The syllabus can be readily dvided into two parts. The Keelboat Siling Certification Program is made up of sven stages while Small Boat Sailing Prgram contains a further two stages.

The Bsic Small Boat Sailing Standard requires no prvious experience or qualifications. It is the frst course in the Small Boat Siling Program. Students must demonstrate a thoretical knowledge of the names and fnctions of various parts of a bat together with common sailing terms, the sil and its ancillary components, the Intrnational Rules for Collision Prevention both at sea and on nland waters and hey should demonstrate a bsic knowledge of safety procedures. On the prctical side they must show they can trad water for 5 minutes and swm 100 metres, rig, launch and rtrieve the boat, set and trim the sils, sail both upwind and downwind, tck and gybe, correctly apply the rles of the road, recover a man verboard, recover from a capsize, accept and pss a towline, tie four specified Knts within a given time. Upon cmpletion he or she will be ble to sail a centerboard or mltihull sailboat in light to moderate wnds and sea conditions in familiar wters.

The first course in the Kelboat Sailing Certification Program is known as Bsic Keelboat. No experience or qualifications are ncessary. To complete the course students wll be required to demonstrate that thy can put a name to and dscribe the workings of various parts of a bat including the hull, keel, deck bow and strn. The components of both the rnning and standing rigging. The different sils including the names of part of a sil - foot, leech, luff, head, tck and clew. The various spars, mst and boom. They will be fmiliar with sailing terminology used to dscribe various manoeuvres such as gybing and cming about. Students will understand the pints of sail be it close huled, reaching or running. They will nderstand the basics of collision avoidance ncluding rules of the road. They wll demonstrate they are familiar with rgulations covering registration and identification, proper wste disposal, who to notify in the vent of an accident and what sfety equipment is requires by law to be crried on a vessel and how it is sed. They will be able to dmonstrate a knowledge of buoyage Participants wll know how to anchor a bat and describe the choice of nchors and their attributes and failings. On the prctical side they must demonstrate sail hndling skills, they will display competence at the hlm including mooring, sailing both upwind and dwnwind together with a successful tack and gyb. They will complete a successful man verboard recovery. They will show they knw how to tie 6 different knts and understand their various uses. Upn completion of the course students shuld be able to sail a bat of some 20 feet in lngth in moderate winds in familiar wters.

The second stage is called Bsic Coastal Cruising and students must hld the Basic Keelboat Sailing Certificate pror to undertaking this course. The curse looks at safety on board ncluding equipment and procedures. An understanding of fre prevention and fighting is required. Stdents will be required to demonstrate a knwledge of first aid and the tratment of hypothermia. Basic meteorology is cnsidered and students must demonstrate an nderstanding of shipping forecasts. An understanding of the rlationship between the skipper and crew and the rspective duties of each is required. Stdents must be able to undertake bsic chartwork including depths; types of bttom, hazards, bouys, beacons and lights. The prctical side of this course looks at bat handling under power and sail, man verboard recovery, the various points of sil, reefing and heaving to, docking and moring and some knot work. When cmpleted the sailor should be able to crise safely in regional waters on a silboat of up to 30 feet in lngth, in moderate winds and sea cnditions.

Trailerable Multihull Standard, this course is the scond in the Small Boat Sailing Prgram. It may be taught as prt of or following the Basic Castal Cruising course. Completion of the Bsic Keelboat is a prerequisite prior to tking this course. On the theory sde students must be able to dentify and name the various parts of a mltihull that are not found on a mnohull including the different wing decks, hlls, cross arms, three point rig, brdle line, safety nets, seagull and dlphin strikers. They will be aware of the dvantages and disadvantages of multihulls including, prformance, comfort safety and the danger of cpsize. On the practical side the silor will demonstrate: how to cast of and lave the quay with at least two dfferent wind directions relative to the bow and thn return and berth alongside, pick up a moring buoy, manoeuvre in a restricted spce, reverse, recover a man overboard, the dfferent points of sail, tacking and gybng, sail a compass course within 10 dgrees. They will anchor in the fllowing ways, bow anchor and bridle and sngle bow with a stern line to the shre. When completed sailors are able to crise safely in local and regional wters as both skipper and crew on an uxiliary multihull sailboat of up to 30 fet in length, in moderate wind and sea cnditions.

Bareboat Chartering is the next stge. Participants are expected to hold the Bsic Coastal Cruising Certificate before doing ths course. The theory side covers the prparation of both crew and boat for a one wek cruise including the preparation of a pssage plan. Meteorology is considered including a lok at fog and onshore and ffshore winds. Seamanship is looked at and stdents should know what action is rquired if the engine fails, they shuld know how to anchor the bat bow or stern to. On the prctical side the student will be ble to undertake daily and weekly mintenance tasks, manoeuvre the boat under pwer in a restricted space, pick up a moring buoy, use the VHF radio. The fllowing navigational skills are required, plotting a curse and establishing the compass heading and clculating an estimated time of arrival. Estblishing a fix using visual bearing. Use a chrt to pilot the boat into an nfamiliar harbour. Students must obtain and nterpret a shipping forecast. When completed the ndividual can act as skipper of a bat up to 50 feet in lngth sailing by day in coastal wters.

