Thank you for your interest in becoming an American Sailing Association school. We have the information for you to make it happen.
As you probably already know, more than 300 commercial and non-profit sailing schools worldwide are currently affiliated with ASA. They recognize our commitment to providing high quality education to sailors—and they understand the role that the ASA brand plays in bringing in new customers.
Becoming an ASA Affiliate (school) has many benefits:
- ASA provides professional quality teaching standards and materials that continue to be the best since ASA’s inception in 1983.
- Our certification system has been recognized world-wide for over 30 years
- You have membership in the organization devoted exclusively to serving the needs of sailing schools and sail education
- Through its work with the U.S. Coast Guard, ASA conforms to current U.S. Safety and Education standards.
- Highest quality sailing education materials. Sailing Made Easy, the textbook that Sail Magazine calls “best in class,” makes a strong, first impression with your students that you operate a professional, quality sail training center. Coastal Cruising Made Easy reinforces this message as your students progress from basic sailing, to coastal cruising and finally to bareboat chartering, where Bareboat Cruising Made Easy prepares them not only to skipper a bareboat, but also to become a lifelong recreational sailor —someone eager to come back to your school for even more education or to charter a boat from your fleet.
- Comprehensive Course Offering. With core courses from Basic Keelboat to Offshore Passage-making; with specialty courses from beach catamarans or lasers to Cruising Catamarans; and with Endorsement courses covering specialized topics in depth for Weather, Radar, Celestial Navigation, Docking and more, there’s virtually no end to what ASA can equip your school to offer.
- Each ASA school is free to select which courses they want to teach. In addition, each school may have their own approach to teaching the standard material. You do whatever works best for you and your students to achieve the skills and knowledge of the ASA standards.
- ASA has a very high profile on-line and with social media. We feature descriptions for every school and are a prolific source of referrals for potential students to your school.
Becoming an ASA Affiliate is a significant and exciting decision. It involves creating a new business that meets all local legal and zoning requirements for operating a sailing school and having the resources to professionally conduct ASA courses there.
Here are important requirements for the school to be certified by the ASA:
- Have a storefront or office designated as the “ASA Site” of the school.
- Have a place available for the anticipated classes.
- Have at least one ASA certified instructor available to teach the courses.
- Have boats suitable and inspected to local requirements.
- Pass an ASA Site Evaluation and Consultation process.