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You can get started early for you course by doing a few of the following things. Go to the local library and pick up any beginner books on sailing. You need to realize that learning to sail is also like learning a new language. There are many nautical terms you can learn about and we speak nautical to you while you are taking the course so bone up on terminology before you get here. If you have the chance to go sailing with friends then by all means do so. The more you sail the better you will get at it. If you sail enough eventually sailing will become like riding a bicycle and you will never forget how. But it does take time to get to that level. The most important thing you can do after you have completed a course with us is to just keep sailing!!
You could, as many students do, literally just show up with no previous sailing knowledge or experience, and we will teach you from scratch as well! What is included in your course fees are the following
- Use of our text books while you are here in San Carlos
- ASA log book and all Certification fees
Local day sailing packages
Basic
Keelboat 101:
Ok if you are taking this course from the dock
as a non live aboard course (which I recommend for beginners) then you will have
approximately 18 hours of instruction stretched out over a period of three days.
This is the best way to learn to sail as a beginner since you will repeatedly
practice the same skills over and over again. Skills such as docking, tacking,
jibing are learned through lots of practice and that is exactly what you will do
as a student. Also a quick note, course sizes are restricted to 4 students max.
so you will have plenty of opportunity to sail as the helmsman and then crew.
You can expect to be on the boat around 6 hours a day so here is a list of items
you may want bring with you.
-
snacks or lunch
-
plenty of sunscreen
-
a comfortable hat
-
deck shoes (black soled shoes please leave
behind). Comfortable tennis shoes are just fine -
sailing gloves (plain old open fingered
bike gloves will do just fine)
Basic
Coastal Cruising 103
Again this course can be taught from the dock as
a non live aboard course. You will again practice many skills over and over
again. It is assumed that you are already a good sailor and have mastered
tacking and jibing so we would hope to move on to more advanced skills such as
man overboard, anchoring, reefing and heaving to. Again you will have
approximately 18 hours of instruction over a three day period. The items list
above apply to this course as well.
Bareboat
Charter 104
Bareboat charter is an advanced level course and
you are required two spend at least 48 hours a board the boat as a live
aboard. So if you are talking just this course we will spend one day of local
sailing and then we will do our two day live aboard after that.
Combination packages
Combination Packages levels 101-103 & 104: with 5, 6 or 7 days of local day sailing
These are our most popular courses. The
course was designed to take a complete beginner and mold them into someone
capable of captaining a small sail boat around 32-36 foot in size. After the course
you will be capable of day sailing a your vessel in good weather with at least
one crew member. A typical 6 or 7 day course departs from and returns to the marina San
Carlos. You will have the chance (if you like) to sail several different styles of Mono hulls.
The reason I recommend day sailing instead of live aboard sailing is the fact that we sail on and off the mooring buoy every day, tacking, jibing, reefing, heaving to, anchoring, practicing man over board
drills, figure 8, quick stop or deep reach, docking, knot tying and perhaps
snorkeling if you take the course during warm water season, May to middle of October.
Expect to be on the water around 6 hours a day. We will also take three written
tests during your course and there will be three lectures. The beginner lecture, the diesel mechanics lecture and then the coastal piloting lecture. Tests will be scheduled during non-windy parts of the day or in late afternoon after we are off the water. All study materials will be provided to
you. You should bring the following items with you on the boat during these
days.
-
snacks or lunch
-
plenty of sunscreen
-
a comfortable hat that will not blow off your
head easily
-
deck shoes (black soled shoes please leave
behind). Comfortable tennis shoes are just fine -
sailing gloves (plain old open fingered
bike gloves will do just fine)
If you wish to live on the boat during the course that can be arranged and if you wish to do a live aboard sailing course that departs from San Carlos and returns to San Carlos when the course is finished that can also be arranged. The price of a live aboard course is much higher, and we can discuss that style of course via phone call.
vradice@gmail.com or WhatsApp me at 52-622-126-0622