Cruising Skipper Training Programs - Duane Covino
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DOCUMENTS & OTHER INFORMATION: PSC Calendar |
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From the Training Commodore:
Information on Raft-up Requirements for Cruising Skipper Candidates
Information on two-day Overnight Bay & Check Sheets/Logbooks
Important Information for Cruising Skipper Candidates
Cruising Skipper Candidate Self-Evaluation
Cruising Skipper Candidate Written Exams Study Guide
Cruising Skipper Candidate Book list
Hailing All PSC
Cruising Skipper Candidates
(and anybody else that sails with the PSC on the Bay)
Two important notices:
1. All Bay sails (except the MDRU & LDRU) listed as a two-day overnight sail, will include some night sailing. The requirement for you to sail on these sails is to have a harness & a tether.
* e.g., the Wichard boat end shackle
2. Cruising Skipper Checksheets and Logbook: Your record of your PSC cruising, which you will log your hours and accomplished tasks is key to your Cruising Skipper certification.
I will be at the next club meeting with the Checksheet and Logbooks for all declared cruising skipper candidates. If you are not a declared PSC Cruising Skipper Candidate and which to be check out the website for more information: http://www.pentagonsailing.org/btp.htm#declare
If you CAN'T be there, please email me your mailing address and I will mail your checksheet.
Fair Winds
Will Kelchner
Pentagon Sailing Club
Training Commodore
Message from 2009 PSC Training Commodore Will Kelchner:
Hello All PSC Cruising Skipper Candidates
We are continuing the outstanding efforts the preceding Training Commodores, John Caveto and Roger Hammer who finely tuned our Cruising Skipper Training Program:
With concurrence from the PSC Training Certification Committee the raft up requirements found in Section II (Boat Handling Under power) Subsection E (Rafting Up), are no longer mandatory for Senior Crew, Navigator or B-CSN.
However, the items that are in bold type face remain MANDATORY for the D-CS qualification.
Additionally, Section XII (PARTICIPATE IN ONE PSC THREE-DAY WEEKEND RAFT UP) is also no longer a mandatory requirement for B-CSN.
Like Section II (subsection E), however, Section XII remains a MANDATORY requirement for D-CS.
Make sure your print this email for your records and mark your checksheets accordingly.
Don't hesitate to email if you have questions.
Fair Winds
Will Kelchner
Pentagon Sailing Club
Training Commodore
Pentagon
Sailing Club Basic and Advanced Cruising Skipper Training (aka Bay Skipper
Training)
Ahoy mates!
I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about the Bay Cruising Skipper
training program offered by the Pentagon Sailing Club. The Bay Skipper Program
is designed to train and certify members to confidently and competently skipper
a cruising sailboat in the range for 30-45 on the
Before I continue, I’d
like to make it clear that you don’t need to be involved in any training program
to enjoy sailing on the Bay with the PSC. Just sign up and go sailing for the
fun of it. There are a number of PSC members who do just that…sail on the Bay
just for the pure enjoyment of it. No formal training. No tests. No evaluations.
Just Fun…and that's great.
But…if you want to get
more involved in the actual sailing, navigation, and eventual skippering of mid
to large size cruising sailboat, then some sort of training is required…and that
is where the Bay Cruising Skipper Program comes in. The PSC Bay Skipper Program
is a natural progression from the Basic Keelboat Skipper (B-KBS) offered by the
club. While the basic keelboat skipper certification is not a prerequisite to
entering the Bay Skipper Program, earning your B-KBS is a requirement for
completing the Bay Skipper Program.
| The majority of
our training sails will be conducted on a 30-34 foot cruising sailboat that
have inboard diesel engines, sleeping accommodations, a head and a galley,
and many other amenities and sailing features. These are real cruising
sailboats. The kind you live on for several days…or longer. The kind you see
in those glossy boating magazines that make you so envious! The training on
these boats will be geared towards the basic cruising skipper with night
sailing experience, B-CSN.
Several of the training sails during the year will be conducted on
38-45’ cruising boats. The intent here is to increase the crew size,
increase the duration and distance of the sails, and allow those who are
qualified as B-CSN to work towards their D-Cruising Skipper certification,
which is the highest certification the PSC trains to.
This D-CS certification will allow members to skipper the larger
boats during PSC events as well as during our annual This year we will
be offering two Bay Skipper certificates (Basic and Advanced Cruising.)
The primary difference is in the size boat, sailing conditions,
locations and total time on the water.
But in general, regardless of boat size, a “Bay Skipper” is person
who is qualified to COMMAND a cruising sailboats, and…
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Coming back to Annapolis,
just north of Cove Point, at 6:46am, October 23, 2005, from an overnight
bay sail to Solomons, Maryland. At the helm is PSC club member Greg
Trevarthen. - Photo by John Cavedo |
The parent
organization of the PSC is the U.S. Naval Sailing Association (USNSA), and
they govern our training standards and policy. The Bay Skipper
qualifications we award are the equivalent to the USNSA Watch Captain (WC)
and D-Cruising Skipper (D-CS) qualification. While these qualifications are
obviously recognized by the USNSA…and by all of its worldwide branches, it
is unfortunately NOT transferable to a
US Sailing
certificate. The PSC Basic Cruising Skipper (with night endorsement) is
easily commensurate if not a higher level than the
US Sailing “Bareboat”
rating and
our Advanced Cruising Skipper (D-CS) is commensurate with
US Sailings Coastal
Passage Making.
