Sea of Cortez ASA 114 Cruising Catamaran Class/Refresher

Once a month I’m (Eddie) putting together a 3 day/night ASA 114 live-aboard class that you can use to get your ASA 114 Cruising Catamaran Certification, or use as a refresher to get ready for an upcoming catamaran charter you have scheduled. The class will begin on Friday at 11am or as soon as everyone arrives. We will end on Monday at 11am unless anyone needs to depart a little earlier for a flight.

A three day live-aboard course is longer than most schools for an ASA 114 cert right? It is, but this is course is as much about the experience as it is the certification. If you are going to take the time and expense to fly to Baja we should take a little extra time to enjoy the experience. I know this stretch of the Sea of Cortez better than most sailors so we can get out there and see some of the best stuff in the area on our three days. It also gives us a lot more time to practice sailing skills. There are many anchorages and islands close so we will spend our time doing many short sails between snorkel spots and beaches. I believe repetition is the best way to get comfortable on the boat so we will often only sail for an hour or two between anchorages so everyone gets a lot of practice in each position on the boat. Each session will be catered to each persons experience and needs and it is not going to be stressful for any of us.

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How to schedule your class

Classes are offered through ASA affiliate sailing school West Coast Multihulls on their charter catamarans. I’ve been teaching sailing classes for them since 2020. To book a spot give Guinevere a call at 619.365.4326 or send her an email at guinevere@westcoastmulitulls.com

Prerequisites: If you want your ASA 114 cert you must already have your ASA 104. If you are going for a catamaran refresher please have good knowledge of sailing, navigation, and boat operations. If you want to come along for the experience and not participate in the instruction part of the trip we would love to have you onboard for recreation and sailing!

Cost:

  • $3,200 usd per person single cabin occupancy

  • $3,000 usd per person double cabin occupancy

  • 1/2 price for ride-along without sailing instruction

2025 Schedule

July 25-27

October 17-19

November 7-9

December 1-3

Provided: Provisions, bedding, towels, paddleboards, Starlink internet, fuel, national park passes, dinghy/outboard, ASA Cert

Not Provided: Transportation to or from the marina, alcoholic beverages, any meals onshore at a restaurant.

Provisions and Meals

I’ll provision for the trip Friday morning. We have a standard meal plan that works for most, but you will be asked about special needs or allergies. Meal prep and cleanup will be rotated between everyone onboard. We will keep the meals simple but tasty so we don’t spend all our time in the galley. If you get in early and want to see some of Loreto you can join me on the provisioning run.

Puerto Escondido

The Puerto Escondido area is a great place to sail. The marina has a lot of options to practice docking and picking up a mooring. The islands and Baja coast has countless places to anchor and explore. The weather varies a lot by season, but there are advantages to every season and its hard to pick a favorite. From November-April we will typically get afternoon winds from the north and May - October afternoon winds from the south east.

Getting There

Loreto has an international airport with flights from LAX on Alaska, Phoenix on American, and from Tijuana on Volaris. The marina is a 30 minute cab ride down the coast.

Google Map Link to Marina Puerto Escondido

My Catamaran Experience

I’ve been sailing and captaining catamarans since 2019. Most of this time has been spent in the water between Bahia Concepcion and La Paz on the charter boats of West Coast Multihulls. I also spent several years as the maintenance manager of the Mexico charter fleet. I know most of the systems on many of the modern production catamarans very well and am happy to share with you what I like and don’t like about the boats I’ve sailed.

My Instruction Style

The most important thing to me is no stress, no yelling, no attitudes. The course is going to be thorough and also fun. It takes time to get the feel for a new boat and I’m certainly not going to get worked up if you need a little extra instruction or need to go over things a couple of extra times.

Sailing is super easy 95% of the time. Preparation for the other 5% of mechanical failures, unexpected weather, or crew/captain mistakes is what requires the most discussion. We will discuss and learn from all the mistakes I’ve seen made (or made myself) and learn how to reduce the probability of you making the same mistakes in the future. We will focus on practical application of knowledge and skills. We will tack and jibe a lot. We will anchor several times a day. We will set the sails and drop the sails many times with and without reefs. Its all easy stuff, but you will leave the class much more capable and confident when all these tasks start to become second nature.

I want spouses/partners to work together and learn together, but not provide instruction to each other during the class. I really like everyone to work through issues in their own time and ask me when they need help. When a spouse or student steps in and starts telling the others what to do a learning opportunity may be lost or less effective. Please let me give instructions and corrections at a pace that I feel will be most effective. I’ve been teaching sailing for quite a while and I was an instructor in the Air Force before my sailing days. I do a pretty good job of teaching skills effectively. We will have many open discussion about how we can all communicate better and work together. I’ll be rotating in helping anchoring, sailing, and docking so you can see what works well for me. You don’t have to do everything exactly like I suggest. You just have to do things in a way that keep the crew and boat safe.

The Catamaran Options