Getting Certified (SLC) - Lat 38 Letters

In the February 2019 issue of Latitude 38, page 28, the first entry is a letter from an experienced cruiser with questions about getting certified to charter in the Mediterranean.

This is all about the question of what credentials are needed to charter in the Med. It’s a real issue, and we can resolve it.

I had to respond. Here’s the letter.

Here was my response.

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Dear Editor,

Responding to Cary and Michele Hansen looking for the easiest way to get their Mediterranean sailing license, the NauticEd SLC route is the quickest, easiest, and least expensive in most cases.

Cary and Michele can do the practical on-the-water assessment for the SLC with me in one day in Long Beach.  I run Santana Sailing in Long Beach, and we're a NauticEd school.  The one-day assessment is an extensive pass/fail evaluation of essential skills, including Med-mooring with an anchor off the bow.  And if they need some practice, a day of on-the-water training before the assessment will help knock the rust off.

There's more to it including documenting sea time, completing on-line course requirements, and knowledge testing which will take some real time on the computer, but a sailor with the skills can knock out the practical portion for the SLC in a day.  With US Sailing or ASA on the other hand, if they don't already have Bareboat Cruising or ASA 104, they do indeed have to start at the bottom with all the basic on-the-water courses. 

Here's a link on NauticEd's website on How to Gain Your SLC Mediterranean Sailing License:  http://www.nauticed.org/sailing-blog/how-to-gain-your-slc-mediterranean-sailing-license/?school=santana-sailing

Contact Grant Headifen of NauticEd for more:  grant@nauticed.org; +1 512-696-1070.  

Here's a link to Santana Sailing's International Sailing License page:  https://www.santanasailing.com/international-sailing-license

To me, it's the grand unification theory in practice - you can use your skills to pass the practical assessment no matter where you got them, without having to start all over again at the bottom of some other system.  That's a beautiful thing.

Best,

Marc HughstonMobile: 949-939-8123Subscribe to Santana Sailing News
Email: Marc@SantanaSailing.comwww.SantanaSailing.com
* Get 2 Free Sailing Courses HERE
* Get your SLC Mediterranean Sailing License HERE

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I hope they post it!

The Best Way to Become a Better Sailor

In the years following my first sailing lesson at age 14, I often found myself wondering what it was like to do the things I saw other sailors doing. 

As a teenager I saw Hobie Cat sailors one windy afternoon on Lake Mojave, flying a hull and capsizing, and then righting the cat and taking off again.  How did they do that?

In college I saw Laser sailors practicing roll tacks on Mission Bay, and I walked by a Hobie 16 skipper with his cat tipped over on the beach, adjusting the mainsail battens to change the sail’s shape.  Why were they doing that?

On vacation I saw cruising boats at anchor in the bay at Cabo San Lucas and thought, what does that take, and how can I do something like that?

You Need More Than Books and Your Own Trial and Error

Over the years I learned by reading, asking questions, and through my own trial and error. But you will need so much more, unless you have an extra decade and a few extra lives to survive the mistakes.  You need outside help to make the great leap forward. It happened for me in the mid to late ‘90s with three fundamental lessons that came from a deeply experienced sailor who had been where I wanted to go, and knew what I needed to know. Mark Howe of Aventura Sailing Association in Dana Point was my original instructor-mentor, and I have him to thank for these.

The Great Leap Forward

The first of these experiences was on a multi-day trip from San Diego to Ensenada, Mexico and back, right around the time of the Newport – Ensenada race.  It was on our trip back north, on a black night with a double-reefed main that Mark said, let’s put the autopilot on, I need to start dinner.” (He was making bouillabaisse!)  I started looking for a breaker on the electrical panel, because I hadn’t yet seen any gear at the helm, and he said, “No, just get the sails balanced and lock down the wheel.”  So, the boat didn’t have an autopilot after all – this is just how he got it done.  And Mark strapped himself in at the galley, and we sailed right through dinner and on through the following morning, with our course meandering no more than 5 – 10 degrees.  I learned that a boat can steer itself if we handle the sails correctly, and that it really is possible to eat well and be comfortable on a windy night off the coast of Baja California. (Now I teach this technique on Catalina and Channel Islands cruises.)

Second, during another multi-day trip, we anchored bow and stern, inside one the largest sea caves in the world – the Painted Cave, on Santa Cruz Island.   I never even imagined this kind of thing was possible.  You would never aspire to do this on your own – unless that is, you were on a boat that did it, and saw how it was done.  And we had a champagne brunch, and took a dinghy trip into the blackness at the end of the cave where the Sea Lions were barking like mad.  Wow. (Now I back a 42 footer into the cave - without anchoring - about 4 times a year on Channel Islands cruises.)

