Advanced Coastal Cruising

Class Location: Lake Superior. All courses start at Pikes Bay Marina in Bayfield, Wisconsin or Red Rock Marina in Nipigon Bay, Ontario.
Directions to Bayfield: 4 hours north of Minneapolis/ St. Paul. Take 35W to Duluth. Take Hwy 2 East for approximately 55 miles to Hwy 13 and then proceed north to Bayfield, WI.  If you turn on Hwy 13 just east of Superior, Wisconsin you will take a very scenic route, although it is about 20 miles longer.

Advanced Coastal Cruising - ASA Course 106

This is one of our favorite courses because it brings together everything you've learned before plus many new items such as night sailing and the rigors of a twenty four hour transit at a much higher level. This course teaches more advanced skills for the sailor with cruising experience. This is a four day live aboard course held on a cruising auxiliary sailboat on Lake Superior. Students will navigate out of sight of land, maintaining a watch schedule while underway day and night, preparing most if not all meals onboard. Students will use navigation skills taught in Coastal Navigation and utilize radar and/or advanced navigation techniques for nighttime, restricted visibility, and heavy weather sailing. Nighttime crew overboard and emergency procedure drills are conducted underway.

In the Caribbean, Advanced Coastal Cruising students will complete night passages. They will perform nighttime COB (Crew Over Board), design and employ watch keeping bills, cooking underway and advanced navigation techniques, practice towing and advanced anchoring procedures.

This is a challenging course which prepares you for longer overnight passages. On Lake Superior, it opens the door to wonderful areas of the lake which are rarely accessed by the average charterer or boat owner. In the Caribbean, it opens the door to the Windward/Leeward island chains without being stuck on one somewhat isolated island forty to sixty miles from the next. Students are involved in navigation preparation well before the course commences.

Students maneuver the boat under power, dock and anchor in an unfamiliar harbor. Safe, nighttime approaches are taught and practiced when possible. Students will receive ASA Advanced Coastal Cruising Certification upon course completion. Primary Instructors are Captain Thom Burns, retired U.S. Navy Navigator/North Atlantic Crossing Navigator, and Captain Steve Burns, North Atlantic and North Sea crossings Navigator.

Course Materials: Students will receive Annapolis Book of Seamanship.

Course Outline:

Prior to getting underway (which is often at night): Safety Orientation, Boat Systems,  Watch System, Nighttime Navigation.

Day 1: Docking & Getting Underway, Crew Overboard Drill, Anchoring, Watch System, Navigation, Approaches, Seamanship.

Day 2: Docking & Getting Underway, Crew Overboard Drill, Anchoring, Watch System, Navigation, Approaches, Seamanship.

Day 3: Navigation, Emergency Procedures, Weather, Radar, Sail Shape, Cruising Spinnaker, Nighttime Crew Overboard Drill.

Day 4: Heavy Weather Sailing, Towing, Engineering Troubleshooting, Written Exam.

*** Flexibility is the key to cruising. Other than items prior to getting underway, every item in the above schedule including destinations may be moved around to fit weather patterns or other safe seamanship concerns. ***

Course Fee:  4 days including underway meals: $995.

Meals provided while underway from Thursday breakfast to Sunday lunch (we may often grab a meal ashore after an extended passage). Students should bring clothing for all weather conditions, sleeping bag, towel, and navigation instruments they received in Coastal Navigation.

2010 Season Lake Superior Schedule: Course is conducted on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with boarding on Wednesday evening. Includes book: Annapolis Book of Seamanship, exam and ASA certification.

AC1 • Bayfield, WI - TBD
AC2 • Nipigon Bay, Ontario (Sun-Thur) August 1-5, 2010
AC3 • Nipigon Bay, Ontario (Mon-Fri) August 9-13, 2010

• Additional Sections of this course are often added. If you have a group, please contact us. see Family & Friends, Advanced Coastal Cruising. •

Link to "Our Marina," at Pike's Bay, two miles south of Bayfield, Wisconsin: Pike's Bay Marina

Links to Articles written by your Instructors: Instructor Article Links

2010 Caribbean Vacation Schedule: Course is conducted from the British Virgin Islands to Bonaire or from Bonaire to the British Virgin Islands. Includes book: Annapolis Book of Seamanship, exam and ASA certification. See Caribbean Vacation Courses Apr 7-Apr 16, Apr 17-28, 2010 start dates for basic info. See: Advanced Coastal Cruising Caribbean

ACC - Caribbean • 2011 Dates To Be Determined

Call Northern Breezes Sailing School at 763-542-9707 to register or with questions.

Prerequisites for this course:  ASA Bareboat Charter Certification (ASA 104) and ASA Coastal Navigation (ASA 105)

• Students with extensive experience, but without ASA certifications may have the prerequisites waived on a case by case basis.

• Many students have repeated this course for the challenge and fun. They are always welcome.

Northern Breezes Sailing School
3949 Winnetka Ave. N.
Minneapolis, MN  55427
Call For Free Brochure (763) 542-9707
American Sailing Association Sailing School

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