Chesapeake Bay Schools & Charter Companies

jdrueen · #1 (**permalink**) 10-25-2010

My husband and are looking to complete the ASA 104 Bareboat Chartering course in prep for sailing the BVI in a couple of years. We'd like to take the class early in 2011 and start building a resume by chartering boats locally shortly after taking the class.

Aside from completing the ASA 101 and 103 classes this year, our recent sailing experience is limited to sailing Scots on the Potomac. As such, we suspect that it makes sense to take the 104 class with a company that will then let us charter their own vessels to continue to build our skills.

Can anyone recommend a good sailing school that also does charters on the Chesapeake? We can go as far north as Annapolis, but farther south on the Bay is fine, too.

Many thanks!

zboss · #2 (**permalink**) 10-25-2010

Well, JWorld has classes and they have a companion jport sailing club. Like $7000 a year for almost unlimited sailing on a range of boats. So instead of spending $2000 for a single week of sailing you spend $7000 and get just about unlimited sailing.

eryka · #3 (**permalink**) 10-25-2010

Not sure why you want the place that does the teaching to be the same as the place you charter from - why not pick someone who does one thing, well? We've been impressed with teaching quality of these folks: Maryland School of Sailing; Chesapeake, Caribbean, Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda and then you could charter a somewhat older boat, perhaps from Annapolis Bay Charters offers bareboat chartering, chooners and crewed yachts, fishing and sailing for success. Visit the Chesapeake Bay's best sailing destinations.. If you really want all from one place, the latter offers training as well.

kd3pc · #4 (**permalink**) 10-26-2010

Norton's is great, we used them to get ASA ratings and they have charter boats as well. Easy access to the bay from Deltaville.

Best of luck where ever you end up learning

RockhopperSV · #5 (**permalink**) 10-26-2010

I am an ASA certified instructor up through the 106 level. I am familiar with the Maryland School program, Norton's, SailTime in Norfolk and a couple of other schools and organizations in the Chesapeake area.

One of the most important things to remember about the various schools is that they all have their own programs, with the ASA standards as a minimum. Sailtime, for example, will teach you to sail their boats very well. Norton's is the largest Hunter dealer on the East Coast (maybe the country), so they teach Hunters very well. Maryland School uses Island Packets, serious off-shore boats, because Maryland School is one of the few that actually teaches ocean saily on a regular basis.

You are going to spend a lot of money learning to sail. Invest the time in finding the school you want to work with. Go to the school, check out the boats they are going to use and talk to some of the instructors. You are going to spend a lot of time with these people, you want to know that they match your needs and desires.

In my personal opinion, Maryland School is the best school on the Bay, but that's a personal opinion based on what I wanted. You may have a different set of needs.

ilikerust · #6 (**permalink**) 10-26-2010

Second the recommendation for Norton's. I took my ASA 101 and 103 classes there and found the instructor to be great, and the boat we used was very nice. They also do the bareboat chartering and navigation classes.

ilikerust · #7 (**permalink**) 10-26-2010

BTW, we used a Jenneau 31, not a Hunter, for our classes at Nortons.

MDrueen · #8 (**permalink**) 10-26-2010

Thanks for the input everyone!

One thing my wife didn't mention is that we are also about a year away from purchasing a boat that we'll keep somewhere between Deal and Annapolis. I agree with the suggestions to learn to sail in the waters you plan to sail. That is why we plan on doing the rest of our ASA certs in what will be our home waters.

PalmettoSailor · #9 (**permalink**) 10-26-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDrueen

Thanks for the input everyone!

One thing my wife didn't mention is that we are also about a year away from purchasing a boat that we'll keep somewhere between Deal and Annapolis. I agree with the suggestions to learn to sail in the waters you plan to sail. That is why we plan on doing the rest of our ASA certs in what will be our home waters.

Its so unlike me, but let me offer a contrarian opinion. If you are going to keep your boat in the mid bay area, give serious thought to taking your classes with Norton's and chartering with them (or someone else in the Deltaville area) a few times.

The sailing around Deltaville is some of the best on the Bay and being familiar with that area, plus your home area, will set you up for enjoyable and less stressful long cruises when you do buy your own boat. The Bay is at its widest and arguably least crowded in the area around Deltaville, and you can really get the "Blue Marble" feeling while remaining in protected waters. IMHO you'll learn to be a bit more cognizant of your navigation skills down there, since there is not a steady stream of boats pointing the way to the marina like in the mid-bay. You'll get to enjoy anchorages where its "crowded" if there are 2 other boats 150 yards apart, and often you can have a beautiful anchorage all to yourself. The mid bay has some great places, but it does seem you are part of a parade most weekends, the anchorages are crowded and often demand less than idea anchoring technique and the powerboats are a plague.

Because you are always in sight of land around Rose Haven/Deal/Galesville/Annapolis it felt like I got the hang of that area fairly quickly and partly due to my time sailing from Deltaville, I now feel fairly comfortable navigating the bay anywhere between Baltimore and Hampton.

In case you can't tell, we sailed out of Deltaville for 5 years and still miss it in many ways.

PalmettoSailor · #10 (**permalink**) 10-26-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDrueen

Thanks for the input everyone!

One thing my wife didn't mention is that we are also about a year away from purchasing a boat that we'll keep somewhere between Deal and Annapolis. I agree with the suggestions to learn to sail in the waters you plan to sail. That is why we plan on doing the rest of our ASA certs in what will be our home waters.

Its so unlike me, but let me offer a contrarian opinion. If you are going to keep your boat in the mid bay area, give serious thought to taking your classes with Norton's and chartering with them (or someone else in the Deltaville area) a few times.

The sailing around Deltaville is some of the best on the Bay and being familiar with that area, plus your home area, will set you up for enjoyable and less stressful long cruises when you do buy your own boat. The Bay is at its widest and arguably least crowded in the area around Deltaville, and you can really get the "Blue Marble" feeling while remaining in protected waters. IMHO you'll learn to be a bit more cognizant of your navigation skills down there, since there is not a steady stream of boats pointing the way to the marina like in the mid-bay. You'll get to enjoy anchorages where its "crowded" if there are 2 other boats 150 yards apart, and often you can have a beautiful anchorage all to yourself. The mid bay has some great places, but it does seem you are part of a parade most weekends, the anchorages are crowded and often demand less than ideal anchoring technique and the powerboats are a plague.

Because you are always in sight of land around Rose Haven/Deal/Galesville/Annapolis it felt like I got the hang of that area fairly quickly and partly due to my time sailing from Deltaville, I now feel fairly comfortable navigating the bay anywhere between Baltimore and Hampton.

In case you can't tell, we sailed out of Deltaville for 5 years and still miss it in many ways.