Coastal Passage Making
Advanced Sailing Lessons

This is Offshore Sailing School’s most advanced course. Someday you may set your sights on some serious, long distance blue water sailing - no land on the horizon, and a port-of-call hundreds or thousands of miles away. This experience in advanced sailing and passage making knowledge makes every ocean and sea a friendlier place by giving you the skills and confidence for smarter, safer blue water cruising. This is blue water sailing – your ticket to the world under sail – and you can get a taste of it with Offshore Sailing School’s Coastal Passage Making course.

If you’re comfortable cruising or chartering on boats 35 feet or more, and looking for a true blue water cruising experience, sailing at night, night time crew overboard and recovery methods, standing watches and cooking underway, this course is for you. A maximum of six students and two instructors are divided into two watches – three students and one instructor on each watch. During this 6-day sailing adventure you will be taught anchoring techniques, med mooring, crew management, passage planning, weather routing and more.

Course Dates for Coastal Passage Making

December 8-13, 2008
December 22-27, 2008
February 22-March 1, 2009
October 18-25, 2009

Arrive Sunday; depart Sunday. Stay aboard the boat on your arrival night, then sail five nights aboard a Moorings 50. Upon return, spend Saturday night in the hotel and depart Sunday. Most meals aboard the boat are included.

Your Itinerary

Tortola to St. Martin and Back or
Tortola to the Spanish Virgins (Culebra & Vieques) to St. Croix and back to Tortola

Depending on the weather, your instructor will recommend either a St. Martin or Spanish Virgins/St. Croix passage itinerary.

The St. Martin destination is an 80-mile journey tracking east across the Anegada Passage to the island of St. Martin and returning to Tortola. St. Martin shares diverse cultures, with its bustling cruise port and commercial district on the Dutch side, and the quaint and informal French, who emphasize comfort and elegance. Many beaches are secluded, with small cafés and charming bistros.

In Culebra and Vieques, you’ll find pristine beaches with a small-town, distinctly Spanish culture, uniquely friendly and casual people, undisturbed anchorages and a year-round lobster season!

Culebra & Vieques embrace approximately 400 square sea miles between the U.S. Virgins and Puerto Rico. You’ll reach these islands sailing approximately 42 nautical miles to the west of the Virgins, then 62 nautical miles south to the distinct Danish facade of St. Croix, the largest of the Virgin Islands, and return to Tortola.

Prerequisite for Course:
Bareboat Cruising and Coastal Navigation Certification

Certification:
Coastal Passage Making

Course Textbook:
US SAILING Coastal Passage Making

US SAILING Certification is also available for this course.

Call 800-221-4326 to speak with an Offshore Sailing Advisor. Jane Glancy grew up in Boston where she started cruising with her father at a young age and loves to talk to customers about the joys of sailing.   Diana Smith is an avid Great Lakes racer from Indiana who has cruised extensively in the Caribbean, Chesapeake, Florida, and New England.

Fast Track to
Coastal Passage Making
Coastal Navigation plus Coastal Passage Making

Arrive Wednesday; depart Sunday. The 10-day program combines 4-day in-depth Coastal Navigation course ashore with Coastal Passage Making course. Includes 4 nights in hotel during Navigation course, 6 nights aboard a Moorings 50, plus last night in hotel. Most meals aboard the boat included. The 4-day Coastal Navigation course may be taken without the live-aboard Coastal Passage Making course. Please call for rates.

Course Dates for Fast Track to Coastal Passage Making

December 4-13, 2008
December 18-27, 2008
February 18-March 1, 2009
October 14-15, 2009

Your Itinerary

Tortola to St. Martin and Back or
Tortola to the Spanish Virgins (Culebra & Vieques) to St. Croix and back to Tortola

Prerequisite for Course:
Bareboat Cruising Certification

Certifications:
Coastal Navigation and Coastal Passage Making

Course Textbooks (2):
US SAILING Coastal Navigation and
Coastal Passage Making

Your textbooks are included with course tuition, or can be ordered here at the Online Bookstore

US SAILING Certification is also available for this course.

Call 800-221-4326 to speak with an Offshore Sailing Advisor

How Coastal Passage Making Works
What You Learn
Locations for Coastal Passage Making

Coastal passagemaking with Offshore Sailing School Read the article

How it Works

Tortola to St. Martin and Back

You sail with a crew of six students with two expert Offshore instructors – three crew and one instructor on each watch. You sail 24/7 – in the clarity of sunlight, at dusk, dawn and throughout the night, regardless of the conditions you encounter. Your classroom is a 50-foot Moorings yacht and your itinerary includes two exciting overnight blue water passages. You’ll study advanced navigation, stand watches, take turns on the helm and adjusting sails for weather conditions, and enjoy the incredible feeling of steering in the dark with moonbeams floating on the waves.

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What You Learn

• Vessel inspection for passages
• Passage inventory needed
• Passage planning
• Safety and emergency equipment
• Emergency procedures
• Sail inventories for passages
• Leadership underway
• Open water seamanship
• Use GPS
• VHF radio operation
• Rules of the road
• Proper use of ship's log
• Tide and current tables
• Light List and Coast Pilot
• Navigation underway including running fixes, waypoints, danger bearings

• Watch systems
• Heavy weather procedures
• Safety harness and jacklines
• Proper use of boom preventer
• Crew overboard recovery at sea
• Cooking underway
• How to stow food and secure galley
• Conservation underway
• Towing a dinghy
• Anchoring techniques
• Anchor watches
• Weather forecasting and strategy
• Impact of high and low pressure systems
• Making landfalls
• Navigating inlets, shoals and bars
• Lee shores
• Stopping leaks and holes underway

Locations for Coastal Passage Making

Tortola, British Virgin Islands to St. Martin, Leeward Islands

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