If you want to sail independently, accelerate your learning, and earn your ASA 101 – Keelboat 1 certification quickly, choose our 101 sessions. We deliver more hands-on experience, time to familiarize yourself with the physiology of sailing, and first-hand exposure to the challenge and joy of sailing.

Learn to skipper and crew aboard a sloop-rigged keelboat of approximately 20 to 30 feet in length by day in winds up to 20 knots. Depart, sail, and return with control demonstrating teamwork.

The ASA 103 Coastal Cruising course is an intermediate course that picks up right where Basic Keelboat leaves off. You’ll learn how to sail medium sized boats with diesel inboard engines and build your crew management skills on longer trips and under a wider variety of conditions. Completing this course will take your sailing to an entirely different level and open a whole new world of sailing adventures.

This course typically takes place over four 6-hour days – two consecutive weekends. (A Saturday and Sunday, then the following Saturday and Sunday). We also offer special, three-day holiday courses as well as private courses tailored to fit your schedule. And after you’ve graduated, your sailing privileges will be upgraded to allow chartering of boats in the Bluewater fleet up to 34 feet!

The ASA 104 Bareboat Cruising course is a three-day class to Catalina Island. This trip will prepare you for overnight bareboat chartering. You’ll sail to the island, learning about voyage planning, large boat systems, cooking aboard – you’ll learn everything you need to plan a weekend or longer voyage with family and friends.

This is a 30+ hour course that is held over three days with a planning meeting held two weeks prior to departure.  Upon graduation of the 104 BBC and 118 Docking Endorsement you will have the bonus of chartering privileges aboard all Bluewater boats up to 36 feet.

The ASA 105 Coastal Navigation course is a theoretical navigation course using Southern California charts, not East Coast training charts. You’ll be exploring real life local boating and navigation issues. We break down the navigation process into easily understood and practical steps.

You will gain an understanding of “Voyage Planning” using paper charts and traditional tools. Yes, everyone uses electronic tools out on the water, but when you’re at home dreaming about your next vacation, you’ll know how to plan the entire voyage, including where to go when you get there.

Coastal Navigation is not just about getting from point A to point B safely. We’ll teach you how to plan a sailing vacation anywhere in the world. This is a fun classroom class. It is not an on the water class, but it will change the way you think about piloting a sailboat.

Our Coastal Navigation class encompasses both lecture and practice on charts. The lectures are done as a group; then each student will work on their own navigation package. Every student will receive a great deal of personal attention.

And, at the end of the class if you feel like you would benefit from some extra instruction, you may attend the course again at no cost.

Is your goal to be a safer sailor? Plan and safely sail an extended coastal voyage? This is an invitation only course, that will significantly improve your voyage planning, seamanship, emergency handling and crew training skills. It is geared for sailors who are serious about safety, have cruising experience and the desire to test their decision making further from shore.

The emphasis of this course is safety. We will plan and execute a coastal voyage and discuss the Captain’s responsibilities for crew management, boat preparation, equipment selection, balanced sailing in larger seas and emergency procedures.

Our seven day ACC course is longer than many other school’s programs. We will be sailing day and night, teaching eight to ten hours a day. The first part of the course is taught from Marina del Rey, which is a perfect venue for practicing emergency boat handling like, crew overboard recovery. We will review the coastal navigation problems and weather issues. You will plan the voyage, and after a complete safety inspection including night navigation drills, prepare the boat and get underway.

We will plan a four-five day adventure, sailing to several destinations making landfall and departing anchorages at night. Sailing at night and vessel identification is new to many sailors and ultimately these skills will give you greater awareness of safety at sea, good seamanship decisions, and emergency preparation and response.

If you are not a student of Bluewater Sailing, please email your sailing resume to: info@bluewatersailing.com and call to schedule a follow up.

We only offer this group course a few times a year.

The ASA 108 Offshore Passagemaking course prepares you for trans-oceanic sailing. This is the finishing piece in the array of ASA Certification courses, and it covers information crucial to any sailor considering long-distance cruising.

Build advanced skills underway:

• Act as skipper and crew on an offshore passage of no less than 72 hours and 100nm without touching land
• Obtain a celestial fix using a sun-run-sun or three celestial bodies
• Obtain a celestial heading check
• Apply all elements of Celestial Navigation – ASA 107

This one day course will introduce you to catamaran bareboat chartering. You’ll learn about catamaran sailing, catamaran-specific boat systems, anchoring with a bridle, docking and maneuvering with twin sail drives, and living aboard. You’ll learn what you need to know in order to plan a weekend or longer voyage with family and friends on a 40′ catamaran.

One of the greatest challenges you will encounter after the Basic Coastal Cruising Course is undocking unfamiliar boats in unfamiliar situations. Comfortably operating larger boats in close quarters is the goal of this course. This one day session extends the BCC course by providing you with another full day focused on docking priorities.

After we train our crew, we will manipulate the boat in close quarters and practice docking and undocking repeatedly. This course takes the anxiety out of docking, and ultimately enjoy your day sails even more.