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

Setting your sights on some serious, long-distance cruising with only the deep blue sea on the horizon? If you've mastered basic cruising and have introductory navigation skills, you're ready to get down to the brass tacks with our Fast Track to Coastal Passagemaking course. The first four days of your course is spent learning coastal navigation in depth, the next six days you’ll sail day and night on your coastal passage making adventure, putting those navigation skills and more to the test.

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.

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.

What You Learn

In the 4-day Coastal Navigation portion of the course, you'll learn in a classroom setting. You'll gain the skills that ensure safe and successful navigation in coastal waters and will come away from this course with the confidence to safely navigate through challenging conditions, shallow waters, changing tides, currents and low visibility.

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Locations and Dates for Fast Track to Coastal Passage Making

British Virgin Islands
Feb. 18-March 1, 2009 (course full - waiting list)
Oct. 14-25, 2009
Coastal Passage Making may be taken in Tortola without Coastal Navigation Oct. 18-25. 2009 only.

Captiva Island, Florida
May 6-17, 2009
Dec. 9-20, 2009

St. Petersburg, Florida
Aug. 12-23, 2009

The Coastal Navigation 4-day classroom course may be taken alone.

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How it Works

Sample Itinerary

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

You'll arrive Wednesday and depart Sunday. The 10-day program combines 4-day in-depth Coastal Navigation course ashore with six days of Coastal Passage Making offshore. It includes 4 nights in a hotel during Coastal Navigation course, and 6 nights aboard a cruising yacht, plus your last night in the hotel. Most meals aboard the boat are included. The 4-day Coastal Navigation course may be taken without the live-aboard Coastal Passage Making course. Please call for rates.

For courses taken in the British Virgin Islands – 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, (the Spanish Virgins) 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.

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How it Works
What You Learn
Locations and Dates
Sample Itinerary

Coastal passagemaking with Offshore Sailing School Read the article