CREW CERTIFICATION
Skipper
or crew? Crew or skipper? Hmmm! Tough question.
Camano Sail and Power certifies both. The Crew
certification is a program developed by Camano Sail to meet the
many requests that we receive for a program that will provide
prospective sailors with the knowledge and skills necessary to be an effective
crew member who would, for the majority of the time, be working under a
Skipper's direction to help with the myriad tasks that make a sailboat
work. A crew person would also be expected to Skipper the boat in
cases where there is an emergency, an incapacitation of the
skipper, or to provide some needed "time out" for the skipper.
Generally, the person
who would normally own the boat, do most of the sailing and who would
be at the helm most of the time, who plans on eventually seeking
the higher levels of US SAILING certification**, and who would like to
travel and charter boats in other parts of the world should be
the person seeking the Skipper certification. People who would normally
sail with the Skipper on his/her boat but in most cases would perhaps
prefer to just be along to have a pleasant ride and to help with the
sailing, or are people who would be crewing for e.g. races on a regular
basis are logical candidates for a Crew certification.
US
SAILING and Camano Sail and power encourage all members of a sailing
crew who sail together on a more or less regular basis to be certified
at least at the CREW level. The main reason for this is for the
overall safety of everyone. A quite common scenario is when the
skipper of a vessel becomes incapacitated or falls overboard, leaving
those still board to deal with the new challenges. Who is going
to take charge and get the boat safely back to port? Many
significant-others have been lost at sea when the Skipper falls
overboard or gets seriously ill and the crew is helpless to get the
boat to port. Who will take over and recover the person in
the water and get them safely back on board or sail the boat to a place
where medical help is available. In less dire circumstances, will
the people who regularly sail together know how to communicate in the
language of sailing and be able to perform the routine tasks required
when sailing? And finally, on longish voyages, the regular
helmsperson needs to rest, relax and just enjoy by having others
available and sufficiently competent to keep the boat sailing properly
while the skipper takes some "time out." Not everyone need to be
a skipper, but everyone in a regular crew needs to have a basic
proficiency to help the boat operate efficiently and to be able to take
over in case of an emergency involving the regular skipper. And
contrary to a frequently used scheme, a loud voice, angry words and an
intense sense of urgency on the part of any Skipper will not magically
turn a non-sailor into a sailor when the Skipper suddenly
needs help sailing the vessel.
Crew
certification classes are organized in two optional ways. Crew
who will be sailing fairly consistently with the same Skipper are
strongly encouraged to take the same 24 hour class that the Skipper
will be enrolled in. The fee is still one-half that of the
Skipper class but has the benefit of allowing Skipper and Crew to learn
to work smoothly together. The class under this scenario will be
a mix of sailors working on their
Skipper ticket and those working on their Crew ticket, however with the
caveat that we never have more than four students in a single class at
one time. The
differences are that the Skipper candidate
will be doing a far greater
amount of "driving" the boat and learning how to provide instructions
and guidance to the crew, will learn how to communicate with the
crew during the sailing maneuvers, and generally will be held to a
higher standard. The Crew candidate will
be doing some driving as well, to prepare them for the times when they
actually have to drive the boat, whether voluntarily as when the
regular skipper needs some "time off", or when they have to drive
because the regular skipper is somehow unable to function, is
unavailable or has gone overboard. The majority of Crew
certification involves learning to operate and adjust all of the parts
of a boat under sail, either independently or under the Skipper's
direction, that would be difficult for the Skipper to do
themselves. The practical examinations in knots, seamanship,
rules of the road, parts and function of the boat parts, and the final
written exmination are identical for both the Skipper and the Crew
certification. Generally speaking, the Crew Candidate will be perforning and will be examined on most of the same skills that a Skipper Candidate will be learning. The big difference is that the Crew Candidate will not be expected to demonstrate the higher level of knowledge and proficiency required of Skipper Candidates. This link will take you to the US SAILING requirements.
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**
US
SAILING is the the only Congressionally authorized organization
for the sport of sailing the United States. We are the National
Governing Body of the sport and in that capacity train sailors, sailing
instructors, coaches, judges and referees, and organize and conduct all
of the national-level sailing events including the Olympic trials and
the selection of Americans to represent the US in international events.
We are the voice of U. S. sailors in the international sailing
organization. We are the standard to which all other
organizations aspire. We offer keelboat instruction and
certification up to and including the highest level: making ocean
passages.