets you into the game easily.

Will we “sail the world?” Probably not, and surely not without a lot more experience. But we have a good time and sail on cruisers every now and again. The ASA courses gave me the ability to do it quickly in my limited time availability.

[PLANET EXPRESS]

We looked at those courses too would have been several thousand for us to complete, so we spent the money on a sailboat. I did have prior small boat sailing experience the bigger sailboats are so different. I can say we have had a blast learning, reading and watching others so far.
Another option would be join a yacht club that has several different size sailboats and you can go out with others and learn to the point of going yourself and making friends that have sailboats in the process.

[Moody46CC]

Prior to taking ASA 103, I had taken the USCG Aux basic boating course and an excellent one on navigation (piloting and Loran--dating myself) offered by SC Department of Natural Resources. I then owned a Catalina 24 for a number of years. The first time I chartered up in the North Channel, the charter outfit looked over my resume and ran me through a small test of 20 minutes consisting of putting up the sails, various turns, and then striking the canvas and approaching a dock. Later, when I moved up to a 38 foot sailboat, I won ASA 103 classes for two in one of those charity auctions. The course combined ASA 101 as well because VA wanted everyone over 14 to take a safe boating course. There was a test one had to pass on the safety aspects as well as nautical terminology and rules of the road. More valuable was the time on the water--a lot as there were only 3 of us in the class. Where the class proved invaluable was for my wife--her first. And it was because the instructor was not me. I remember scenes when my father taught me to drive, and when my son was old enough to get a license, off to driving school! The ASA instructor had a much better demeanor than I did and accomplished what I could not--namely he convinced the wife that the boat was not going to tip over when the sheets came in.

My insurance company gives me a good rate on a much larger sailboat, 46', but to be honest, I don't know their matrix for crediting formal instruction versus safe operation time on the water.

[xlongboarder]

I had these same thoughts/questions. My goal is to ultimately chapter a boat down in BVI (for starters). I live in CO now and as of a few years ago had sailed only once on a friends parents boat. I started crewing on the Wednesday night races for practical knowledge. I read all I could and tested out of the 101 class. Reading through the 103 book now and will most likely take the 103 and 104 courses for more boat time. Just like finding the right instructor- crewing with the right person can also provide knowledge.

[Telesail]

My two cents - Crewing definitely best starting point. Then it depends whether your ambition is a dinghy, old, cheap but bigger boat or something more expensive. If the first two, then “just do it”. If the third, courses means you can charter and try out different types of boat so that when you start paying proper money, you don’t make a choice you regret.

Also, the courses were a great way of building my wife’s confidence to lead so that we have no ‘Admiral’ in our family. She and I alternate who is captain each day and stick to it - means that we can endure long periods on board together without arguments.....

[KeepInTune]

It's like figuring out your golf swing on your own or going to a golf pro lesson.
You can spend 300+ buckets of balls trying to figure your swing out (..and building very bad habits), or you can go to 3 lessons with a pro. It doesn't solve all the issues but it gets you moving in a very good direction.
I took 101/103/104 3 years ago and learned a great deal, and I've been sailing my whole life. It simply fills in so many gaps that you normally don't figure out on your own (..assuming you have a skilled/helpful instructor)

[PappysSailing]

Here's a tip:
Visit the school and ask to take a look at the boat that will be used for the combo class; not one of the boats or ones commonly used, but THE boat that you're paying to use and ask to climb aboard. Why? Spend three days on a old boat w active leaks, engine/elec / AC probs, chronic bad odors from head, insects, mold and well, you get the picture...
Otherwise, w a decent instructor (check that out too) some preparation on your part (take the reading assignments seriously) and a little luck, it should turn out to be a good experience, well worth the $$. Cheers, Pappy

[belizesailor]

In my opinion, backed up by decades as an instructor, its not an either/or choice. The most accelerated and effective way to learn is both training and building hands on experience.

This approach greatly accelerates the learning process, gives you a broad base of foundational knowledge (some of which is often missed in purely experiencial learning), and prepares you to build experience.

An example is a basic skill like heaving-to, its surprising how many experienced sailors dont have this skill. Its trajic to hear of sailors being drug to death on their saftey tethers when knowlege of such a basic sailing skill could avoid their death.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by PappysSailing

Here's a tip:
Visit the school and ask to take a look at the boat that will be used for the combo class; not one of the boats or ones commonly used, but THE boat that you're paying to use and ask to climb aboard. Why? Spend three days on a old boat w active leaks, engine/elec / AC probs, chronic bad odors from head, insects, mold and well, you get the picture...
Otherwise, w a decent instructor (check that out too) some preparation on your part (take the reading assignments seriously) and a little luck, it should turn out to be a good experience, well worth the $$. Cheers, Pappy

While all schools should maintain their boats well, there is an upside to spending a lot of time sailing crappy old boats. I sailed on such boats for many years as a student and then as an instructor/captain. It was frustrating then, but the knowledge gained has served me well.

Specialty class idea: spend a week on a poorly maintained old boat and learn a lot of practical skills! Maybe call it ASA 666 A Week In Hell. [emoji16] I bet I could keep that booked solid, plenty of crappy old boats here in Panama to use...Portobelo and Linton are chock full of them.

[jimp1234]

One factor you might want to consider is the quality of the sailing school in your area. I knew I wanted to go the school route, and I went with the US Sailing program because we had several excellent schools in the SF bay area that were affiliated with US Sailing. A sailing school, particularly if it's also a club affords you the opportunity to charter different boats, as well as meet like minded sailors, who are actually willing to charter a boat with you to practice things like MOB drills, anchoring, etc. as opposed to just day sailing. Finally if you're interested in chartering, the BVI doesn't yet require much, but Croatia and I think Greece along with other locations are now requiring a " International Certificate of Competence" to charter boats, which are issued by US Sailing (and I believe ASA) if you get your BBC cert (ASA 104??). Good luck.

[febone]

One of the issues we have around here is a very high commercial and recreational traffic environment.



It's typical to have to dodge three converging ferries whilst leaving the mooring field, avoid any number of power cruisers unaware of the rules or distracted, and then deal with tugs/tows, large freighters and LNG tankers in the main channel. There are five sailing schools in the immediate area all with ongoing classes and member sailors.



When the wind is up or down the harbor, we are tacking across the inbound and outbound traffic lanes in constant risk of collision.


Getting used to the traffic with an instructor aboard who is used to fitting an MOB exercise in behind the tug, around the ferry and in front of the freighter in a gusty, variable wind and a running tide is helpful before venturing out in that environment on your own.