To facilitate comparison with the ASA's and US Sailing's certification programs, I usually suggest that people who have completed ASA 106, "Advanced Coastal Cruising", or US Sailing's "Coastal Passage making" would have the minimum sailing experience and training desirable to get the most out of my program. See our (Instruction) page for a description of our curriculum and the areas we sail. See our (Resources) page for links to the ASA, US Sailing, etc.

With or without a certification, I believe that to entertain going offshore on a 500-1,000 nm, 10-14 day, advanced coastal and offshore passage, a person should have certain minimal skills, knowledge, and experience. You will get out of it what you put into it. One should already have decided that offshore sailing is something he or she wants to master. Going on an Ocean-Pro training trip as a member of a small crew to see what offshore sailing involves or if one enjoys it, is not the right motivation. Each member of a small crew must bring skills and experience to the mix. Each person is important and each person must carry their share of the work. A person should have a strong desire to learn, an open mind, and a high level of motivation and energy. Enthusiasm is important. Being a team player is important. One should already have certain level of knowledge and skills, (cooking, line handling and knot tying, boat handling, mechanics, plumbing systems, 12 volt systems, navigation, weather, etc).  I believe one should have a minimum of four weeks of comprehensive skippering experience on a 30 footer or larger, sailing for extended periods of time in challenging coastal or island locations. The experience should preferrably be as skipper, and on trips of at least 100-200 nm sailed over 7 to 10 days time. I consider the following to be challenging locations: The Great Lakes, San Francisco Bay, The US East Coast, the Virgin, Leeward and Windward Islands etc. More experience than this is definitely an asset. Night sailing experience is an asset. Heavy weather experience is an asset.

Yet...experience is not everything! I also consider a person's goals, motivation, aptitudes, open mindedness, occupation and hobbies, and whether a person has a need to learn, ie firm plans to buy or cruise extensively a 40-50 footer. One's motivation should be to learn offshore sailing, not to just experience offshore sailing. Some of my better students have had little experience when they first sailed with me. Yet, because they had a keen desire to learn, an aptitude and no bad habits, they did very well. On the other end of the scale, some of my students who had skippered for 10 weeks or more, or had crewed on trips of a few hundred to 500 or 1,000 miles, did not do so well. I am grateful that many of my student crew, who have now become my close friends, come back one or more times to sail again. They know I offer well planned, safe, instructive, adventure filled passages.

We prefer for the captain and each crew member to have a private berth if not a private cabin, and we generally limit the number of crew to no more than four plus the captain/instructor. The number of crew that can join a particular passage is a function of the boat's design, mostly the number of private berths as well as the nature of the trip, ie whether it is coastal in nature or offshore. Larger boats with more berths and with the passage being offshore can accomodate more crew. Hence the cost can be lower. Smaller boats with fewer berths, with the passage being more coastal or island hopping can accomodate fewer crew. Hence the cost per person can be higher. The typical 750-1000 nm, 10-12 day, instructional passage, with three to four student crew costs between $2,500 and $3,500/student crew.

Contract and Payments: As each passage comes into the planning stage, we will furnish each interested crew member a copy of our contract, the trip plan and itinerary, the boat specifications, any drawings we have, and the proposed cost structure. When a trip becomes confirmed as available for booking reservations, we will start taking berth reservations and will ask each crew member for a 50% deposit. This assures one and all that everyone is serious. When a trip is fully subscribed, ie all berths reserved we will ask for the remaining 50% of the cost.  

Vessel owners interested in the delivery of their boat, or in instruction as a student, receive a substantial credit for the use of the boat as an instructional platform. See our (Deliveries) page.

When you create your sailing resume and table of sailing experience, we suggest concentrating on your recent and "big boat", (meaning over 28 feet) experience, and creating your table in reverse chronological order, that is most recent trips first. We suggest combining all "daysailing" or small boat experience into one or more groups. Include dates, boat makes and sizes, your role onboard, the waters and distances sailed, any night underway time, any adverse weather encountered, equipment you used, things you learned, etc. We have created some documents to help you create a good sailing resume. Download Sailing Resume Guide (MS Word) & Sailing Experience Table, (MS Word).

You can send us your sailing resume by email, fax or mail. Include a paragraph or cover letter describing your sailing goals and your availability time frame for joining a training trip. Include what you would like to experience or learn. And let us know when and for how long you could be available for a passage. Feel free to include a photo of yourself if you like. I will respond ASAP, especially if you use email. If we agree to a trip, then we will simply stay in touch and work toward defining the particular passage, the dates, cost, etc. If you would like to talk with any of our prior students or vessel owners as references, I will be more than happy to furnish you with many names and phone numbers. 

Thank you! I sincerely appreciate your interest and look forward to hearing from you.