The Tak Team Blog

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

The Basic Small Boat Sailing Standard requires no previous experience or qualifications. It is the first course in the Small Boat Sailing Program. Students must demonstrate a theoretical knowledge of the names and functions of various parts of a boat together with common sailing terms, the sail and its ancillary components, the International Rules for Collision Prevention both at sea and on inland waters and hey should demonstrate a basic knowledge of safety procedures. On the practical side they must show they can tread water for 5 minutes and swim 100 metres, rig, launch and retrieve the boat, set and trim the sails, sail both upwind and downwind, tack and gybe, correctly apply the rules of the road, recover a man overboard, recover from a capsize, accept and pass a towline, tie four specified Knots within a given time. Upon completion he or she will be able to sail a centerboard or multihull sailboat in light to moderate winds and sea conditions in familiar waters.

The first course in the Keelboat Sailing Certification Program is known as Basic Keelboat. No experience or qualifications are necessary. To complete the course students will be required to demonstrate that they can put a name to and describe the workings of various parts of a boat including the hull, keel, deck bow and stern. The components of both the running and standing rigging. The different sails including the names of part of a sail - foot, leech, luff, head, tack and clew. The various spars, mast and boom. They will be familiar with sailing terminology used to describe various manoeuvres such as gybing and coming about. Students will understand the points of sail be it close hauled, reaching or running. They will understand the basics of collision avoidance including rules of the road. They will demonstrate they are familiar with regulations covering registration and identification, proper waste disposal, who to notify in the event of an accident and what safety equipment is requires by law to be carried on a vessel and how it is used. They will be able to demonstrate a knowledge of buoyage Participants will know how to anchor a boat and describe the choice of anchors and their attributes and failings. On the practical side they must demonstrate sail handling skills, they will display competence at the helm including mooring, sailing both upwind and downwind together with a successful tack and gybe. They will complete a successful man overboard recovery. They will show they know how to tie 6 different knots and understand their various uses. Upon completion of the course students should be able to sail a boat of some 20 feet in length in moderate winds in familiar waters.

The second stage is called Basic Coastal Cruising and students must hold the Basic Keelboat Sailing Certificate prior to undertaking this course. The course looks at safety on board including equipment and procedures. An understanding of fire prevention and fighting is required. Students will be required to demonstrate a knowledge of first aid and the treatment of hypothermia. Basic meteorology is considered and students must demonstrate an understanding of shipping forecasts. An understanding of the relationship between the skipper and crew and the respective duties of each is required. Students must be able to undertake basic chartwork including depths; types of bottom, hazards, bouys, beacons and lights. The practical side of this course looks at boat handling under power and sail, man overboard recovery, the various points of sail, reefing and heaving to, docking and mooring and some knot work. When completed the sailor should be able to cruise safely in regional waters on a sailboat of up to 30 feet in length, in moderate winds and sea conditions.

Trailerable Multihull Standard, this course is the second in the Small Boat Sailing Program. It may be taught as part of or following the Basic Coastal Cruising course. Completion of the Basic Keelboat is a prerequisite prior to taking this course. On the theory side students must be able to identify and name the various parts of a multihull that are not found on a monohull including the different wing decks, hulls, cross arms, three point rig, bridle line, safety nets, seagull and dolphin strikers. They will be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of multihulls including, performance, comfort safety and the danger of capsize. On the practical side the sailor will demonstrate: how to cast of and leave the quay with at least two different wind directions relative to the bow and then return and berth alongside, pick up a mooring buoy, manoeuvre in a restricted space, reverse, recover a man overboard, the different points of sail, tacking and gybing, sail a compass course within 10 degrees. They will anchor in the following ways, bow anchor and bridle and single bow with a stern line to the shore. When completed sailors are able to cruise safely in local and regional waters as both skipper and crew on an auxiliary multihull sailboat of up to 30 feet in length, in moderate wind and sea conditions.

Bareboat Chartering is the next stage. Participants are expected to hold the Basic Coastal Cruising Certificate before doing this course. The theory side covers the preparation of both crew and boat for a one week cruise including the preparation of a passage plan. Meteorology is considered including a look at fog and onshore and offshore winds. Seamanship is looked at and students should know what action is required if the engine fails, they should know how to anchor the boat bow or stern to. On the practical side the student will be able to undertake daily and weekly maintenance tasks, manoeuvre the boat under power in a restricted space, pick up a mooring buoy, use the VHF radio. The following navigational skills are required, plotting a course and establishing the compass heading and calculating an estimated time of arrival. Establishing a fix using visual bearing. Use a chart to pilot the boat into an unfamiliar harbour. Students must obtain and interpret a shipping forecast. When completed the individual can act as skipper of a boat up to 50 feet in length sailing by day in coastal waters.

