Advanced Coastal Cruising

Class Location:  Lake Superior. All courses start at Pikes Bay Marina in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Directions to Bayfield: Four 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 24-hour transit. This course teaches more advanced skills for the sailor with cruising experience. It is a five-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 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 (COB) and emergency procedure drills are conducted underway.

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 a somewhat isolated island 40-60 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. Lead 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 the 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, Watch Keeping, Navigation, Daytime Approaches, Seamanship.

Day 2:  Weather, Seamanship, Daytime Crew Overboard Drills, Anchoring, Watch Keeping, Navigation.

Day 3: Navigation, Emergency Procedures, Weather, Radar, Sail Shape, Cruising Spinnaker, Nighttime Approaches.

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

Day 5: Emergency Procedures, Troubleshooting, Review, Written Exam

*** Flexibility is the key to cruising.  Other than pre-underway items, everything is always subject to weather and other safe seamanship concerns. ***

Course Fee 3-Day:   $795, includes three days of instruction, all meals underway, textbook and ASA certification , upon successful completion of the course.

Course Fee 5-Day:   $995, includes five days of instruction, all meals underway, textbook and ASA certification , upon successful completion of the course.

Meals are provided underway; meals ashore are the responsibility of the participant.  Students should bring clothing for all weather conditions, sleeping bag, towel, and navigation instruments they received in Coastal Navigation.

2012 Season:  Lake Superior.  Students should plan to be onboard the boat the evening before the first day.

AC1 - 3-Day • June 22-24, 2012. Bayfield, WI to Grand Marais, MN, Isle Royale NP or Houghton-Hancock, MI, returning to Bayfield. Itinerary is weather dependent.

AC2 - 5-Day  • July 19-23, 2012. -Bayfield, WI to Grand Marais, MN, Isle Royale NP or Houghton-Hancock, MI, returning to Bayfield. Itinerary is weather dependent.

AC3 - 3-Day  • Sept 14-16, 2012. Bayfield, WI to Grand Marais, MN, Isle Royale NP or Houghton-Hancock, MI, returning to Bayfield. Itinerary is weather dependent.

• 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

2012 Caribbean Schedule:  Courses will be conducted in Grenada and the Grenadines.  See Caribbean Vacation Courses for more information and dates.  Advanced Coastal Cruising Caribbean

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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