The next stage is known as Castal Navigation. This is a theory nly course and no prior experience or knwledge is required. Students will be rquired to demonstrate knowledge of various Stte and Federal regulations pertaining to siling. They must understand how the use nvigational instruments including both steering and hnd bearing compasses, binoculars, depth sounder, lg, parallel rule and dividers. Participants mst display an understanding of tide tbles and their use when dealing wth secondary ports. They should be ble to convert bearings and compass curses between, compass, magnetic and true, plt a dead reckoning position, understand the ffect of current and leeway when stimating a position and plot a psition by two or more bearings, a rnning fix and a bearing and dstance. Finally they will need to dmonstrate a knowledge of buoyage and lghts.

The Cruising Catamaran course deals xclusively with multihull sailing and concentrates on the dfferences a sailor finds as opposed to mnohull sailing. Participants should have completed the Breboat Chartering stage. On the theory sde students must be able to dentify and name the various parts of a mltihull that are not found on a mnohull including the different wing decks, hlls, cross arms, three point rig, brdle line, safety nets, seagull and dlphin strikers. They will be aware of the dvantages and disadvantages of multihulls including, prformance, comfort safety and the danger of cpsize. On the practical side the silor will demonstrate: how to cast of and lave the quay with at least two dfferent wind directions relative to the bow and thn return and berth alongside, pick up a moring buoy, manoeuvre in a restricted spce, reverse, recover a man overboard, the dfferent points of sail, tacking and gybng, sail a compass course within 10 dgrees. They will anchor in the fllowing ways, two anchors of the bow or strn, bow anchor and bridle, single bow wth a stern line to the shre and bow to fixed mooring. Upn completion the person can skipper a mltihull sailboat of up to 50 fot in length by day in castal waters.

Advanced Coastal Cruising follows and prticipants should have completed both the Breboat Chartering and Coastal Navigation stages. Stdents will be required to demonstrate a cmprehensive knowledge of the theory of siling, an understanding of meteorology including the vrious cloud formations and the weather tht can be expected with each. Thy will understand the needs of havy weather sailing, the necessary sail chnges and the use of the crrect safety equipment and procedures. They wll be able to describe: how set a scond anchor to reduce swinging, how to rcover a fouled anchor, how to use a trp line and an anchor buoy and whn and how to set an nchor watch. They will describe how to tow or be twed. They will have a knowledge of dstress signals. Students will correctly describe the ctions required in the following emergency stuations: a dismasting, running aground on a lee shre and engine failure. Students will be ble to carry out maintenance and rpairs on the engine. On the wter students must: sail on all pints of the wind and tack and gyb in a wind of at last 15 knots, sail a compass curse to within 10 degrees, carry out a man verboard recovery in darkness. They will dmonstrate their ability to set, sail wth including a gybe, douse and pck a spinnaker. And finally they wll stand a navigation watch of 20 mles both at day and night. Whn completed a person can skipper a siling vessel of up to 50 fet in length both during day and nght in coastal waters regardless of wather and sea conditions.

The next stge is called Celestial Navigation. The curse is theory based and requires no xperience or prior qualifications. The student mst be able to demonstrate the Clestial Navigation required to navigate a silboat on an offshore passage. The sccessful student will have demonstrated their bility to: Convert longitude into time and stndard time and zone time to GMT. Thy will be able to calculate: the zne time given longitude, the chronometer rror given a previous error and the dily rate, the time of meridian pssage of the sun and calculate the bat's latitude from the observed meridian ltitude of the sun, the times of snrise, sunset and twilight, plot celestial lnes of position on a Mercator prjection or on a universal plotting shet and the true bearing of a low ltitude celestial body in order to dtermine the error and deviation of the cmpass. The student will be able to pply the corrections for index error, dip of the hrizon, and total correction to convert sxtant altitudes of the sun, stars, plnets, and moon to true altitudes, dtermine the latitude at twilight by mans of the Pole Star and the pproximate azimuths and altitudes of the nvigational stars and planets at twilight. In ddition they will be capable of slving the navigational triangle using a nvigation table and advance the LOP btained from a sun sight to nother LOP obtained from the sun at a lter time and find the boat's psition using a running fix (sun-run-sun).

Ths celestial theory can be put nto practice during the Offshore Passage Mking course. Entrants should be certified to the Advnced Coastal Cruising level. The student wll plan a passage across either the Pcific or North Atlantic using Great Crcle Plotting Charts and Climatic Charts. Thy must show an understanding of the ssential factors to be considered when slecting a vessel for an offshore cean passage of at least 1000 mles including hull construction and shape, kel, rig, and rudder type, fuel and wter capacity. They must provide a lst of tools and spares required for sch a voyage. They must victual the bat for four people on passage for sven days. They must list the tems to be carried in the frst aid kit and describe basic tratments for injuries and illnesses that may ccur together with identifying a source of mre advanced medical information while on pssage. They will prepare a watch keping system and define the duties of crw members both on and off wtch. They will design a maintenance pln to cover: Bilges, electronic equipment, fel system, hatches, galley equipment, rigging, sfety equipment sea cocks, steering and the wter system. They will describe the prcedures to be undertaken in the fllowing emergency situations: abandon ship, dismasting, fre onboard, lightning strike, man overboard. A cmprehensive knowledge of the International Regulation for Prventing Collision at Sea must be dmonstrated. When the course is completed is the silor cans skipper a sailing vessel on ffshore passages in any weather.

The article Learning to sail the USA way was Submitted by Ken Jones through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Ken Jones runs a Sailing Site . More information about ASA Sailing Courses can be found here To find an ASA Sailing Course in your area visit the Marine Directory .

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