Members must be certified on a craft to take it on the water. After certification, members enjoy unlimited access to that fleet.
Three ways to get certified on a craft:
- If you have prior sailing or kayaking experience, you can complete a proficiency exam.
- If you have no past experience on the craft you want to enjoy, you can either:
- Take group lessons with an instructor. (Learn more by clicking on the pictures above.)
- Get mentored by a certified member
Should I choose lessons or mentoring?
Lessons
- Pros: structured, predictable, achieve a skill level within a specific timeframe, meet several members.
- Cons: limited schedule flexibility after you reserve your spot, limited availability at some times in the season; for instance, the ones early in the season fill up fairly quickly, so if your goal is to get on the water early on the season, be sure to register ASAP; if the lesson you want is full, please register on the waitlist (at no cost) as this helps us gauge interest and add more lessons as needed
Mentoring
- Pros: no cost, one-on-one interaction between mentor and mentee, can accommodate a flexible or uncertain schedule.
- Cons: need to find a mentor that is a good match (use our Forum), then need to find a certifier to validate the achieved skill level.
How are lessons organized?
- A lesson calendar is created at the beginning of each season. We try hard to make lessons available both on weekends and weeknights. We also weigh the availability of our instructors and how soon our members want to complete their courses, to design a schedule that is effective at getting our members certified to safely be on the water on their own.
- Each course requires a certain number of hours. SUP is the shortest at 1.5 hours. Other lessons, such as beginner sailing, take 20 to 30 hours total, spread over several days.
- Choose the course that matches your skill level and fits your schedule, and reserve your spot by purchasing it here.
- After attending the full set of lessons, you get certified if you demonstrate the required skill level and if you did not miss more than a specific number of lessons in the course.