Questions to ask sailing schools before you register. Tips on questions you should ask about sailing courses before registering with a sailing school instructor. Make sure the criterion is going to be covered...
Make sure the criterion is going to be covered on the type of boat that you are going to learn on. I don't think it does anybody any good to give a false sense of confidence by teaching him on a 30 footer when you are probably not going to be riding 30 footers on the family vacation. I want to know what type of boat and I want to know what the class size is. In our case, we have always felt that three students and one instructor is the best number. There are three positions; I need someone to drive to the boat, I need someone to trim the main sail and I need someone to work the jet sail. So if I have only three students I have three active and involved people. I am going to rotate them over every 20-25 minutes and over the course of a two and a half to three hour lesson, you are going to be rotated through every position multiple times. If I have four people on a boat, someone will just be sitting and waiting for their turn. That obviously makes the business more money, but I don't think it produces quality students. Three is an ideal class size.
They may have a lot of book knowledge and they may have watched every movie on sailing there is, but the first time they get hit by a 12-15 gust of wind and the boat heaves way up on the side, they will panic.
Normal weekend program would be anywhere from $300-$500 depending on where you are. I think it is an absolute rip off if school does not guarantee the satisfaction of the student, what our policy is you pay one time to learn how to sail. You have bad weather, but we are not going to penalize you for that, that's something we, the rest, other people say that listen you signed up for this weekend and what can we do, that is not how we have succeeded over all, these it takes additional time and it doesn't cost too, not anymore money. I guess that is a critical question to ask. I would be leery about people offering all these different kinds of certifications. Charter boat companies want a letter of reference. People pay a lot of money to get those little certification cards but in the industry, we really don't care about that. So although we have been part of ASA, US Sail, and Red Cross Certification Program we haven't changed any of our curriculum or the way we teach because of any certification course out there.
