ADVANCED/
PASSAGEMAKER

Format:

An experienced offshore instructor/skipper plus 6 students/crew, live on board a 46' Kelly Peterson, cutter rigged, center cockpit vessel, properly equipped for off-shore cruising, for 14 days and 13 nights.

Regular watches will be maintained around the clock with a skipper and navigator assigned. The first leg of this passage takes us up the East Coast of Vancouver Island, through a maze of islands where tidal currents run up to 15 knots! Navigation skills are crucial! The West Coast of the Island is an entirely different scenario with thousands of miles of open ocean in front of us! We then experience some serious sailing! There will be occasional landfalls at different points along the Coast. Instruction is ongoing with the emphasis on safety at all times!

Cruising skills will include navigation, night and day, using manual methods, GPS and sextant; sail selection, handling and trimming;; maintenance is ongoing and scheduled. Further instruction will include planning, provisioning, and cooking underway along with several other skills that are essential to the life of a Cruising Sailor!

Sleeping accommodation will have lee cloths/boards; equipment for cooking at sea; hot/cold water; showers; (all crew must shower before disembarking!) propane stove, oven and barbecue; heat; full dip-gybe spinnaker system; inflatable dinghy; life raft; full navigation equipment including speed, distance logs, depth sounder, GPs, radar etc.

Course Materials:

All information required to pass the written examination (CYA) is supplied. Each student is supplied with an ISPA module to be completed BEFORE LEAVING ON YOUR COURSE. Any "challenges" of prerequisite certifications must be scheduled to be completed before the departure date.

Equipment:

Advanced students are expected to have their own safety equipment i.e. harness, knife, strobe, flashlight and your own foul weather gear etc.

Prerequisites:

The Canadian Yacht Association or the International Sail and Power Association (or the equivalent):

• Basic/Competent Crew/Day Skipper
• Coastal Navigation
• Intermediate/Coastal Skipper
• VHF Radio certificate (or can be obtained on this course)
• Red Cross or St. John Ambulance Emergency First Aid + CPR

You should have at least 2 years of skippering or charter experience. This course is physically and mentally demanding, but it will give a great deal of self satisfaction upon completion. We have quite an alumni of serious sailors, and several successful students regularly cruise with us on this course, just "for the thrill" of this exciting annual passage!

Costs: $3695 CDN Canadian + 7% GST

OFFSHORE ADVENTURE

If you have ambitions to explore the world by Offshore Cruising, there is a simple and relatively painless way to discover whether or not the "cruising life" is for you! Just sign up for our OFFSHORE ADVENTURE - it's much less painfull than selling your home, dragging the kids out of school, and buying the "ideal boat" only to find that your lifelong dream may turn out to be your worst nightmare!

Our Offshore Experience has all the ingredients of a much longer trip including vessel preparation, provisioning, and the satisfaction (or the fear) of watching land and all things familiar, disappear behind you. Working 24-hour watches, you will experience the loneliness of the night and the thrill of the sun rising over an empty, glistening ocean. Navigation will offer the opportunity to use a sextant, maintain a dead-reckoning plot and use of GPS and Radar.

Once settled into a seagoing routine, we will turn around and make a landfall on the treacherous West Coast of Vancouver Island - your first landfall usually is the most dangerous part of any offshore trip!

Total mileage is anticipated to be 700 miles, depending on weather conditions. Successful completiion of this programme will meet the requirements of the ISPA Offshore Crew and Offshore Mate, which require 500 non-stop miles. Pre-requisites of Competent Crew/Day Skipper, Coastal Navigation, Coastal Skipper much be completed before departure to gain the Offshore certification. You may also join the crew (6 only), with similar experience and certification - please call for further details.

This will be a rigorous and challenging experience! The skipper and the vessel are primed for offshore cruising - you will be as safe and comfortable as possible, but you will have lots of "excitement" - this will be an unforgettable experience!