ASA BEARINGS February 2018

ASA Bearings Newsletter

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What’s The Story with ASA 102?

Ever since completing ASA 101 as a student back in the early 1990s, I have wondered why ASA 103 is the next course in the ASA 101-108 Main Progression. Where is ASA 102? Why is it missing? Did it ever really exist? There are rumors about it being a mystery course that existed once upon a time, or a slot left intentionally empty for a course that was never developed.

The first standard in the CYA curriculum is Basic Coastal Cruising 103. For continuity of instruction, ASA kept that course and title in its curriculum. In 1984, ASA split off parts of the Basic Coastal Cruising Course (BCC) 103 to create another course for smaller boats more commonly used for teaching the basics in the United States, like the Rainbow 24 sloops used by the Annapolis Sailing Academy (founded 1959) in Maryland, and the Soling 27, a ubiquitous and nimble 3-man keelboat, selected in 1968 to be a new racing class for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Making the new course suitable for small keelboats with no engines had another benefit: instructors would not need to have a USCG license which is required for teaching aboard an auxiliary powered vessels. BCC 103 was changed from a six-day to a four-day course. ASA’s new Basic Keelboat Sailing course became a two day course, so total instruction across both courses remained at 6 days for a 103 certification.

And so, in this way, Basic Keelboat Sailing, was born. ASA added “101” to denote that it was an introductory course, just as at a college or university, and also because this course was intended to precede BCC 103. Courses adapted and developed later for the ASA curriculum were intended to follow BCC 103. Naturally their numbers were 104, 105, et cetera, leaving poor 102 to lie in wait all these long 35 years.

That will soon change. We are developing ASA 102 as a brand new course! Mostly, it will offer instruction in sail trim, sail handling, and seamanship, with some tricks of the trade included for fun. Currently, after ASA 101, sailing skills are not explicitly taught again in the curriculum until ASA 106 when spinnakers are introduced. By introducing advanced sail handling earlier in the curriculum, we hope that a new student’s ASA 101 skills will be re-enforced and that sailing afterward while continuing the ASA curriculum progression will be more efficient and more enjoyable.

The new ASA 102 course will probably be called Sail Handling and Seamanship, to be conducted on boats from 20 to 35 feet long with displacement up to 20,000 pounds, on familiar inland and near coastal waters, in winds up to 25 knots. ASA 101 will be a prerequisite for 102, but 102 will not be a prerequisite for ASA 103. Finally, ASA 102 is not just intended to follow ASA 101 in segue to ASA 103, but it will also offer instruction in advanced sail handling for anyone who desires it.

If you are an instructor and want to help form the ASA 102 Sail Handling & Seamanship Standard, contact ash@asa.com.

Written by Lenox Grasso, ASA Instructor Coordinator

ASA 101 Basic Keelboat

Sailing Instructor Reference Flip Cards

We should have thought of these years ago. It took an instructor at the Boat Show in Annapolis to give us the idea. This shrink-wrapped set of ten laminated instructor cards is just the thing to assist your teaching at dockside and underway. A beautiful re-imagining of Peter Bull’s illustrations from the ASA 101 textbook, Sailing Made Easy, each card is 8.5" x 11", laminated, double-sided and 3-hole punched with over fifty illustrations big enough to see across a cockpit. Shuffle them into any order you prefer. There is even a small white board included.

They are the perfect teaching aid - compact, portable, and waterproof. Get your own set of these valuable cards today!

SAVE 20%! Pre-order now for only $19.95/set

Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery.

The topics of the ten 8.5” x 11” ASA 101 Keelboat Sailing Reference Cards are listed below.


●	Cover outside - displays ASA logo and contact information.
●	Cover inside - displays pathway through the entire student course curriculum.
●	Sailboat: Anatomy - identifies all areas and items of a sailboat except for the rigging.
●	Sailboat: Rigging - separates out and identifies only the standing & running rigging.
●	Sailboat: The Sails - identifies the corners, edges, and adjustments of a mainsail & jib.
●	Sailboat: Orientation - orients students when they step aboard a boat & with its outboard engine.
●	Sailboat: The Wind - introduces the classic wind diagram with side-by-side points of sail.
●	Sailboat: Steering - lists the steps to come about and jibe with pictures of each as a sail circle.
●	Sailboat: Knots - shows a figure-8 knot, reef knot, and bowline knot.
●	Sailboat: Hitches - shows a cleat hitch, rolling hitch, round turn and 2 half hitches, and clove hitch.
●	Sailboat: Crew Overboard - spells out the figure-8 COB and the BRCR methods of recovery.
●	Sailboat: Safety Equipment - displays some of the federally required safety equipment.
●	Sailboat: Rules of the Road - illustrates encounters with other boats and how to avoid collisions.
●	Sailboat: Aids to Navigation - displays buoys & day marks and how to regard them in a channel.
●	Sailboat: Docking and Mooring - explains step-by-step how to dock and moor a boat.
●	Sailboat: Not Underway - shows the necessary lines to tie a boat at a pier and how to anchor.
●	Sailboat: Lines - displays different line coiling techniques.
●	Sailboat: Sail Flaking - shows the proper steps to flaking a mainsail and folding a jib.
●	Sailboat: Concepts - presents apparent wind, running, steaming, & anchor lights.
●	Sailboat: White Board - provides a white board to use with water-soluble markers.

Using the ASA Sailing Challenge

as a Teaching Tool Saves You Time & Money

The award-winning ASA Sailing Challenge application is advanced far beyond all existing on-line or game sailing education systems. It is a state-of-the-art teaching tool designed specifically to prepare for and reinforce ASA instruction. It merges visual information with game theory to augment ASA classes by the use of action decisions and memories. To think of it as just a game misses the power, versatility and intent of the application.

The ASA Sailing Challenge has modules for:


●	Points of Sail
●	Apparent Wind
●	Sail Trimming
●	Tacking/Jibing
●	Right of Way
●	Docking
●	Sailing (on a Timed Course)

The modules are independent, contain multiple skill/knowledge levels, and have a game to reinforce and test the skill or knowledge. The beauty of this is that you can enter any module at any skill level, move randomly to other modules at any skill level at any pace, and have some fun testing yourself with what appears to be a game. The sailboat actions and performance are based on real sailboat polar diagrams, and the visuals are excellent.

The Points of Sail module, for instance, has three levels of entry: LEARN, BASIC and ADVANCED. So if you think you already know points of sail, you can enter BASIC and you are placed into a timed test by rotating a boat to the correct points of sail. Your “score” is based on your accuracy and speed. This game is really a knowledge and decision reinforcement tool. OK, but why would the module have an ADVANCED level? Points of sail are points of sail, right? Enter ADVANCED and find out.

Many people just jump right to the race-like Sailing module. When they don’t do well they can go into the Sail Trimming module or Tacking/Jibing module and see how they can improve. So they can actually learn “backwards”. It looks like a race game, but the real purposes of the Sailing section are point-of-sail awareness and reinforcement of having to change sail trim every time you change course. As with the other modules, there are more difficult levels, even night sailing.

We encourage you to explore the application with its modules and levels and see how the material and/or format could be used to reinforce your teaching. ASA Instructors and students who do try it, invariably find it useful, fun and interesting. We have created an example of one way this can be done at the following link. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Elbert “Ash” Ashbaugh, ASA Affiliate Representative

ASA’s founder Lenny Shabes was just elected to be on the board of directors of Sail America, the renowned trade association for the U.S. sailing industry. The BoD is made up of eleven influential stakeholders from all corners of the sailing world including Kimo Worthington of North Sails, Chris Doscher of Beneteau America and other major players from sailing’s prominent companies and organizations.