The next stage is known as Coastal Navigation. This is a theory only course and no prior experience or knowledge is required. Students will be required to demonstrate knowledge of various State and Federal regulations pertaining to sailing. They must understand how the use navigational instruments including both steering and hand bearing compasses, binoculars, depth sounder, log, parallel rule and dividers. Participants must display an understanding of tide tables and their use when dealing with secondary ports. They should be able to convert bearings and compass courses between, compass, magnetic and true, plot a dead reckoning position, understand the effect of current and leeway when estimating a position and plot a position by two or more bearings, a running fix and a bearing and distance. Finally they will need to demonstrate a knowledge of buoyage and lights.

The Cruising Catamaran course deals exclusively with multihull sailing and concentrates on the differences a sailor finds as opposed to monohull sailing. Participants should have completed the Bareboat Chartering stage. On the theory side students must be able to identify and name the various parts of a multihull that are not found on a monohull including the different wing decks, hulls, cross arms, three point rig, bridle line, safety nets, seagull and dolphin strikers. They will be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of multihulls including, performance, comfort safety and the danger of capsize. On the practical side the sailor will demonstrate: how to cast of and leave the quay with at least two different wind directions relative to the bow and then return and berth alongside, pick up a mooring buoy, manoeuvre in a restricted space, reverse, recover a man overboard, the different points of sail, tacking and gybing, sail a compass course within 10 degrees. They will anchor in the following ways, two anchors of the bow or stern, bow anchor and bridle, single bow with a stern line to the shore and bow to fixed mooring. Upon completion the person can skipper a multihull sailboat of up to 50 foot in length by day in coastal waters.

Advanced Coastal Cruising follows and participants should have completed both the Bareboat Chartering and Coastal Navigation stages. Students will be required to demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the theory of sailing, an understanding of meteorology including the various cloud formations and the weather that can be expected with each. They will understand the needs of heavy weather sailing, the necessary sail changes and the use of the correct safety equipment and procedures. They will be able to describe: how set a second anchor to reduce swinging, how to recover a fouled anchor, how to use a trip line and an anchor buoy and when and how to set an anchor watch. They will describe how to tow or be towed. They will have a knowledge of distress signals. Students will correctly describe the actions required in the following emergency situations: a dismasting, running aground on a lee shore and engine failure. Students will be able to carry out maintenance and repairs on the engine. On the water students must: sail on all points of the wind and tack and gybe in a wind of at least 15 knots, sail a compass course to within 10 degrees, carry out a man overboard recovery in darkness. They will demonstrate their ability to set, sail with including a gybe, douse and pack a spinnaker. And finally they will stand a navigation watch of 20 miles both at day and night. When completed a person can skipper a sailing vessel of up to 50 feet in length both during day and night in coastal waters regardless of weather and sea conditions.

The next stage is called Celestial Navigation. The course is theory based and requires no experience or prior qualifications. The student must be able to demonstrate the Celestial Navigation required to navigate a sailboat on an offshore passage. The successful student will have demonstrated their ability to: Convert longitude into time and standard time and zone time to GMT. They will be able to calculate: the zone time given longitude, the chronometer error given a previous error and the daily rate, the time of meridian passage of the sun and calculate the boat’s latitude from the observed meridian altitude of the sun, the times of sunrise, sunset and twilight, plot celestial lines of position on a Mercator projection or on a universal plotting sheet and the true bearing of a low altitude celestial body in order to determine the error and deviation of the compass. The student will be able to apply the corrections for index error, dip of the horizon, and total correction to convert sextant altitudes of the sun, stars, planets, and moon to true altitudes, determine the latitude at twilight by means of the Pole Star and the approximate azimuths and altitudes of the navigational stars and planets at twilight. In addition they will be capable of solving the navigational triangle using a navigation table and advance the LOP obtained from a sun sight to another LOP obtained from the sun at a later time and find the boat’s position using a running fix (sun-run-sun).

This celestial theory can be put into practice during the Offshore Passage Making course. Entrants should be certified to the Advanced Coastal Cruising level. The student will plan a passage across either the Pacific or North Atlantic using Great Circle Plotting Charts and Climatic Charts. They must show an understanding of the essential factors to be considered when selecting a vessel for an offshore ocean passage of at least 1000 miles including hull construction and shape, keel, rig, and rudder type, fuel and water capacity. They must provide a list of tools and spares required for such a voyage. They must victual the boat for four people on passage for seven days. They must list the items to be carried in the first aid kit and describe basic treatments for injuries and illnesses that may occur together with identifying a source of mare advanced medical information while on passage. They will prepare a watch keeping system and define the duties of crew members both on and off watch. They will design a maintenance plan to cover: Bilges, electronic equipment, fuel system, hatches, galley equipment, rigging, safety equipment sea cocks, steering and the water system. They will describe the procedures to be undertaken in the following emergency situations: abandon ship, dismasting, fire onboard, lightning strike, man overboard. A comprehensive knowledge of the International Regulation for Preventing Collision at Sea must be demonstrated. When the course is completed is the sailor cans skipper a sailing vessel on offshore passages in any weather.

