Coastal Skipper Course is your ticket to coastal cruising and bare boat chartering. Your sailing skills will raise to reflex level. Every manuever has to come right, every time, because your mind will be focused on more important task: being a captain. As a captain you must be able not only to sail, but also to handle major live aboard aspects of a cruise: safety of your crew, provisioning, maintenance work, navigation, cooking, weather watch, etc.

By the end of the course a candidate should be able to cruise safely as both skipper and crew of a sailing yacht of 8 - 12 meters in moderate wind and sea conditions by day. Emphasizes on-the-water skills at a level acceptable for bare boat chartering.

Prerequisites

Sailors with some experience

This course is a natural step forward for students with Basic Cruising Standard (Daysail Skipper) and some practical experience applying the knowledge from the basic course, or even if you don't have formal certification but have sailing and cruising experience. CYA Coastal Navigation Standard, marine VHF radio operator and First Aid certificate are definite assets, but not mandatory.

Sailors with less experience

Typical "intermediate level" course takes 4-5 dyas, but in our school it is full 7 days and nights, allowing us to accept students with less experience. If you had crewed in the past and are willing to put extra effort you could complete both Daysail and Coastal Skipper courses at the same time (Basic and Intermediate). You will be given the Basic exam at the end of the fourth day. However, if you have never been on a sailing boat, please contact us to arrange for Daysail Skipper course first.

During The Course

After the brief, once we learn of each other, we will listen the weather forecast and plan our route. Our aim is not to cover the distance, but to practice sailing skills and visit different harbours, not necessarily dozens of miles apart. Sometimes we will sail several hours straight to reach our destination and practice steering by the compass, but will not sail for 10 hours non-stop, everyday, barely touching the sails. During our normal day we will spend about 6 hours sailing and 2 hours anchoring, docking or dockside teaching. Some time will be spent preparing (and consuming) food. The rest of the day is for you to read the books and material that will be given to you and, finally, to enjoy greek beaches and tavernas. Our limit for the course will be wind force 6, otherwise we will stay in the harbour until the weather improves (see our info pages for Beaufort scale). For students who are in the area, we also provide six to then hours of ashore teaching during the week before departure.

For the course to be successful and enjoyable for everyone, we expect certain effort toward this common goal. Less experienced crew need to prepare them self before the course starts. Read books, talk with others, visit local sailing clubs. Your instructor will certainly help you during the weeks prior to course.

The boat has three cabins with double berths and main salon with foldable berths. With 5 to 6 people on board everybody will have his/her berth, but we will need to share cabins and heads (boat washrooms).

The day starts with a good breakfast, around noon it is time for snack and lunch is late afternoon. Dinners are simple, on-board, or if not at anchor we may visit local tavernas. Preparing food is part of the curriculum, so everyone will be preparing (edible) meals.

Course Curriculum

Every sailing school providing courses leading to Canadian Yachting Association certification uses the curriculum set by the association.

• Cruise planning: provisioning, clothing, spare parts, tools, border crossing procedure.
• Living aboard: galey, marine head, plumbing and electrical systems, cooking.
• Weather: understanding forcast, local conditions observation.
• Safety on-board: prevention and common emergency situations handling.
• Navigation: compass, charts, position finding.
• Rules of the road: common marine traffic situations.
• Courtesies
• Boat handling: upwind and downwind sailing, tacking, gybing, reefing, heaving to - all at reflex level.
• Steering compass course.
• Maneuvering the boat under power in tight quarters.
• Advanced anchoring techniques.
• Entering unknwon harbour.

Canadian Yachting Association - Intermediate Cruising Standard

The Exam

To get the certificate you must pass both ashore and afloat tests. Ashore knowledge test is a written test at the end of the course. Pass mark is 70%. If you do not pass you will get a second chance minimum 14 days later (and third if need be). The afloat skills are evaluated on the on-going basis.

Candidates for both Daysail and Coastal Skippers will have their Daysail (Basic Standard) test at the end of the fourth day.

You can also take Pleasure Craft Operator Card Exam (PCOC) at the end of the course. By completing our course your knowledge will far exceed the requirements for getting PCOC, however you still have to pass PCOC exam.

Schedule and Location

Price

Cash, cheques or money order only. Half at registration time, second half 30 days prior to course.

You can also take Pleasure Craft Operator Card Exam (PCOC) during the course. Learn more about PCOC here.

School Policy

Please review our policy here