Looking for recommendations on bareboat sailing schools

[newt]

I am on the other side of this: I have a 40 ft yacht that is chartered in the Seattle area. I find the charter companies that use it by and large do check on a person's qualifications, but often give them a benefit of a doubt. To answer Brach's question, yes it is possible charter without the bareboat certification. What they look for is experience in a yacht of similar size.  If you own a 38 footer, for example, and sail in actively in the ocean, renting my boat would not be a problem.

[Thunderchild]

Thanks for all the comments and great info!  I still don't understand the difference between ASA and US sailing instruction but it seems like they are both good.  I was looking at Off Shore Sailing for certificates but I get different info every time I talk to them.  Based on comments I might try Fair Winds sailing out of Annapolis or Blue Water out of Newport.  I would like to sail Penobscot Bay so would like something closest to that experience.  Thanks to all that posted! 

[brackish]

I am on the other side of this: I have a 40 ft yacht that is chartered in the Seattle area.......(snip)

I was recently looking at charter operators in that area.  I noticed that there is a three season price tier.  I've never been to the area.  Is there a season or zone that is just not any good for sailing or is the pricing difference primarily based on seasonal volume demand?

Future daughter in law is heading to Seattle to do an internship with an architectural firm.   Remote possibility we will go out there sometime next year.

[newt]

Here's the scoop on the Salish Sea Sailing (Puget sound up through British Columbia) Now- cold but doable. Have a good heater. Rates will be really cheap. Around April the spring season opens. Temps in 50-60's. Best winds and least rain of the year- but no fishing really. Summer- peak demand from tourists and early salmon season 70's- with a cool down at night. Rains intermittent. Crab season open halfway through. Winds intermittent- but can be good. Fall- fishing, crabbing good, winds good, but the rain is more common. Cooling down to the 60's and 50's again.

[Ralph Erickson]

Lots of good discussion here.  Something to keep in mind is that  once you start with one organization (US Sailing or ASA), you cannot use prior certifications to switch over to the other certifications. 

I took the "Fast Track to Cruising" course with Offshore Sailing School (Steve Colgate's outfit) in 2004, an 8 day course from Duck Key, Fla to Key West and back, and I was very happy with it.  You earn all certifications from "Learn To Sail" to "Live Aboard Cruising (Bareboat Cruising)".  It's a US Sailing school. 

I then wanted to continue my education and take a Coastal Cruising course with an ASA school (Maryland School of Sailing), and they won't accept the US Sailing Certification to get you into the course. 

I'm now going for my US Sailing "Coastal Navigation" and "Coastal Cruising" certification, taking a 6 day course this May from Tortola, BVI to Bermuda with Ron Swain Sailing School, which has sites in the BVI's and in Newport, RI. 

[CaptRon28]

Something to keep in mind is that  once you start with one organization (US Sailing or ASA), you cannot use prior certifications to switch over to the other certifications.  

But you should be able to use EXPERIENCE. I took two advanced courses several years ago with a US Sailing affiliated school (Colgate) and they never questioned the missing elementary courses in my log.

[Billy]

yea, I know you can test out of taking BKB101 and BCC103with the ASA. If you have the experience.

[curtisv]

ASA will let you test out of anything.  You can take the written tests and go on a sail with an instructor.  This is billed as a private lesson.  It is up to the sailing school whether they do that.  I've asked about that but never went for it.  The reason for asking is that I work on the west coast and live on the east coast and while on the west coast I might want to join a sailing club and take some club boats out.

I got two somewhat different answers on this from San Fransisco Bay area sailing clubs.  I think they are both ASA Schools.  Spinaker Sailing was willing to do the test and check out sail.  Pacific Sail in Santa Cruz was very reluctant to consider this and opened the conversation with a comment along the lines of "just because you are a boat owner doesn't mean you know how to sail" before any conversation at all about whether I had any experience.  This may have been the individuals I spoke to.  I might be because I went to Spinaker Sailing and talked to someone in person and I called Pacific Sail on the phone.

Being in Santa Cruz where they are ocean sailing Pacific Sail wants to be more cautious.  That I can understand, but it seemed to me that as soon as I mentioned "small boat" the person on the other end of the phone had heard enough and wanted to just give the standard lecture on the big bad ocean and rough inlet and either sign me up for courses or get off the phone.  After I explained that I normally sail on the other northern hemisphere ocean which perhaps wasn't that different, that Chatham Break was also a difficult inlet and that I had been on bigger boats than my own CP23 and had chartered and skippered a 50 footer for two weeks he did reluctantly verify that they did offer an opt out and checkout.

The chartering companies on the other hand seem to want to take the time to listen to what your sailing experience is and then make a call.  When talking to a charter company (I've talked to a few but only chartered once) I've been very up front about my inexperience docking because there are few docks to dock at where I sail, but on the positive side I've done plenty of picking up a mooring and anchoring.  Since the only docking we'd be doing after leaving was at their dock twice, once to reprovision and then to return the boat they were more than happy to send someone out to dock the boat for us.

The thing with the charter companies is that they are very serious about you getting on the mooring or the hook by 5PM so you don't find yourself looking over the bow for the coral in your path with the sun too low to actually see anything.  They do process quite a few insurance claims but they can usually tell who knows what they have to be watching for and who is fairly clueless.

One thing that Conch Charter did in the briefing (which is also a final checkout interview, but downplayed) is ask where you plan to go and discuss that.  They will remind you of the hazards of each entrance and as they do so if it seems that you have read the cruising guides and paid close attention to the descriptions of hazards that is reassuring to them.  If you tell them you plan to go through some impassible strait becasue you saw water on the chart there and it is clear to them that you didn't read a crusing guide to find out it was a mine field or you weren't aware that all those little numbers on the chart were depth numbers, then they won't find that reassuring and you may end up with a hired captain on board.

They will also give their own recommendation on places to visit and things to do and in that way supplement the cruising guide.  They also tell you where you are forbidden to go for insurance reasons and mark that on a sketch chart.  The people at Conch Charter were really nice (the boats, well ... uh .. they were the least expensive).

Take this with a big grain of salt since I only chartered once.

Curtis