Kick off 2016 Boating Season with CCA’s Cruising Couples Seminar

by Jan Harley on 17 Jan 2016 The famous Beatles song might suggest “All You Need is Love,” but if you’re planning any time at sea with your significant other during the upcoming boating season, you really do need more. Your first move should be to sign up for the Cruising Club of America’s (CCA) one-day Safety for Cruising Couples Seminar, scheduled for Saturday, May 21, 2016, at Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Conn. Geared to cruising couples and short-handed sailors who are taking to coastal or local waters on either sail or power boats, the goal of the seminar is to build the confidence of the less-experienced member of the duo in the event of an unexpected test of their skills.

The seminar is based on the highly-acclaimed “Suddenly Alone” seminars that the CCA has been running for 15 years. The all-volunteer CCA, which was founded in 1922 by like-minded sailors who are committed to seamanlike offshore cruising and racing, is an international organization of more than 1200 sailors who enthusiastically share their experiential knowledge to promote cruising and racing by amateur sailors.

“Taking a seminar like this is a great team building exercise for many couples, with the added bonus of making safer something they already love doing together,” said Ernie Godshalk (Boston, Mass.), the Chairman of the CCA’s Safety At Sea Committee. “The knowledge learned in class is then carried out in action on the water allowing the participants to practice their boat handling skills, all of which makes for a unique and personal learning experience.”

Co-sponsored by the CCA, New York Yacht Club, Indian Harbor Yacht Club and The North American Station, the day-long seminar is structured with a morning classroom session covering the fundamentals of VHF radios, the basics of navigation, engine operation, medical situations, safety equipment and man overboard recovery. The afternoon session takes those topics a step further with on-the-water hands-on training, including chart plotter fundamentals and a demonstration of how to use a life sling in a man overboard situation.

In 2000, the CCA conducted a poll of their membership that revealed the partners of many sailors – despite being experienced boaters in their own right – had concerns about being aboard that ranged from knowing how to put a fix on a chart to getting their partner out of the water in a man-overboard situation. The Safety for Cruising Couples Seminar facilitates discussions on these topics which are a benefit to both the less confident/competent partner and the more experienced partner, especially as they may not have discussed, much less practiced, these types of situations.

Over 2000 boaters across the USA have attended the Safety for Cruising Couples Seminars, with the most recent seminars selling out. Tuition, $155/couple or $85/person, includes lunch and the course workbook. Register no later than April 30, 2016, by contacting Janet Garnier at jgarnier02@gmail.com or 508-367-3899. Additional information on The Cruising Club of America and its programs may be found here.