Why not try learning to sail in the Caribbean with the competent crew course?
Have you always wished to get a bareboat certification and rent your own private yacht? Enroll in a competent crew course and learn all the expertise necessary to cruise in the Caribbean.
You can either enroll in a Caribbean crew private yacht charter vacations for learning to sail or you can arrange for instructions on a bareboat, ranging from beginners boat handling course to advanced coastal cruising.
Image thanks to Scott Smith
The Virgin Islands are world famous cruising classrooms and you learn the details of sailing from an experienced boat captain. The American Sailing Association (ASA) offers multiple sailing courses for different levels of expertise. The well planned sailing lessons from certified instructors will let you learn how to cruise in the Caribbean but not limited to this area.
Sailing Courses
After the end of the courses (not the basic ones), you will be confident to sail your own yacht into the sunset. Start with a basic keelboat sailing course and move your way up the advanced courses. Here are the different sailing courses offered by the ASA:
• Basic Keelboat sailing (BK 101): The primary sailing course that requires no previous sailing experience. Know the sailing nomenclature, basic boat handling, sail trim, points of sail, safety procedures, what to do in case of man overboard and the sailor’s knots.
• Basic Coastal Cruising (BCC 103): A BK certification is a prerequisite for the course. The basic skills that are covered include anchoring, mooring, basic navigation skills, chart reading, docking, judging the weather and all other related aspects. You learn new ways to deal with crew overboard and more useful sailor’s knots than you have learned in the BK 101 course. Know th sail combinations to carry out in various wind and sea conditions and know how to safely dock the boat. You will also learn how to interpret weather conditions and how to understand the VHF marine radio communications.
• Bareboat chartering (BBC 104): This is the next upward step in your sailing lesson and you will need both BK and BCC certification to enroll in this course. You get to study boat systems and you learn the troubleshooting and the general guidelines for complete boat maintenance. You also get to practice advanced navigation exercises and how to dock and undock the boat in coastal areas.
• Coastal navigation (CN 105): No pre training is required for enrolling in this sailing course. The competent boat crew teaches you advanced coastal navigation skills, fog navigation, danger bearings and compensating for current set and drift. You also learn the use of tide & current tables.
• Advanced Coastal cruising (ACC 106): This is the top tier course and the prerequisites are BK, BBC and CN certifications. In this course you learn night-time sailing and electronic navigation and heavy weather sailing. The advanced coastal course prepares you to plan a long distance cruise trip on your own. You get your lessons on advanced seamanship, safety and navigation skills. You learn how to use the sailing equipment and how to go on a heavy weather sailing.