I am sure that ANY small boat sailing club or school issue Sailing Certificates after attending and completing a course. At Sailtitusville.com five consecutive weekends will equipp you for most emergencies in a small sailboat. $125, and you get a certificate
Sailing Certificates
(9 posts) (6 voices)-
"Hey. If you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it 'guaranteed', I will. I got spare time." -- Tommy Boy
And the "certificate" amounts to pretty expensive toilet paper...
YMMV,
LawlessPosted 6 years ago # -
ZeroTheHero
Memberwhere is the "like" button on this site? Lawless, that was funny! I just completed the VT State Boaters Certification course online. 3 hours of mostly basic stuff with a heavy emphasis on Presonal Watercraft and DUI. I passed a far tougher course when I was 15 in CT that enabled me to drive my Dad's power boat. These types of "certifications" are to get a basic understanding of, well, the basics. Watertribe is supposed to be above all this. So why did I get the VT certificate? I am thinking of getting a small powerboat for Lake Champlain to tow the kids around. Did you feel that? The earth just shifted.
Posted 6 years ago # -
seabag
MemberThe only sailing certificates that I have ever seen that are worth anything are the Brit yachtmaster series, which require classroom as well as practical examination much like the BCU paddling certs. In this country you are better off looking at a resume, which is what we do for a much less stressful event that I am part of organizing. Even CG captains quals which can't examine on the water and rely on written tests, rely on a resume, evidence of sea time.
Posted 6 years ago # -
ZeroTheHero
Memberbecause I like to share.....
Not long after taking that course way back then in CT I was getting my Level 1 certification to teach sailing at a yacht club. It was a good course and I loved taking it, but many of the "too cool" kids were bored to tears. It was May in CT and it wasn't their idea of a great time. The instructor was a guy named Walt Wheeler (hope I spelled that right). Older guy, the cool kids thought he was an old geezer. One aspect of the test was to show you could manuver a small powerboat. Aproach a dock, make a landing, leave a dock, assist a small boat, etc. Now there were about 6 of us on the boat this day and most got to do all these things out in the harbor using a string of floats on their winter mooring as a landing dock. At the end of the lesson we motored in. I noticed I had not been asked to do any of the procedures. Everyone else noticed too. We were all a little confused.
Now Walt and I had history. More than I knew. He and my father were old timers who had seen it all. Walt focused on junior sailing, my Dad focused on big boats. Together they wrote a few parts of the USYRU rules of sail boat racing. I was not even on the planet then though.
My first real interaction with Walt was a day when I was at the club messing about with my Laser. Not sailing, just fussing over it. Originally I was intending to sail but a front was coming so I decided to just meddle. There was an Optimist regatta going on just off the club about a mile out though. Well they got caught out in the storm and it was a mess. Eventually the organizers decided to pull the kids off the water and just leave the boats to drift till they could get them. Walt was in our club and heard it all over the VHF and decided that was total crap. Bad for the boats, bad for other sailors, bad for the kids.
He came marching down to the junior area, saw me and told me to follow him. We walked to one of the club Whalers and he asked if I could drive it. I said yes but was not allowed to. Bullshit, Walt needed a driver and I was it. So we took the boat. We went out and started gathering the Optis. By then the action was dying down so it wasn't hard. Grab a boat, drop the rig quickly, set the blades and get it on tow, repeat. By the time we were headed into the nieghboring club (host club) we had over 20 optis strung out behind us. The organizers were just heading out......
So back to the Level 1 course day. I figured Walt didn't know me, but he did. Evidently he remembered that day with the Optis and was holding a little surprise for me. That was probably 2 summer before this day. So as we got in close he asked me to take over the helm. We were no longer out in a large harbor away from expensive things. I motored us back to the finger pier we had left from but just as we rounded the corner Walt pointed out where he wanted me to put the boat. In a corner, stern in. The bow would be under the dinghy hanging on stern davits froma 65 foot cruising boat. There was another large cruiser on the other side of this corner. I had about 4 feet to spare. Everyone else shut up and I amnuvered the boat in. The owner of said cruisers watched very closely, concern on their faces. I was good at this and while it was a challenge, I did it. First try. Walt just walked off and never said a thing. Other students tied us up. One of the other kids said something about never being able to that. They were impressed.
At first I didn't understand. I thought Walt had singled me out as punnishment. On the contrary.
I got that Level 1 later that weekend and was thrilled to be on my way to sailing instruction. But I got something far better than a piece of paper. When I figured it out I knew what Walt had done and I was so thrilled and grateful. I was a kid who doubted myself, felt uncool, worried about silly stuff. After that experience I knew I had more than whatever the paper said. Walt knew it and showed me.
So paper and all is great, but if people think they need it as proof of skill they should reconsider.
Walt
Posted 6 years ago #
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