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.

I’m Thinking about Taking a Luxury Cruise: Early Planning

I’ve been on four cruises so far.

They were sponsored by the United States Army.

I was paid $169.00 each month while on these cruises. (Now days my rank of Sergeant First Class, E-6, would make 14 times that much.)

Also, the cruises were free. You can’t beat that.

Now, I’m thinking of taking one of those luxury cruises like you see on television.

First, I’ll give you a rundown on each Army-sponsored cruise. I know you are hanging on the edge of your seat to hear about them. I’ll be brief.

Cruise I: The Orient. It’s every bit as exotic and enchanting as you imagine it to be.

We steamed from San Francisco to Yokohama, Japan on what is called the Great Circle Route up along the Aleutian Islands where the Seventh Division fought the Japanese during World War II. I didn’t know it then, but I was about to join that very division in Korea.

This cruise featured rough seas, the waves breaking over the bow of our ship for 14 days, flying fishes, garbage-eating fishes, albatrosses and other sea birds, endless sea sickness for some, endless poker for others, the exhilaration of the ship’s prop spending most of it’s time spinning in the air, bean soup for every meal, and an occasional movie from an abandoned Hollywood warehouse. The previous crossing has featured whale bashing but we didn’t see any whales nor did we steam into one. Our cruise guide blasted throughout each day: “All Troops off the Bow! This trip featured a train ride from Tokyo to Sasebo, Japan.

Cruise II: Korea. The Land of the Morning Calm (which was good after fighting all night.)

This was on the Japanese luxury liner the Congo Maru. (The ship sunk on a latter crossing but was salvaged.) The cruise featured an overnight steam from Sasebo, Japan to Pusan Korea, bamboo mats on the deck to sleep on out under the stars, choppy seas that make everybody want to puke, intimate contact with fellow travelers featuring a bayonet in one ear and a boot in the other. This cruise also featured a train ride in box cars with boards to sleep on and one stop to grab a couple of apples from quaint along-the-track vendors.

Cruise III: Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun

This was like Cruise II but in a more favorable direction.

Cruise III Leg I: Hawaii. Trade winds and tropics set a romantic mood in the Hawaiian Islands and South Pacific.

This trip featured fog for 23 days. We saw the sun only on the day we spent in Hawaii as we unloaded the coffins of dead GIs to no fanfare.

I was sergeant of the guard so I did not see the Island at that time, but I did see how drunk the GIs could get in Hawaii and that not one of them had taken time to see what I wanted to see, the island.

Cruise III Leg II: Seattle. Sail across Puget Sound in the fog.

This cruise featured a bus ride to Fort Lewis which terrorized all the GIs because the driver was going almost 30 miles an hour. That was way too fast for a bunch of ground-pounders who had walked the hills and fields of Korea.

At Fort Lewis we were given a steak that was so tough that not even we fighting men could chew it.

Let’s Prepare for that Luxury Cruise

Ah, yes! Cruising the seven seas and the zillion food tables on a luxury liner will be a blast.

But wait! We have an alternative. We can cruise the world or any part of it by freighter. You can cruise for $90 to $130 a day which includes three meals, walks on the deck, visits to the bridge, chats with officers and crew members, video movies, swimming if you are fast and can keep up with the ship (I’m only kidding; they have swimming pools-at least some of them), studying wildlife (but no night life), and talking to your navel (belly button). You won’t need your tux on a freighter cruise. You also won’t be shoulder to shoulder with a zillion other passengers. Take a copy of War and Peace. Learn more at http://www.freighterworld.com

What, you are ready to face the crowds on a Luxury ship?

For general information on luxury cruises including accommodations and activities try: http://tinyurl.com/ots5g and http://www.freetraveltips.com/Cruises/

Documents

You many need a passport or other documentation for your cruise. For information go to: http://www.freetraveltips.com/Cruises/Cruises13.htm#70

Insurance

If you are taking a cruise, you will need insurance.

What if you can’t go because of an illness or a family problem? Don’t think you will get your money back.

What if you get sick on the ship? Don’t think your regular insurance will pay the medical bills.

What if you have your wallet stolen in port? Don’t think you will get it back.

No, you must have insurance. You can get it from a reliable firm like CSA Travel online and you will be able to chat with an agent. Go to: http://www.csatravelprotection.com/

What do I need to pack?

That depends on how and to where you are traveling. For complete information go to: http://www.freetraveltips.com/Cruises/Cruises14.htm#00top and to the site of your cruise line.

