From The White-Knucklers File

Your first bareboat charter is a rite of passage to lifelong sailing adventures. So what are you waiting for?

by Elaine Lembo

Financial incentives, such as first-timers discounts, flotilla fees waivers, and course discounts are also created to help motivate jittery sailors, adds Jermaine Larson, the sailing school director for San Juan Sailing. “Our financial incentives are intended to help them join our flotillas and courses and, ultimately, to boost their confidence. We really want them to feel more confident because then they’ll make wiser choices and have a better time chartering.”

Weighing In
In letters and emails to their instructors, sailing-school graduates who are now veterans of their first bareboat charter detail the value of the experience.
“My husband and I are not only 100 times more competent sailors. We also have a redefined mutual respect for each other,” writes Offshore grad Meg Atkins after her coastal navigation and passagemaking courses. “You have the supervision of two instructors who allow you to fail at anything. Then you learn more than a few correct ways to do what you couldn’t do before. That’s invaluable.”

Adds Pacific Northwest sailor and bareboat vet Christine Keiper: “Having my A.S.A. skipper certification is one accomplishment that I’m thrilled about. I never dreamed that I’d do this. I have my husband to thank for forging ahead with the idea. And then there’s my own stubbornness. If he could do it, I could do it. Truth be told, I wanted to be fully trained in case he went over the side in those cold waters of the San Juan Islands, and I needed to fish him out!”

Elaine Lembo, Cruising World’s deputy editor, writes about chartering.

Resources
Organizations offering sailing curricula and certification include US Sailing (www.ussailing.org) and the American Sailing Association (www.american-sailing.com).

Schools include Steve and Doris Colgate’s Offshore Sailing School (www.offshoresailing.com) and O.C.S.C. Sailing (www.ocscsailing.com).

Also offering instruction:

Abaco Sailing (www.abacosailing.com),

Annapolis Bay Charters (www.annapolisbaycharters.net),

Annapolis Sailing School (www.annapolissailing.com),

Barefoot Yacht Charters (www.barefootyachts.com),

Blue Water Sailing School (www.bwss.com),

Fair Wind Sailing School (www.fairwindsailing.com),

Florida Yacht Charters (www.floridayacht.com),

Horizon Yacht Charters (www.horizonyachtcharters.com),

J World (www.jworldschool.com),

San Juan Sailing (www.sanjuansailing.com),