Auxiliary Keelboat 301

Prerquisites: Advanced Sailing 161 required plus J/22 competence

Course Description

Are you ready for a whole new level of adventure? How about learning to handle a bigger boat, with broader horizons? Chicago Sailing’s 9-hour Auxiliary Keelboat is the perfect way to transition your current sailing skills to a larger, inboard powered sailing vessel. Besides learning the nuances of big boat handling you will acquire new skills, enabling you to daysail a cruising vessel with safety and confidence.

At the end of this course successful graduates will be qualified to skipper a J/30 or comparable cruising auxiliary sailboat.. Moreover, you will have the confidence it takes to venture further offshore. Who knows what would be next in your lifetime of adventure? Besides being the first step toward US Sailing’s cruising certifications, this course is a natural path to bareboat chartering at some exotic location.

Topics covered:

Rigging a cruising boat
Inboard diesel operation, care
Docking and boathandling
Sail handling, reefing, sail selection
Anchoring and mooring techniques
Crew coordination.
Safety considerations
Basic VHF Radio operations

Course Details

Weekends: Sat & Sun, 8:00 am - 12:30 pm
Weekdays: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, 5:30 - 8:30 pm
Vessel: J/30 or equivalent
Course Text Book: US SAILING's Basic Cruising
Students: maximum of 5
Class Cancellation Policy

Cost: Auxilliary Keelboat: $405*

* Includes one hour complementary J/30 rental certificate.

Please note that while successful completion of this course will qualify you to rent our J/30 and T-10 it will not immediately qualify you for our Hunter-326's.

To rent the Hunter-326 a significant amount of experience on similar sized boats (i.e. J/30) is required. Once a sailor has demonstrated safe and competent handling of the J/30 they can make the move up to the Hunter-326 through a private lesson or a H326 checkout.