Coastal
Passage Making
This 10-day course entails offshore coastal sailing for significant distances
with brief layovers in various ports-of-call. The Coastal Passage curriculum
provides students the opportunity to experience overnight sailing as well
as nighttime landfall, allowing students to take the next step towards
extended ocean passage making.
Students inspect inventory, establish
watch schedules, calculate ETA’s in consideration of wind, weather and current conditions,
and take on all primary responsibilities for ensuring a safe
and enjoyable passage. Students graduate with U.S. Sailing’s
Coastal Passage Making certification and the ability to organize
and complete future passages on their own.
Prerequisite:Bareboat Cruising and Coastal Navigation required
Certification: U.S. Sailing
Coastal Passage
First
Mate and Crew level instruction are available.
Skills covered include:
- Yacht preparation: Preparing a vessel to keep crew comfortable,
happy and safe for an extended passage. Preparation includes
a review of necessary provisions, the proper stowage and organization
of all gear, hull design, rig configuration, sail inventory
and safety gear.
- Sail planning: Taking extra
measures and forethought required by longer passage legs
and overnight sailing. Focusing on weather, current, distance,
speed, navigational strategy and float plans and abiding
by the rule that captains should never to put their boats
where their heads haven’t
been first.
- Communications, computers and onboard
systems: Operations
and understanding technology that adds comfort to a
sailor’s
life at sea including weather fax, single sideband,
GPS, course plotters, diesel engines, DC electronics
and refrigeration.
- Heavy weather navigation and
storm management: Navigating in
severe weather and storm management in the event foresight
fails.
- Overnight Sailing,
Nighttime Landfall & Advanced
Coastal Navigation: Fine-tuning existing skills of
bareboat cruising and coastal navigation and enjoying
the new challenges of overnight watch keeping and
nighttime landfall. Testing your navigation during electronic
malfunctions. (You never know when the instructor
might simulate a lightning strike and shut down the electronics!)
Enrollment package includes:
• 2-Day Onboard Systems and Rigging
• 2-Day Emergency Management and Procedure
• 6-Day Coastal Passage Practical
