ASA 101 course

We've been sailing! We have done 3 of 4 sessions in our ASA 101 class on Lake Minnetonka with Captain Joan at the Sail Away Sailing School and have truly learned much while enjoying some fine sailing days in 6-10 knot winds. The weather was gorgeous, and, with the exception of the 3rd session, we were able to practice many sailing maneuvers and learn about wind, all the points of sail, tacking and gibing, heaving-to, MOB drills and figure 8 sailing practice. It's been a great deal of fun and confidence boosting for both of us. With one session left and our certification exam coming tomorrow, much reading, studying and reviewing have been undertaken this weekend. 

Captain Joan is a well respected and highly qualified, patient and exceptional teacher. She has vast sailing experience and knowledge well beyond what the ASA 101 Sailing Made Easy course book contains. We both are amazed and very grateful to have such an excellent teacher and have already signed up for the ASA 103 Coastal Cruising, ASA 104 Bareboat Cruising and ASA 114 Cruising Catamaran courses with her school. The last two are conducted in the British Virgin Islands - a positively beneficial locale for learning how to cruise, as it's in the area where someday we are planning to sail. 

Here is our account of our experiences so far in the ASA 101 Sailing Made Easy course:

Our course was being conducted on Lake Minnetokna, one of the largest urban lakes with numerous bays, sections, inlets and expanses in Minnesota, just west of Minneapolis. The history of the lake goes back thousands of years, and when French fur traders arrived in 1680, they soon found the Mdewakanton Dakota people living along it's shores. The Mdewakanton frequented Lake Minnetonka for hunting, fishing, and collecting maple syrup. By the 1800's, the area had already experienced fur trading, canoeing and encounters between native peoples and white settlers. In 1822, two seventeen-year-old boys named Joe Brown and Will Snelling canoed up Minnehaha Creek from Fort Saint Anthony after hearing rumors about a large body of water at its source. As time went on, homes and hotels were built, lakeshore development ensued for better or worse and, as with many Minnesota lakes, the shoreline and it's inhabitants shifted into the modern era. Given Lake Minnetonka's proximity to Fort St. Anthony (later Minneapolis), the lake became a favorite destination for settlers and then others seeking water - a major reason Lake Minnetonka's shores are crowded with water enthusiasts. 

On Monday, we arrived at the Upper Minnetonka Yacht Club 30 minutes early for our first class - we were excited! Here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, despite the fact that we mathematically have more shoreline than the State of Florida, our yacht clubs look and feel different. The club's layout and appearance itself may be interesting to those of you living on or near coastal waters, where much more sophisticated and elaborate yacht clubs exist. Our club consists of a porta-potty near the gravel parking lot, a nice expanse of greenery which includes intermittent goose sightings, picnic tables, and a long central floating dock with slips on either side to accommodate yacht club member's boats. Sorry, no clubhouse, restaurant, showers or golf course attached... But then again, that's not why we were here. The club's real estate no doubt is expensive given that it is on this heavily developed lake. As such, the location, upkeep and scenery were gorgeous, and the accommodations were great and well suited to our mission to learn to sail!

Dodging the geese at the Upper Minnetonka Yacht Club

We had previously received our ASA 101 Sailing Made Easy course books and had been reading about boat anatomy, sailing terminology and rules & aids to navigation. Soon Captain Joan arrived and we made introductions and chatted about what we would do in this lesson. I will affirm that book reading is a good preparation for what to expect, but reading and looking at diagrams and pictures can merely prep and suppliment actual sailing experience and time. Soon we were on the boat making ready to sail!


The boat for our sailing class is a Hunter 23 saiboat, a single masted sloop that seems quite perfect for the course. 

Making ready the Hunter 23

Hunter 23 cockpit

Rachael was appointed "engineer" (aka Helmsman) for this first lesson and we busied ourselves with tasks directed by Captain Joan to make ready. These included hanking the jib, uncovering the main, prepping the engine, and readying the dock lines as well as instruction on how we would back the Hunter out at a 90 degree angle from the slip. Soon the preparations were complete and we cast off. Rachael did a marvelous job getting us out and under way (Instructions: turn the tiller/engine when the "Steel is to the keel") and we were out on the lake in 7-9 knot northwest winds. Soon we were head to wind and I had the privilege of raising my first mainsail, using the halyard and winch for the first time, and we were sailing! Next I raised the jib, sails were trimmed and the engine was shut off. Conditions were great, and we began to tack upwind.

