Welcome aboard! I am fairly new to boat
ownership and cruising also, having purchased my boat and cruised it for only four seasons now. I, too, have taken a number of
ASA courses and have found them very useful. I also had the opportunity to take some more advanced courses with JWorld and a
sailing school in
Newport, RI, whose name escapes me right now. I have learned a great deal from all the
training, and from all the more experienced sailors, including many on this forum, who have taken the time to help me. This is an excellent community, despite the occasional attitude of superiority one encounters. Just ignore it. They probably think they're helping by ridiculing those of us with less experience or knowledge.
Back to the
training, however, I found that though it has been very helpful, almost all of it was seriously lacking in the skills needed to deal with an
emergency. I have been through
scuba training and private pilot training. Almost all of that training was focused on "what if" scenarios, designed to help you when things go squirrely. I wish the
ASA and the other sailing training would have included more of that.
For what it's worth.