ADVENTURE CRUISING AND SAILING SCHOOL (sail)
c/o Gulfport Municipal Marina
4630 29th Avenue South, Gulfport, FL 33711
Phone: (727) 204-8850
Website: www.acss.bz
Email: tididi@acss.bz
This Florida sailing school specializes in women's classes and private classes for couples. ASA courses include basic keelboat, basic coastal cruising, bareboat chartering, coastal navigation, advanced coastal cruising and radar endorsement. Longer live-aboard and cruise-and-learn courses also offer opportunities for ASA certifications. Topics for class and on-the-water clinics for women include basic keelboat sailing, intermediate sailing, docking and anchoring, boat systems under power, heavy weather and emergency boat handling, man overboard, navigation and GPS training. Offers the Suddenly Alone Seminar. Basic ASA courses cost between $295 and $650; longer packages for two people run $1,980 to $3,885.
BLUE GOOSE CHARTERS (trawlers)
P.O. Box 433, Severna Park, MD 21144
Phone: (410) 647-2583 or toll free (800) 874-6673
Website: www.bluegoosecharters.com
Email: mothergoose@bluegoosecharters.com
Blue Goose Charters offers a trawler training program that includes dockmanship, piloting, navigation, safety, collision avoidance, energy management, communications, weather, anchoring and knots. Training is hands-on and tailored to individual needs. Offers training specifically for women. It was Mother Goose that inaugurated the "Women's Hands-On Training" program for the Marine Trader Owners Association, the largest trawler club in America. The fee is about $35 an hour aboard a bare-boat charter, not including the cost of the charter. Training also is available without the charter and on a client's own vessel.
MARINE MAX WOMEN ON WATER (W.O.W.)
Free boating classes for women
Website: www.marinemax.com
This small-group seminar is followed by behind-the-wheel training on a Marine Max boat. Check online for the dealer nearest you.
OFFSHORE SAILING SCHOOL (sail and power)
16731 McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers, FL 33908
Phone: (800) 221-4326
Website: www.offshore-sailing.com
Email: info@offshoresailing.com
Large and small classes are coed, women only or private cruising courses for two. Courses are offered in both power and sail. The school provides sailing courses certified by US SAILING, from day sailing and coastal cruising to ocean sailing to live-aboard, blue water sailing and offshore passage making training. Power cruise 4- and 5-day courses include training in on-board systems, steering, docking, anchoring, navigation rules, coastal navigation, rules of the road, overboard recovery, electronics and safety, and engines. Prices vary, but couples classes range from $3,200 to about $10,000; the Colgate Offshore Accelerated Sail Training, which leads to five certificates, costs $5,580 per person.
PACIFIC YACHTING & SAILING (sail)
790 Mariner Park Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95062
Phone: (831) 423-7245 or toll free (800) 374-2626
Website: www.pacificsail.com/womens.html
Email: sail@cruzio.com or pacificsail@cruzio.com
Not exclusively a woman's boating school, Pacific Yachting & Sailing conducts women-only classes for 2 to 3 women who have their own group. Two-day courses in basic sailing and seamanship, basic coastal cruising and intermediate coastal cruising cost between $230 and $410 per person.
SEA SKILLS PERSONAL SCHOOL OF SEAMANSHIP (power)
P.O. Box 410564, San Francisco, CA 94141
Phone: (877) 732-7545 or cell (415) 902-8439
Website: www.seaskills.com
Email: info@seaskills.com
Sea Skills offers private offshore instruction with a captain on your boat in your own waters.
SEA SENSE (sail or power)
P.O. Box 1961, St. Petersburg, FL 33731
Phone: (800) 332-1404
Website: www.seasenseboating.com
Email: seasense@aol.com
Sea Sense is a woman's sailing and power boating school offering everything from brief introductory and refresher courses, to 5- to 7-day learning experiences, to advanced coastal cruising and long-distance passage making. Classes are taught in Florida, New England, the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Northwest and along the Intracoastal Waterway as well as the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Greece, France, Italy and Tahiti. In Florida, 3-day and 5-day sailing courses are $1,325 and $1,995, respectively; 5-day power boating courses are $2,795. Prices vary by location.
WOMANSHIP (sail)
137 Conduit Street, Annapolis, MD 21401
Phone: (800) 342-9295
Website: www.womanship.com
Email: sail@womanship.com
The first sailing school for women, in continuous operation since 1984, offers 400 plus courses a year in 16 locations. Offerings include 2- to 5-day introductory sessions, 5- to 7-day live-aboard cruises, and 9- to 12-day excursions. Locations include Annapolis, Md.; British Virgin Islands; Florida Keys; the Great Lakes; Long Island Sound; Camden, Maine; the Greek Isles; Ireland; Turkey; New Zealand; Vancouver, B.C. and the Gulf Islands. Prices vary by location and duration.
