More and more we are fielding questions about certification courses.  To sail in EU countries charter companies are routinely requiring the Bareboat Cruising certification or International Proficiency Certificate (IPC) in order to obtain a boat – and the Islands probably aren’t far behind.  In addition to opening doors for sailing abroad, certifications are a great way of benchmarking your sailing education progress.

We get equal amounts of inquiries from students who have or are interested in receiving US Sailing and American Sailing Association (ASA) certifications.  J World Annapolis is proudly a US Sailing School.  If we could, we would operate as both ASA and US Sailing in order to serve the greatest number of students, but both US Sailing and ASA require certified schools to choose one or the other.  We get loads of ASA-certified sailors inquiring about getting US Sailing certifications, reciprocity and the difference between the two.  In short, the difference between the two is less about the curriculum (both teach tacking and gybing) and more about the teaching materials, instructor and school standards and also the expectation of time on the water. Read more

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, which creates and maintains the nation’s suite of over a thousand nautical charts of U.S. coastal waters, today announced major changes ahead for mariners and others who use nautical charts. Starting April 13, 2014, the federal government will no longer print traditional lithographic (paper) nautical charts. Coast Survey will continue to create and distribute other forms of nautical charts, including Print-on-Demand paper charts as well as electronic and digital formats.

“Like most other mariners, I grew up on NOAA lithographic charts and have used them for years,” said Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “We know that changing chart formats and availability will be a difficult change for some mariners who love their traditional paper charts.” Read more

Proof that in a long regatta you are never out – even if you are feeling down.  Coaching Tihansky’s note to the team back home is full of lessons for the rest of us…

“After yesterday’s difficulties, there were a couple of key areas Team USNA/USA needed to work on to get back on track.

The number 70 has been floating around my head quite a bit lately.  I recently competed in the J/70 North American Championship and competed with 70 Sunfish sailors at the 43rd Sunfish World Championship.  Nothing like highly competitive racing drives home the lessons and axioms of sailboat racing.

Both events served me with heaping spoonfuls of humble pie.  While I wasn’t satisfied with my finish score in any of the events I had fun at both and through this blog will use the lessons learned to make each event beneficial to my sailing – and maybe yours.  Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing my thoughts, memories and lessons learned  Read more

Pornic, France (October 14, 2013) – The Student Yachting World Cup got underway today for the 14 teams, with three windward leeward courses and a coastal race completed. With all teams using identical J/80s, the early leader is the US Naval Academy that is representing the United States.

J World Annapolis has been working with the USNA to support their efforts at the Student Yachting World Cup by allowing the team to train and spar with our fleet of J/80’s and leveraging J World’s extensive knowledge and experience aboard the J/80.  We wish them the best of luck!

Racing continues to today and race by race coverage can be found at the Student Yachting World Cup Facebook Page. Read more

It is boat show season in Annapolis and for the first time in memory the Powerboat Show is in town BEFORE the sailboat show!  In addition to our award winning sailing education, J World Annapolis offers certified power boating education for new and seasoned boaters.  Partially in response to increased state and federal safety and education requirements (see article below) J World Annapolis is offering the US Coast Guard and NASBLA approved Safe Powerboat Handling course.   Read more