ASA Fast Track - April 14^th - 18^th
By Embree "Embob" Walker - ASA Instructor for Corpus Christi Sailing Center
Fast Track continues to be one of the more difficult, but rewarding classes offered by the Corpus Christi Sailing Center (CCSC) out of Corpus Christi, Texas. It combines the ASA 101 Basic Keelboat, ASA 103 Coastal Cruising, and ASA 104 Bareboat Chartering classes in a 5 day, 4 night package. For me personally as an ASA instructor, it is a challenge in which one's extensive past sailing experience is put to the test in light of the current ASA standards. When I teach this class, I am personally looking for two things out of my students: the ability to bring their past sailing experience and match (test) this against the ASA standards criteria  and also, use this time as a reality check against real world coastal cruising experience. The teaching is based on safety, investment into the ASA program to perform to the testing standards, continued book and experience studies, and real sailing experiences. As a sailing professional, husband and father of a sailing family and active member of Austin's largest cruising club, it is important to live up to these exacting principles.
Our classes' journey, takes place on the Monday morning of April 14^th. CCSC gets the students assembled by 9am in the office to make sure their documentation is filled out, they have met their instructor and that the class begins on time. It is important that the class and their gear move onto the boat and the crew choose their berth assignments and they make their way to the cockpit for a pre-sail check. This is a time in which we introduce one another, learn our backgrounds, and what we expect from the class. Then, as a class, we do a boat crawl (a detailed inspection) of the interior of the boat and then working our way up on deck to review the entire topsides. About this time, our provisioning (food and beverages) comes and we stow our food into a managed system within the confines of the boat. At this time the crew rallies, to perform duties such as gear check (to keep it safely stowed), engine and engineering check, provisioning check, top off water, chart/course planning, crew duties and how to leave the dock. Before leaving, we prepare for the conditions of Corpus Christi bay, getting our boat rigged for sailing, weather check, prepare lunch, and begin the long classroom experience.
As an instructor of this program, I usually prepare 2 days on the anchor and 2 days at a marina for the full classroom experience. For my own local knowledge, I prefer taking the class across the bay to Shamrock Cove for the first night, sailing to Key Allegro in Rockport, Texas for the 2^nd night, over to Port Aransas for the 3^rd night and "Spinnaker Hole" over by the Padre Island Yacht Club in the Laguna Madre area for the last night, which prepares us for a down wind return to Corpus Christ to end the class. This gives us the ability to work the bays, Intercoastal Waterways (ICW), the major ship channels, and the gulf for all of our exercises. Even in the more difficult weather conditions, we can change the program to suit the conditions. It is important that the class always understands that anything can happen at anytime and to be ready to meet the condition and "find and fix" it, as there is no repairman at sea other than "you".
Among the sea trials and routines that I put my classroom crew through, this principle of being ready is never to be taken lightly, even on a perfect day. On the 4^th day, out in the Gulf of Mexico, 3 miles out into a perfect no-wave, 15 knot wind-SE wind, blue sky day, this was put to the test. Part of my teaching involves single handing the 1979 Morgan 46' boat called "Souvenir" and imagining that 2 people are sailing together and one falls overboard. Man-Over-Board drills (MOB's) are part of the standard testing and I try to include single-handing techniques to enrich the students' experience so that if they or their crew has a mishap of falling over, they will know what to do. In performing this exercise, I had the students team up and do this exercise, and afterwards, I have them do this by themselves. On the last exercise for the afternoon, I had one student who was in the process of performing the exercise who missed the floating PFD (Personal Floatation Device) target the first time, but went after it for a second time and was about to retrieve it with the boat hook, but in trying to retrieve the floating PFD quickly, slipped, landed against the life-line (which gave way), and continued diving into the ocean. My reaction was first to see if they were ok, then I yelled to my crew "REAL Man Over Board" as I released some floating boat fenders on the stern pulpit, appointed an observer, ordered my crew to a beam reach, tacked into the wind and into a reciprocal course, and back to the crew member, releasing the jib sheet and then the main sheet bringing the boat into the wind for a perfect stall thus placing the overboard crew victim on the windward side and the crew throwing a line and helping to haul them aboard quickly. After checking the crew member out for any first aid issues (to which there were thankfully none), the boat crew swung into action to pick up the PFD target and remaining boat fender still floating. After the eventful day, we discussed in detail the lessons learned from this actual experience. Certainly, there are many factors involved and each can render more complexity as the conditions work against the boat and the crew.
As we arrived back to Corpus Christi on the 18^th, the class had passed all of their tests (sea trials and written) and all were glad to be back to "terra firma". Each student expressed that they learned a lot and would take away various lessons and pointers that they would begin using immediately. It is important to note that their previous backgrounds were up to par with the prerequisites going into this class. Two of the students really emphasized that this class is not for beginners, as the lessons and class activities are very challenging…and my thoughts are: "so is the sea".