ASA BEARINGS April 2018

ASA Bearings Newsletter

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ASA Has Now Certified Over 500,000 Sailors!

Thank you to all of our ASA affiliates and instructors. You all rock! This is a landmark achievement. Over the past 35 years, since our founding in 1983, ASA schools have taught and certified 507,000 people to ASA’s 101 Keelboat Sailing standard. If you include ASA 103 and 104 certifications, those same one-half million members officially hold over one million ASA certifications. That’s a lot of people with whom we have shared our lifestyle.

None of this could have happened without our very fine association of clubs, sailing schools, charter companies, professional sailing instructors, sailors, and sail-related businesses organized to promote safety on the water and to stimulate the sport of sailing everywhere!

You all know who you are. We thank every one of you, as we all re-commit ourselves to offering the finest, most recognized, and best sailing certification system in the United States.

Please meet Ken Brown of Saint Petersburg, Florida. He is ASA’s man in China. The first thing I have to tell you about Ken is that he holds nearly every 200-level certification that ASA offers and is also an ASA IE Instructor Evaluator and ASA FE Facility Evaluator.

Since 2015, Ken has been a driving force in setting up and operating the ASA business office in Qingdao, China, at the site of the base of sailing operations for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. With all of his ASA credentials, he is one of a handful of people who knows all about the ASA curriculum, how to set up a new ASA site, and how to develop new ASA instructors. Pairing this with his interest in Asian cultures, Ken has been the person called upon the most by ASA over the past three years to evaluate new sites and to teach new instructors in mainland China.

Elbert “Ash” Ashbaugh, ASA Affiliate Representative

Procedural Adjustments for IQCs

Over the past year or so, ASA has noted some inconsistencies in IE pricing of IQCs. These include new schools receiving various price quotes from multiple IEs.

To ensure that schools have the ability to make informed decisions about IQCs, ASA has made some procedural adjustments to the IQC scheduling process. It is important to keep in mind that, unlike student sailing classes, IQCs are conducted on behalf of ASA. Accordingly, they need to be scheduled by an Affiliate directly with ASA.

Going forward, the Affiliate will have ASA as its point of contact. ASA will prepare a standard price list for the conduct of the IQC, shipping cost allocations, rules for compensation to the Affiliate, compensation to the IE, and IE travel expense policies.

Upon Completion, ASA will pay the Affiliate and IE according to the published rate card, price structure and policies. These procedural changes have been in effect since the beginning of 2018.

This update to ASA IQC procedures will ensure fewer discrepancies and will elevate the professionalism of the ASA and its Instructors.

Charlie Nobles, ASA Executive Director

ASA is a Summer Sailstice Gold Level Sponsor

On the weekend of 23-24 Jun 2018, ASA is once again a Gold Level Sponsor of the 18th annual Summer Sailstice, the biggest sail event of the year where everybody everywhere sails at the same time.

Founded in Feb 2001 by John Arndt, Associate Publisher at Latitude 38, Summer Sailstice is the annual global celebration of sailing held on the weekend nearest the summer solstice and the longest days of the year in the northern hemisphere. The event has grown from 200 boats in 2001 to over 5000 boats around the world, uniting thousands of sailors with a schedule of events that encourages everyone to participate. We encourage all ASA affiliates, instructors, and regular members to join this celebration of sailing.

Use ASA’s GOSAILING app to connect with other sailors locally and to join with Summer Sailstice globally! ASA Chairman and Founder Lenny Shabes commented that, “With 350 affiliate schools spread across the globe, it is a challenge to unite in a common promotion. The Summer Sailstice celebration gives ASA an ideal opportunity to connect with all our schools in a global promotion for sailing on the first weekend of summer”.

We encourage all Affiliates to sign up! Join ASA schools worldwide to promote sailing and to attract new and eager students to your club or school. There are many ways to be part of the event from demos to open houses, from BBQs to free sails. There is no wrong way to participate. Look for ideas at www.summersailstice.com Put your school or club on the roster of ASA affiliates participating in Summer Sailstice and download ASA’s GOSAILING app to help make it all happen. One weekend. All sailors. Everywhere. Sailing!

Cannabis and the USCG

In states where cannabis is legal, your students may think it is OK to bring state-legal recreational amounts of the drug aboard. ASA schools and instructors are asking if these laws will affect the USCG drug enforcement policies.

Elbert “Ash” Ashbaugh, ASA Affiliate Representative

ASA Outstanding Instructors

Less than 24 hours after announcing ASA Outstanding Instructors of the Year for 2017, many instructors called or emailed with questions or comments. Instructors with perfect 4.00 ratings wondered why they were not included among the honorees. The reason is that to be eligible for consideration an ASA instructor must also exceed the minimum number of student survey submissions required to be included within the top 32 instructors.

Next, many more called or emailed to say that it could be possible that the affiliate schools where they teach may not be keying in their ASA instructor IDs to link them with the ASA courses they taught. This is a real problem, ASA is aware of it, and hopes to mitigate it as we transition to electronic examinations. Meanwhile, if you are an instructor who cares to be considered as outstanding, make certain that the affiliate enters your instructor ID as the instructor of the course.

Finally, student survey submissions drive this entire process. Whenever a student completes an ASA course, a link to a survey for that course appears in that student’s ASA Portal. The survey itself is indexed to a specific course taught by a specific instructor. So, instructors and affiliates should encourage their students to complete the survey and give their instructor a rating.

Lenox Grasso, ASA Instructor Coordinator

Articles appearing in a future issue of BEARINGS...


●	The New ASA Survey Process
●	Insurance For Certified Instructors
●	FasTrack Courses
●	Boat Show Planning

Upcoming events


●	2018.04.19-22: Pacific Sail and Power Boat Show begins in Richmond, California.
●	2018.04.20-22: Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland.
●	2018.10.04-08: United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland.
●	2019.01.09-13: Chicago Boat, RV, and Sail Show in Chicago, Illinois.
●	2019.01.00-00: Seattle Boat Show in Seattle, Washington.
●	2019.02.00-00: Miami Boat Show in Miami, Florida.

Can we help with materials for your booth at an upcoming Boat Show? Contact Ash

Useful links for Instructors & Affiliates

www.ASA.com