i'm taking the ASA course 101-103 this week

[Steve]

it's the course offered by upper bay sailing school. we will sail the entire length of the chesapeake bay on a ben first 41. has anyopne taken this class? any sugesstions.

 

[Paul]

Suggestions? wear your mittens

You picked a chilly week here on the east coast. Still, I wish I was out there with you.I suggest that you have everything that happens explained and taken apart for you. Don't let the instructor do anything if you can help it. Pretend you're on your first bareboat charter and you've got to make decisions on your own.For example: when you anchor, does the instructor have you drift back off the anchor, or does he want you to power back? Either way, ask him/her why. Also, ask the instructor why he/she picked that particular spot to anchor. When you dock, find out about prop walk, and have the instructor tell you when you are using it. Ask him why he chose to dock in that particular way. Under sail, make sure that you get some practice reefing underway, I don't care if it's blowing 9 knots. That's even better, actually. Find out how to bleed a diesel engine's fuel line (that would be a first for a sailing school!). Find out *why* you have to bleed a diesel's fuel line. When you're just sailing along without much to do, try tying some new knots. Have the instructor help you with them while one of the other students is steering. Learn the buntline hitch, the anchor bend, the truck driver's hitch, as many as you can.Sailing instructors sometimes put their customers having a nice experience ahead of teaching sailing. Make sure you get taught, you can have the nice experiences later on charter or on your own boat.Trimming sails and steering is easy, most of us taught ourselves. Learn some of the other stuff if you can.Also, eat crab cakes everywhere you stop. Paulsv Escape Artisth336

 

[Pops]

Small tape recorder

Go to radio shack and get a James Bond style (small, meant for stealth) tape recorder. Get the recorder(with voice acctuated feature, this will save on batteries and tape changes), a small remote mike that you can clip invisibly to your outerwear, extra tapes and extra batteries. Get all of your conversations with the instructor, and your fellow students on tape so you can review them later. Then practice with it so you can change tapes or batteries in the head quickly [also practice will show you the best place to place the hidden mike (I once placed the mike next to a American Legion poppy and could only hear rustling paper on the tape)]. For 30 to 50 dollars you will have a record that you can review at your leisure. Some might say that this is an invasion of everyones privacy and sneaky, but if that is not your purpose (your purpose is to have an accurate record, that you can review), they are wrong. I use one frequently in meetings so that I can review what happened when I was thinking about sailing.  Pops, proud owner of a 75 H25 Cheribini designed luxury yacht.

 

[nick maggio]

I did them

My wife and I took the coures last april at norton's yacht sales,deltaville,virginia.Where we purchased Our first 290 hunter And they were great and the sailing school was great,we sailed on a 280 hunter for four day's and they showed us everything there is to know about sailing it was the best thing we ever did ,our instructer was the teacher and we always handled the boat ,he just stood on the side while we did all the work,and had all the fun ,it was great they really know how to teach sailing ,bring extra warm clothes. nick maggio

 

[Palmer King]

Well worth it

I've been sailing since I was ten, and still took the courses. Not only did I learn a lot, but I found I was doing somethings the hard way, and in a few cases, not the safest way.Ask questions. Lots of them. Be sure you understand the why behind the what. In 6 months when the memory is fuzzy, and you read your Chapman's (doesn't everyone), it will all make a lot more sense.And last, but not least, it sure helps your insurance premiums... at least, down here in Florida.