With that said, upon completion of either the PSC Basic or Advanced Cruising
Skipper programs, you should have ample experience and a sailing resume
sufficient to charter from most bareboat charter companies as well as
challenge the US
Sailing
Programs should you want an internationally recognizable certification.
The
Required:
Strongly Recommended:
OK…so how long does
all this take, anyway?
If your are an
absolute novice sailor and don’t have any kind of navigation training, you
should count on at least 16 on the water training days
to become a Basic Cruising Skipper and 24 on the water training
days to become an Advanced cruising skipper. This does not include
approximately 6 days of classroom instruction you will need in order to pass
the written examinations. For most people with full time jobs, this equals
approximately a year and a half to two years. As I said before, the program
is sequential, but self-paced. If you already have considerable experience,
you may challenge parts of, or the entire process.
What's in it for
YOU?
Basic Cruising Bay
Skippers (B-CSN) are qualified to charter any PSC Bay Boat in the 30-34’
range, where as Advanced Cruising Bay Skippers (D-CS) charter and skipper
the larger cruising boats. Both skippers are eligible for deep discounts
when functioning as Skipper for Raft-ups and other Bay sailing events.
Furthermore, it is our D-CS skippers who act as training skippers for the
skipper candidates.
So how do YOU get
started?
First, you have to
declare yourself a PSC Bay Skipper Candidate to me, the Training Commodore.
This is easy! Just let me know you want to be a Bay Cruising Skipper
Candidate, and I will send you an introductory letter AND your Bay Skipper
CHECK SHEET. Mentioned briefly already, the Bay Skipper Check sheet is a
document that lists all task and time requirements to attain each sequential
level of certification. I call the check sheet the “charted course” for the
journey to the Bay Cruising Skipper qualification. But don’t let the size of
the check sheet be discouraging, it goes amazingly fast once you get out on
a few Bay sails and start learning BY DOING!
The Bay Skipper
program is actually a sequentially phased process that consists of four
levels…
Each of these
phases builds upon the other representing a natural progression toward
Advanced Bay Cruising Skipper. You can stop at any of the interim phases,
e.g., Bay Navigator. The PSC provides a handsome certificate and associated
club recognition as each phase is completed…ultimately leading to your
Advanced Cruising Skipper (D-CS) qualification.
In conclusion, if
you want to receive formal mid to large keelboat skipper training on the
Bay, the way to do it is through the PSC Bay Skipper Program. The way to
start that is by declaring yourself a Bay Skipper Candidate, and signing up
for as many of the Bay training sails as you want. Any sailing supervised by
a D-CS or
The bay sails will
be advertised in the early spring for the entire season that runs from May
through November. Be careful and don’t put it off signing up as the sails
fill up fast; not to mention if you sign up more than 30 days in advance you
receive a 20% discount.
Don’t hesitated to
contact the Training Commodore
Will Kelchner or
Duane Covino
(baytraining@pentagonsailing.org) if have any specific questions.
Finally, you can get more specific details from the PSC “Training
Program…Policy and Procedures,” which describes the entire PSC training
program.
Will Kelchner
Training Commodore
Declare yourself as a Bay Skipper Candidate
If you want to enter the Cruising Skipper Candidate program, which will train you to ultimately skipper an offshore capable cruising keelboat sloop in the range of 30-50’, all you need to do is send the Training Commodore a check for $10 and request to entered the PSC Cruising Skipper Training Program.The PSC offers a special package deal on the Cruising Skipper Training Program fee and the three US Sailing Books. If you want the package deal, send a check for $60.00.
From that point, all you need to do is follow the guidance in the check sheet, get out on the water during any one or all of the 25 Bay Sails we have scheduled this year, start logging hours and getting tasks checked off by a current certified Bay Skipper.
If you have previous experience, please make sure you send in a detailed sailing resume with your check as your previous experience can count toward some of the requirements in route to the Advanced Cruising Skipper certification.
Schedule - By definition, all bay sailing events are training events, and a Bay Skipper Candidate can take advantage of any one of them. Some are designed to provide more intensive training than others and those are generally skippered by more senior instructors. Click here for the bay sailing activities.
Cost - See the rate schedule for Bay sailing events.
Return to TopBay Instructor Clinic
The Instructor Clinic is usually scheduled in early May. This clinic is specifically aimed at, and is restricted to, PSC D-CS or higher Bay Skippers who plan to be instructing on the bay, aboard our bay season boat. The purpose of this clinic is to familiarize the Bay Skippers and Instructors with the boat, and with the various training policies of the club. Attendance at the Bay Instructor Clinic is therefore mandatory to obtain a "thumbs up" to skipper a season boat.
1. Check the
calendar
to see when bay sails are scheduled and then check the
Bay Sail Crew List to
see if space is still available on a particular sail.
2. Contact Bay Training Coordinator
Duane Covino.
3. Print and fill out a
Bay Activities Registration Form
for the event. Check
rates
to find the appropriate fee.
4. Send your completed Bay Activities Registration Form and check payable to
"Pentagon Sailing Club" to:
Larry Paulson
PSC Treasurer
1318 Mistyvale Street
Herndon, VA 20170-3629
Please Note:
How to sign up for a PSC Raft-up/cruise see Bay Activities Page.
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This page updated on March 11, 2009
© 2009 Pentagon Sailing Club