View fullsize

Inside the Painted Cave on the Catalina 42, Betty

Third, I had a heavy weather experience at Santa Cruz Island that showed me some things about boat handling and decision making.  We had a double reefed main and a full genoa, and were hard on the wind from Ventura to the Scorpion anchorage.  When we went to reef the genoa, we had to ease the sheet so we could roll it in part way, and the sail began to flog.  Within about 10 seconds, the sail just exploded, having split at the seams about half way up.  We rolled in as much of it as we could, and anchored near Smugglers while Mark weighed the options.  He decided we should sail back to Ventura, and we did so on a double reefed main alone, making 6-7 knots the whole way.  Another cruisier in the harbor came over to talk to us, and ended up loaning us a spare headsail from his own boat.  I learned that sails have to be handled with care in heavy conditions, and sometimes you just have to head back to the harbor.  And, that other cruisers can be generous people.

That was part of my foundation for being able to handle my first strong gale in the Northern Channel Islands as an instructor - see the video below. I’ve been through a few of these now and while I don’t go looking for trouble, I love to teach the required techniques when the wind pipes up.

The Best Way to Become a Better Sailor

The final lesson is that even after all the reading, talking to others, and trial and error chartering on your own, the best way to become a better sailor is to get out on the water with someone who knows what you want to know, who’s been where you want to go, and can answer questions you didn’t know enough to ask.

That’s the best way to make a great leap forward with your learning.  That’s how we teach.  That’s really what Santana Sailing is here for. Get that same kind of experience by joining us on one of these Sailing Adventures:

• Catalina Sail Training Adventures

• Channel Islands Sail Training Adventures

• Sea of Cortez Sail Training Adventures

Why Santana Sailing and NauticEd?

Click here to download a PDF of this article

Something has you curious about us, and you want to know more.  You are likely asking yourself, why not go with an ASA, or US Sailing school?  I’d like to tell you why NauticEd makes sense to me, and why we are a NauticEd sailing school.

Blended Learning
In the world of training and development, the standard around the globe is to blend online learning with real world skill practice.  In the world of sailing and cruising instruction, this same blended methodology is used by NauticEd and has many advantages over the way things have been done, and are still being done. 

From the student’s point of view, for example, the great thing is that she can get an interactive lesson in the theory and practice of sailing before ever setting foot on the dock.  So, rather than spending half the first day listening to the instructor explain how a sailboat sails, the student can get right to the fun of sailing and put the theory to immediate use on the water.  And from the school and instructor’s point of view, the student is more fully engaged, learns to sail more quickly, and achieves a higher level of competence and confidence.  That’s a win, all the way around.  Get 2 Free sailing courses from NauticEd right HERE to check it out.

Higher Standards
Many ASA Schools, and at least one notable US Sailing School, promise to teach you to learn to sail and cruise in one week, often as a live aboard experience.  As a US Sailing and ASA instructor, and one who has taught the week long live aboard courses for an ASA school, I’ve seen that the average person simply cannot go from non-sailor to competent and confident in that time frame.  The student gets experience and a “license to learn” so to speak, but she is not going to feel ready to skipper that new 45 foot Beneteau, and if that’s all she has on her sailing resume, a charter company will require a professional captain on board.  Hmmm.

NauticEd’s Bareboat Charter Master rank on the other hand, is earned with 50 days of sea time, and 25 of those days as Master of the vessel - that’s exactly what the charter companies are looking for.  Further, those days are verified through the online resume and logbook.  At Santana Sailing, we use NauticEd’s ANSI compliant rubrics (scoring guides) to verify your level of competence for a particular rank during instruction.  That’s a much higher standard and it’s the right way to get it done. 

Competence and Confidence
In the end, it is really about competence and confidence.  Your spouse, your kids, your family and friends, and of course you, all want to feel like you can handle it.  Isn't that what makes it fun?

You do want to know that you can trim the sails, reef down when it’s windy, navigate the shoals to anchor in a secluded cove, and confidently manage whatever comes up during your weekend at Catalina, or your week in the Caribbean, don't you?  Those moments, when you’ve done just that, are some of the best in life.

The Bottom Line
It’s the training you get, and the resume you build that is going to make it possible to achieve your sailing dreams, whether day sailing for fun, crossing an ocean, or chartering a catamaran in some exotic location.  Helping you get the competence and confidence you need to do just that is what we do.