Each course has a number of practical elements and during each course the student will be required to take a mid-term and a final exam. Upon course completion the student will be evaluated by the instructor as to strengths and weaknesses. The instructor will determine the level of certification the student will receive and approximately two weeks later a certificate will be sent to the student bearing the students name, course completed, qualifications and recommendations.
The certifications that we offer are our own and are recognized by most of the larger charter companies. See bareboat chartering.
Experience is the key; what our students seek is to gain the skills necessary to be able to operate a larger sailing vessel with competence and with confidence. Formal sailing instruction is a way to gain super-experience, but experience is still the key. If you wish to become a competent sailor you will need to invest in, a lot of hands-on experience. Spending a week on a live-aboard cruising vessel is a great way to gain a lot of sailing experience in a very short time. In addition to a formal class we counsel all of our students to go sailing at every possible opportunity, seek out those who have more experience and learn, ask questions, try things. Gaining experience in every way possible should be the goal of every novice sailor; and in the world of sailing we all have more we can learn and there are always skills that can be sharpened.
One of the elements that separates us from many schools is that we use our course designation as an effort on our part to ascertain your current experience level. Since gaining experience is the key, we use the philosophy that nobody fails. We are not held captive in our curriculum and we will adjust to meet the requirements of the student. If a student needs more time on sail trim, then we will spend more time on sail trim. If the student flies through one part of the course, then we will move forward to a higher level of instruction. If a student is finding that the material for a certain course is too much then we will focus the course at a reduced level of content.
This is why the personal touch is so important. As a potential student it is important that you make an accurate assessment of your abilities and discuss these with our counselor. If you are planning to come as a couple and there is wide difference in experience levels then the person with the least experience is going to get more out of the course. We do a number of Private Schools, this allows an even higher level of individual attention.
Each student will be tested at the level of material they have covered, regardless of course designation. Each student will be certified at the level that the instructor feels the student is competent.
ASA (the American Sailing Association) and US Sailing: These are the two largest sail training certification agencies in the USA. ASA has been around for many years and is very successful in their program. ASA was a monopoly until a number of schools helped create the current program at US Sailing. While US Sailing is a not for profit institution that has supported sailing and sailing programs for a very long time, they are only a recent entrant into the world of sailing certifications. We along with a dozen other school provided input to US Sailing while they put together the current program.
One of our contentions with ASA was the requirement that beginning classes could only be taught on 25 foot or smaller tiller boats. Our program uses forty foot and larger fully equipped cruising vessels and we have successfully brought the joys of sailing to hundreds of students. Another difficulty was the course prerequisites that required students to take ASA or US Sailing courses in a prescribed order. This is a problem when you have a student that already has some experience. Many of our students wish to purchase a vessel, cruise or bareboat charter and they desire to take a course on they type of vessel they will eventually sail, this is not a 22 foot Pearson Ensign. Unfortunately the US Sailing program became a mirror image of the ASA program. So the contentions that we had with the original ASA program we still have with the new contender, US Sailing. We are still in negotiation with US Sailing.
We do not discount the value of sailing aboard smaller vessels. It is valuable and arguably if you only sail on forty foot and larger vessels you will never truly learn the fine art of sail trim and boat handling. It is a joy and a pleasure to work your way, under sail, alone, through a crowded anchorage. The reason to learn these elements on a small boat is obvious; it is something one can do alone, the collateral risk is limited and errors are not fatal. This may not be the case when attempting the same with forty thousand pounds of displacement.
It is a fact that most ASA and US Sailing schools bend the rules. Many teach on larger vessels than the course specifies, we did it and they do it. Schools will bend the prerequisite rules, doing course one and two on the first day of a week's instruction and then teaching the course that the student desires during the rest of the week. This is how the business of sailing adapts to the realities.
Another contention is that most the schools spend little or no time evaluating the current competency of the student. The US Sailing and ASA program has supplanted the school in this regard. There is a lot of difference between two students that have passed the same basic sailing course when one did it last week and is a 25 year old athlete and the other is a 62 year old retired executive that took the course four years ago and has not sailed since. Yet they both hold the same level of certification and accordingly they may be put together on the next level course. Many schools do this and the result is students not getting the most out of course.
One of our greatest desires is to place students of similar levels of experience, abilities and desires on the same boat with a complementary choice in instructors. If we succeed, a synergy develops and whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We have students that have maintained long term relationships with instructors and other students because of the positive experience of a single class.
Our courses are cruising courses. The student arrives to the vessel on a Saturday morning and departs the dock to learn while sailing. The week long course will take the students either through the Florida Keys or the Bahamas. Back in the late sixties this was an entirely new concept, the International School of Sailing and Sailboats South (see the history of Ocean Masters) offered cruising style learning along with a large fleet of charter bareboats. The idea was a marketing success, teach potential charterers how to successfully charter and then charter them a vessel. Now the concept is a natural, almost all the larger charter companies offer instruction, one stop shopping.
The problem is that for most of the charter company school's the process of teaching is an after thought. Grab one of the bareboat charter boats and a contract captain and re-title the skipper as an instructor and call it a school. The variation in success can be dramatic. When we opened Ocean Masters Sailing Academy in late 1992 we decided that first and foremost we were going to be an institution of learning. None of vessels are bareboat charter boats, all of our instructors are trained by us and we have interviewed hundreds of potential instructors to arrive at the core we now have.
Fort Lauderdale is the yachting capital of the world. Every vessel on their way north to New England or across the Atlantic during the summer; or south to Caribbean in the winter will make a stop here in our fair city. The facilities in South Florida for the care of Yachts is second to none. Every major supplier of marine equipment in the world has an office or representative in Fort Lauderdale. Each year we host the largest most prestigious boat show on the planet. The total value of yachts and equipment displayed at the annual International Fort Lauderdale Boat Show is in the billions of dollars. The marine industry in South Florida is second only to the tourist industry. Because of all this activity we have more USCG licensed captains here that any place on earth. Ocean Masters Sailing Academy receives resumes and letters of introduction almost every day. We have the best instructors of any school anywhere. The reason we have the best instructors is because we have such an extensive pool to draw from. Being in Fort Lauderdale has allowed Ocean Masters Sailing Academy to be very selective and utilize only the individuals that show extensive experience and an exceptional ability to relay that experience in a class environment. Being a good teacher is a lot more than knowing the material. We look for individuals that have the experience, who can communicate with the students, who have the patience to explain and listen to the students. At the same time we listen to our instructors, we are the only school in the business where the instructors are actively involved in the curriculum. We are continually modifying our procedures as to the instructor's suggestions. Why? Simply because your instructor is the one person we have that is in direct contact with you the customer. Anything that we can do, as management, to make our instructors more successful will translate to the you the student.
During the past year alone we have moved to smaller class sizes. We always attempt to give each student or couple their own cabin. We have made arrangements for special rates at local lodging establishments, that we pass on to you. We maintain a limited supply of foul weather gear for use by our students. We provide transportation to some of the larger marine chandleries so that students may purchase items they desire. We pickup and deliver students to and from the airport. We supply snorkeling gear on the vessels without charge.
Our efforts have been rewarded, during the past four years we have had an almost perfect satisfaction rating with our students. Eight out of every ten graduates have either come back for another course or have told us that they intend to.
It is this infectious enthusiasm that makes us glad for the opportunity to do what we do and we would love to have you come and join us.