Helmsman Rachael and Captain Joan

Away we went, with Joan's patient guidance, tacking and eventually jibing across this area of the lake. At one point we swapped out helmsmen and I was able to helm, experiencing steering and maneuvering for the first time since I was 17. What fun! 

Every boat has its individual nuances, and our Skip taught us about how to handle the Hunter as well as reviewing numerous terms and techniques related to the course. Having been teachers for so many years and not students, the transformation back to "the other side of the teacher's desk" was a challenge for us both. We tacked and did a gibe and sailed about the lake, dodging the pleasure craft that began to show up in earnest after lake shore residents returned home from their workday jobs around the western suburbs or downtown. As our class went from 4:30-7:30 p.m., we saw an increase in the number of these craft as time wore on. 

Soon enough we headed up, dropped and tied off the jib, dropped the main and headed back to the yacht club. On returning to the slip with Helmsman Rachael motoring, she pulled off a textbook 90 degree angle turn to the dock, making it easy for me to jump off and handle the bow lines to secure the boat. 30 minutes later, we had the lines tied correctly to the dock, the jib stowed, the main covered and the boat buttoned up for the night. Thanks Captain Joan and great job honey!

Our next session was on Wednesday and this time it was my turn to engineer/helm. With tactful and timely guidance from Joan, we backed out of the slip, motored to a spot with good distance and clearance to hoist the sails, and with Rachael crewing, got the boat under sail power once again. This time the wind was SSW at 8-11 knots, and the weather was sunny and beautiful! 

Lesson 2 on a beautiful evening for sailing

On this lesson, we were blessed with a couple of motor boat skippers who were somewhat less familiar with boating right of way and the pecking order associated with boats on converging paths. On one instance, Captain Joan used her horn to try to signal a motorboat ahead of us off our starboard that was on a converging course. Fortunately their driver recognized us and bore away to our standing course. The next motorboat driver, however, was less "familiar" with right of way. They were motoring towards our tack on our port, and despite them clearly making visual contact with us, the made no effort to bear away from our course, and we kept standing on until Joan had to verbally hail them that they should get out of the way as we were about to tack. Minnesota recently changed it's boating regulations to require prospective boaters between the ages of 12-17 to take a safe boating course prior to skippering a boat. For those above this age, they are "grandfathered in", and have no such requirement. Perhaps there should be?

Our third lesson took place on Thursday in less than what would be considered "fair winds". We set out with 5 knot winds that quickly diminished to @ 1-2 knots once we were under way. Captain Joan set out the figure 8 floating ball course but the wind was not helpful for me in tacking the boat around the course. I became quite good at sailing (or rather drifting)?over the floating balls in these light winds, and Captain Joan soon had us dropping sails in such a futile effort. We then motored back to the slip early and spent some time reviewing knots, right of way and the various buoys and warning markers we could encounter on the water. 

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will engage in our final lesson for ASA 101, which includes the skills and certification exam. We've been cramming, reading, reviewing and trying to prepare ourselves to finish the course with success. We've each listed steps to ready the boat, take it out and get it under sail, perform the heave-to, slowing and man overboard maneuvers, bring the boat back to the slip, tie it off to the dock and stow all gear. A couple of resources we've used are the reviews from the ASA 101 textbook, the ASA 101 Exam requirements, and a nifty app ($4.99 U.S) called the SailingQuiz.

The beginning of our sailing career!

A word of encouragement to those who wish to follow the same path. The course work is detailed but not insurmountable. Going from Zero to Sailing is definitely a challenge, but one that, with the aid of a good teacher and some diligence on your part, can be successfully completed. We hope to be able to pass the exam (more importantly, we hope to proficiently become versed in the language and best techniques of sailing) and move on to the ASA 103 course in September - we are excited to continue our learning and look forward to sailing in the future, and we encourage all those interested to do the same!