Sailing schools/clases. Help!

[dgasmd]

Hello. I know this has probably been asked several times, and I will go do a search, but in the meantime I will ask the question.

I will tell you right up front I know near nothing about sailing. I want to learn though and eventually in the not so distant future, be able to comfortably sail, skipper, or crew a 45-50 ft sailboat. Why that size? Because it is what I would want to buy anyway.

Now, to the meat of my question. Although I do know a couple of people with sailboats that could "teach me here and there", I have started to look around for sailing schools. I live in South East FL. I have found so far a few schools that seem to offer pretty much the same with very large differences in cost. On the low end is one offering ASA 101/103/104 - 6 days $ 1,095 and the other extreme is another for about $3300. The others are in the middle. All in the same time of the year. The only thing I see different from the cheaper ones to the more expensive one is that they use about 30 ft boats vs a 46 ft boat in the top end. However, the top end one requires another $200 or so to be ASA certified for those classes while the other cheaper ones offer it as part of the fee. They are all "live abord courses". Given all schools have websites, I will put a few names below of the ones I am looking at the most.

smartersail
sta-sail
Colgate Sailing School -Sailing Schools. Offshoresailing
Blue Water Sailing School

-Has anyone heard anything bad or good about any of these schools?
-Has anyone here used any of these schools or know anyone that has? Opinions?
-Are they worth the money or should I be going about this in a different way? Suggestions?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my first post.:thumb::thumb:

[lickingcardboard]

I know nothing about the Schools listed, i went to WINDWARD SAILING Home Port :: NE Florida's place to set sail for fun & lessons! for my First ASA Class and will be returning, there a nice Group and they take there time to make sure you understand what your learning, there North of Jacksonville. Give Tony a call.


Other then taking there Class i have no Affiliation with the School

[Minnewaska]

I've known several now (including my wife) who have taken the Colgate (Offshore Sailing School) Fast Track to Cruising course and gone from zero to hero in one week. Very impressed. They all loved it and came out the other end being very comfortable to cruise a good size sailboat in reasonable conditions.

[ftldiver]

are you near fort lauderdale?

how about learning on something small to start out, then move up.

I feel you learn to sail faster on a small boat than a big boat. and you learn the instinct.

Gulfstream sailing club has sunfish classes for adults, and rentals are 15/day.

Sailors Point: Sailing instruction offered at Hollywood, FL's Sailor's Point Park

Sailors Point: Sailing instruction offered at Hollywood, FL's Sailor's Point Park

-BWT. Wednesdays were are now running 'beer can races' w/ bbq after.

its been 20+ yrs since I sailed a sunfish, but when you get 10 of them, its pretty good racing. plus its cheap and a great location.

[ftldiver]

I know a gal that did the blue water 101-103 live aboard class... it was pretty good. for a price.

[jmjatlanta]

Thank you very much for asking that question. My wife and I are looking to do a 5 to 7 day course to do ASA101 to 104 in Florida. I have emailed several, and got a few email replies. One called me back within 30 minutes of my email, and answered all of my questions.

Our criteria may be different than yours, in that we're looking anywhere in the state of FL, and definitely want the "live aboard" style. Florida Sail and Cruise School was the one that immediately called me back. They also sent a packet of information to my home. If their customer service is an indication of their school, I'd say it would be a great place. The only problem I can find is that they're higher priced than many others.

We're still digging, and will probably make the final round of phone calls/emails full of questions soon. I'll be watching this thread for more opinions.

[CaptFoolhardy]

My wife and I took the "Fast Track to Cruising" course from the Colgate School over in St. Pete just about a year ago. Our instructor's name was Rob Gannon. I HIGHLY recommend both the course and the instructor. We have been sailing for about ten years and own a 15' trailerable and have rented Catalina 22's from time to time. I was looking for a course that would prepare us to do bareboat chartering. This course was exactly what I needed to gain the confidence and the practical skills to sail larger, live-aboard type boats.

With that said, I am concerned that it would be a little fast paced for someone with little to no knowledge or experience. I might recommend that you take the courses individually, ASA 101, 103 & 104 (or their US Sailing equivalents). Of course that would be more expensive and take longer. Alternatively you could buy some books and learn as much as you can from those ahead of time, go sailing with your friends who own boats to get some on the water experience and then take the fast track course.

Best of luck,
Bob

[Minnewaska]

Pretty sure that most Fast Track students have little to zero experience and all are required to take the boat overnight without an instructor at the end. They seem to get it done.

The books do arrive well before the course and you are expected to study them.

[dgasmd]

Originally Posted by Minnewaska

Pretty sure that most Fast Track students have little to zero experience and all are required to take the boat overnight without an instructor at the end. They seem to get it done.

The books do arrive well before the course and you are expected to study them.

You are correct in both counts. They actually advertise the combined class as being geared towards the novice or someone with no knowledge/experience at all.

I am open to any location in the state as well despite living in south east FL. As a matter of fact, if you look at the schools I mentioned above, you would realize 2 are in St. Petersburg, one in Ft. Lauderdale, and one in Jacksonville. I am looking for good instruction and education for the money. Of course I am expecting to study quite a bit before showing up for the class. I want to get the most of it, but I am not expecting it to be unrealistic either.

As far as the schools themselves, I was all set on the Colgate one. However, they are the most expensive by far and even charge additionally to be USA 101, 103, and 104 certified. That is even though their classes follow the ASA format for those classes. I may end up taking the one in Ft. Lauderdale at BWSS. We'll see.

[CaptFoolhardy]

Originally Posted by Minnewaska

Pretty sure that most Fast Track students have little to zero experience and all are required to take the boat overnight without an instructor at the end. They seem to get it done.

Yes, that's certainly true. I was just making a recommendation based on my own experience. Of course that might have been influenced by the fact that the wind never dipped below 20 knots for the first half of the course (we got plenty of experience with reefing ). And yes we did get to take the boat without the instructor at the end. Unfortunately for us that was when the wind died to almost nothing. LOL

Overall it was an excellent course. We had a great time, learned a lot and I would recommend it to any beginner.