Health Considerations

Plan ahead for the area you plan to visit. A good place to do this is at: http://www.emoryhealthcare.org/departments/travelwell/patient_info/patient_guide.html

Possible Hazards

The probability of a something unfortunate happening on your cruise are about the same as if you stayed at home in a big city. Crimes occur, fires occur, and accidents occur. Before you go, see what the Department of State says about safety abroad: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/safety/safety_1747.html

With good planning, you can have a great trip to that place you’ve always wanted to visit. You will gain new friends and fond memories.

Have fun!

Watch for me!

I’ll be on the fantail looking at the garbage-eating fish.

The End

Cruise, freighter, vacation, travel, information, packing, documents, insurance, ships, liners, luxury, hazards, fish, State Department, health, activities

copyright©2006 John T. Jones, Ph.D.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.aaaflagpoles.com

A carnival cruise is one of the best-loved types of
cruise in the world. It offers a heady mix of onboard
entertainment, pampering and relaxation, all within
the plush surroundings of a cruise ship as it sails
from port to port. The cruise ship caters for every
taste, making carnival cruises equally suitable for
those who want to laze endlessly by the pool, to
people who are looking for a full-on party atmosphere.

Sports activities are widely available on a carnival
cruise. Volleyball, basketball, table tennis and even
golf can be played on board the cruise ship. You will
always have access to a well-equipped gymnasium too,
along with personal trainers to help maximize your
fitness routine while on the cruise ship. Additionally,
there is a plethora of watersports on offer, including
jet-skiing and opportunities to learn how to scuba
dive.

Carnival cruise cuisine is delightful. All cruise ships
pride themselves on offering a dining experience that
is second to none. There is often a huge variety of
restaurants, bistros, cafes and bars on board,
providing everything from burger and fries meals to
cordon bleu cooking. Meals are generally available 24/7,
although some restaurants cater only for meals at set
times.

The nightlife on a carnival cruise is all about having
fun. Casinos, discos, bars and theaters can all be
found on a carnival cruise ship, as well as specialist
entertainment acts including the likes of comedians,
dancers, magicians and theatrical stage performers.
You can even learn how to dance ballroom if you want
to!

Naturally, there are many opportunities to sign up for
day/night excursions at the various ports of call on a
carnival cruise. On a Mediterranean carnival cruise for
instance, you could take in an Italian soccer game or
visit the opera. On a Caribbean carnival cruise you
could spend some time island-hopping or discovering
underwater shipwrecks.

Whatever you decide to do on your carnival cruise,
you’re sure guaranteed to have the time of your life -
and with so much fun on offer don’t be surprised if you
become addicted to carnival cruising…

Looking for Cruise information ?

Go to http://www.azcruises.com to find out all you need
to know about taking your dream Carnival Cruise vacation.

The current holiday trend among families is to go together on a family sailing vacation. The excitement of being secluded with the entire family on a single yacht in the middle of the ocean is incomparable with anything else. And being surrounded by picturesque locales is another added asset. More and more families today are going a-sailing together to celebrate occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and family get-togethers.

Hotspots for family sailing vacations include the Hawaiian Islands, the Caribbean Islands, the coast of Florida, Brazil and Argentina and European countries such as Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Families usually prefer lonely cays and beaches for their sailing vacations and avoid crowded waters.

Many tourist agencies provide packages for family sailing vacations. The first step is in finding a properly sized yacht or catamaran to accommodate the entire family. A big enough yacht will also have rooms or cabins for the people on board. Food and drink is provided on board. There may also be provisions for live music and orchestras if the families so prefer. Some sailing vacations also hire emcees who coax the people to dance aboard in the style of cruises.

Families prefer to perform group activities when they are sailing together. Lonely islands are preferred for taking a break from sailing. They may indulge in beach-combing or even snorkeling and scuba diving if they are more adventurous. Family meals become a highly celebrated affair with local cuisine and folk dances thrown in.

Agencies that target family clientele try to provide activities for all the members. Children are provided inflatable water toys with which they can amuse themselves. Adults can enjoy different adventure sports while those not inclined to sports may simply enjoy the whole experience. Care is taken by the crew to keep everyone occupied.

Usually a family sailing vacation will have a crew on board, apart from the family itself. There might also be chefs and waiters along with artistes for entertainment. It all depends on how much the family is willing to have a vacation together. A family vacation may last from 3 to 7 days and the cost would depend on the number of people, number of days and the location.

Family sailing vacations are fast becoming hot trends. All companies are cashing in on this craze, which doesn’t seem to be fading away in a hurry.

Sailing Vacations provides detailed information on Bahamas Sailing Vacations, Caribbean Sailing Vacations, Catamaran Sailing Vacations, Family Sailing Vacations and more. Sailing Vacations is affiliated with Caribbean Sailing.