[C320-list] Certifications

[Troy Dunn]

As relatively new boat owners who are casually working our way through the
ASA certifications I'll add some observations.

1) What certifications are required for chartering is highly debatable and
often times we see on a lot of cruiser blogs that the only sure requirement
at most of the big charter companies in the Carribean and Bahamas is a
valid credit card.  If this is your only concern you might want to call the
charter companies where you are headed and ask what they typically want to
see.   Based on the sailing experience you described, I suspect many of
those companies would be happy to charter to you based on a sailing resume
and valid credit card.

2)  We are taking the ASA courses.    I agree with others that the US
Sailing and ASA coursework appears to be pretty similar.   What we have
been told and found corroborating evidence is that in our area the US
Sailing schools are more geared toward racing and ASA more toward cruising.
  That probably varies as a function of where you live, who owns the
school, what the instructor interests are, etc.   In other words you need
to do a little homework for your area to find a school that is a good fit
for your needs.   We made a few calls and based on our cruising goals ended
up at Baysail in HdG, MD.  Our experiences at Baysail have all been
positive.

3) I think in general, having a lifetime learning attitude is good.   If
you've never completed any coursework in sailing at all and you can afford
to take some courses, you should absolutely do that.   Based on your
experience, if you decide ASA is right for you, study the questions in the
 101 book and just test out of the course.   You won't find a ton of value
in taking the 101 I suspect.  Take the 103/104 combo course.   That's
probably going to be your best approach unless you are interested in
chartering a cat.   If you think you might want to charter a cat, you might
want to see if a school will let you test out of 103 and then take a
104/114 combo course.    I'm not sure if other schools allow you to test
out, but I suspect they do.   We are new sailors, so we are taking all the
courses one at a time.    It's definitely more expensive this way, but when
you factor in the cost to just hire a captain for a day to get hands on
training, the courses really aren't a bad deal.

Hope this is helpful

Troy and Kim Dunn
Hull #514. Wonky Dog
Tidewater Marina, Havre de Grace, MD