Review of ASA-101 Sailing Class

[AnchorJockey]

So this weekend I completed the ASA-101 Basic Keelboat course.  I took it at Annapolis Sailing School.  I thought I would share my experience with my fellow Compac owners.

I had been sailing on and off for over 25 years before buying my first boat last fall, my Compac 27.  Although I felt reasonable confident I could learn to handle my own boat, I felt I needed to fill some gaps in my knowledge about sailing.  So I signed up for the course.  Having now completed it and passed my certification, only now do I understand how many gaps there were and yet remain.

It is a 3 day course.  The standard course is 3 days during the week, but Annapolis Sailing School offers an accelerated course over weekends (Friday evening, then all day Saturday and Sunday).  They send you the book ahead of time to read and prepare.  The first evening was classroom review of the topics in the book, including parts of the boat, safety procedures, rules of the road and many others.  Saturday was a full day on the water in a Rainbow 24 open cockpit daysailer.  We covered preparing the boat to sail, then headed out, sailing away from the dock.  We practiced points of sail, figure 8 man-overboard drills, reefing, heaving-to, and several other maneuvers, including how to sail into the dock.  On Sunday morning, we practiced them again and were tested on our skills.  In the afternoon, we again had classroom review and took the written test and were tested on making knots.

It was exhausting but well worth the effort.  It was the first time sailing for some in the class, for others like me a chance to build on our existing skills.  I for one now feel much more confident about my sailing.  It was a little pricy at $700, but worth it to me.  The staff at the school was first rate, friendly, thorough and patient.  And the setting of Annapolis was beautiful.  As a bonus, the weather was spectacular and we had good wind.

Next year I intend to take the next course in the progressing, Basic Coastal Cruising (103) and eventually, the follow-up, the 104 class.

I highly recommend the course and the school.

[alsantini]

I echo everything you said.  I took a compressed 101 and 103 together in a live a board course out of Torrensen marine on Lake Muskegon, Michigan.  What a great course!  I learned so much over the extended weekend.  Our instructor made us do some things that I would never do on my own.  Like powering next to a concrete wall 1 foot out - yikes.  Sailing up to a mooring, dock, or slip.  The other skill that I still do every so often was sailing a square.  The man overboard drills happened at least 10 times a day with different sailors at the helm.  I actually believe that it was the best thing I ever did for my sailing skills.  I proudly carry my book and have rented sailboats with no questions asked by showing my signed book.  Sail On   -    Al