Sailing Classes to be Skipper

Want to be come a skipper and start chartering sailboats? We have the sailing class for you!

Our Basic Cruising certification course is intended for those with a US Sailing Basic Keelboat certification or equivalent skills. This course is designed specifically to prepare you to charter and skipper a sailboat in the challenging conditions particular to San Francisco Bay.

As in Basic Keelboat, we limit the classes to three students and one instructor per boat, the smallest student to instructor ratio you'll find in any commercial sailing school. The curriculum consists of over 30 hours of instruction, with an option to include two 3-hour Navigation and Seamanship seminars to help you prepare for the written exam.

Using a "tiller-steered" boat is important to your early sailing education. We’ve selected the J/24… which is the most popular one-design keelboat ever made and carries a rich racing pedigree.

We choose to use tiller-steered boats for both Basic Keelboat and Basic Cruising courses because it is the best way to become a well-rounded sailor. Our commitment is to teach sailing in the best way to assure our students develop the confidence to handle any yacht. Traditionally sailors have always started learning to steer with a tiller before moving on to learning wheel steering on larger boats. A tiller gives a sailor instant feedback with every movement of the rudder. Learning to feel and read the force at play on a boat as it moves through the water is much easier with a tiller due to instant feedback. Steering properly and keeping the boat in balance and trim becomes a natural instinct that once learned, is never forgotten. Moving on to wheel-steered boats is very easy, but the accomplished sailor will still feel comfortable aboard anything from a sailing dingy or a tender with an outboard engine to a large racing yacht with a tiller or a wheel.

In addition, the J/24 is fairly “manual” boat which means there is extra work to rig it for sailing, but also means you have many sail shaping and sizing options before departure or while underway. We liken it to learning to drive on stick-shift (tiller boat) vs. automatic (wheeled boat).

Here is a summary of the topics we cover in the course:

• Advanced sailing theory

• Managing weather and lee helm

• Sail shape and rig control

• Sailing in close quarters

• Docking and departing under power

• Marina procedures

• Heavy weather techniques

• Heaving to

• Reefing underway

• Crew overboard recovery

• Anchoring

• Handling emergencies

• Course plotting and fixes

• Steering by compass

• Additional work with charts, aids to navigation, tides and currents, and crew management on board

Here’s what is included with your course fee:

• Four days of training (mostly on the water, but some dockside/classroom instruction as well)

• ASA Basic Cruising textbook

• Free use of foul weather gear and personal flotation device

• Personal attention - there are only 3 students on board, plus an instruction. (Most SF Bay sailing schools have four students on board. Our approach gives you 33% more time at the helm learning to sail!)

• Additional option for Seminars and Development Sails. Sailing is difficult, especially in the San Francisco Bay. We offer supplemental classroom and on-the-water sessions for those students who need a little extra time.

Successful completion qualifies you to skipper keelboats at Inspire Sailing (in the Sport Boat < 30’ fleet category) and satisfies the prerequisite for enrollment in Bareboat Cruising (after completing 6 charters as a keelboat skipper).

Price: $1,295 (Member), $1,555 (Non-Member)

Sound like fun? You bet it is! Check our Schedule to find available course dates and sign up online.