Live Aboard Cruising

Experience the joys of cruising while learning! The ultimate dream for most sailors is to cruise exotic islands and see the world under sail. Go where the wind takes you, at a pace set by the rising moon and setting sun. This is real cruising and you can experience it with Offshore. If you already know the basics of sailing (equivalent to our Learn to Sail course) and want to move up to bigger boats to get the true feeling of what it's like to live and learn aboard, this week-long course is for you. Our Live Aboard Cruising Course is taught on 41'-51' monohulls and catamarans.

Prerequisite for Course:
Basic Keelboat certification (our Learn to Sail course or equivalent training)

Certification (2 levels):
US SAILING Basic Cruising and Bareboat Cruising

Course Texts (3):
US SAILING Basic Cruising and Bareboat Cruising, plus Fast Track to Cruising® by Steve and Doris Colgate

Check rates & availability or make a reservation

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

How Live Aboard Cruising Works
What You Learn | Locations for Live Aboard Cruising

FREE Sailing Screen Saver or Desktop

How it Works

Your classroom and home for the week is beautiful 41'-51' monohulls and catamarans, depending on the location you choose. With three or four cabins, generous main salon and gallery area, hot water showers, an aprés swim deck shower, spacious cockpit, air conditioning (in Florida) and all the equipment you need to learn and live comfortably aboard.

"At first glance, the size of the boat was intimidating. By the end of the week, I was confident I could handle boats even larger." Ed Epstein, Denver, CO

You'll sail and live aboard with no more than three other classmates and your instructor, sharing experiences you'll long remember. The first five days you learn, learn, learn as you navigate from port to port, island to island.

Each night you share the special joys of cruising - anchoring in a secluded anchorage with other cruisers enjoying a canopy of stars overhead, docking in a quaint harbor or exciting village to explore and dine ashore. Your graduation present is a 24-hour mini-cruise without the instructor aboard – confidently putting your new skills, and a new lifestyle, in motion.

"When our instructor left a 46' boat in our hands and went ashore I thought, 'there goes a brave man.' Twenty-four hours later, as we docked back at Duck Key, I realized that we really didn't need him anymore." Colin Wightman - Kasota, MN

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• Planning a cruise/itinerary
• Boat layout and sail plan
• Boat systems
• Operation of head
• Operation of engine
• Engine mechanics
• Fueling techniques
• Battery and charge systems
• Water/battery conservation
• Thru-hull systems
• Stove and galley systems
• Maneuvering under power and sail
• Log procedures
• Rules of the road
• Danger bearings
• Coast Guard requirements
• VHF use and leeway calculations
• Keeping a log
• Planning menus and storing food aboard
• Use of drogues and warps
• Preparing meals underway
• Use of safety harness
• How to tow dinghy

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• Courtesy: lights and signals
• Proper handling of halyards and lines
• Proper use of winches
• Sail trim and shape
• Apparent wind and sail selection
• Genoa roller furling
• Overboard recovery procedures
• Heavy weather and reefing
• Heaving-to
• Sailing wing and wing with boom preventer
• Docking and anchoring
• Important knots and use
• Use of safety harness
• Emergency tiller use
• Distress signals
• Navigation for cruising including set, drift

St. Petersburg, Florida to West Coast harbors, islands and back.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands to variety of anchorages in the BVI chain.

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