Advanced Coastal Cruising Offshore

Class Location: Lake Superior. 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 scenic, seventy-five excursion through car/deer country.

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 opens the door to 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 owners. 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 plus days including underway meals: $895.

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.

2008 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 • 6/26 - 6/29 (Four Openings)
AC2 • 7/24 - 7/27 (Three Openings)
AC3 • 8/21 - 8/24 (Three Openings)

• Additional Sections of this course are often added. If you have a group, 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

2009 Caribbean Vacation Schedule: Course is conducted from Wednesday to Wednesday in the British Virgin Islands to St. Maarten with boarding on Wednesday. Includes book: Annapolis Book of Seamanship, exam and ASA certification. Course Fee: $1695. See Caribbean Vacation Courses Feb 25-Mar 4, Mar 4-11, Mar 11-18, Mar 18-25 2009 start dates for basic info. See: Advanced Coastal Cruising Caribbean

ACC - Caribbean • 2009 Feb 25-Mar 4, Mar 4-11, Mar 11-18, Mar 18-25

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.

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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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