Registration is now open for the US Sailing Level 1 Instructor course, to be taught here on two intensive weekends in January—the weekends of January 5&6 and 12&13.
US Sailing requires a minimum of 8 students in the course, a number we’ve failed to meet the last two times this course has been offered in Phoenix. So we really need your support this time.
Here’s the sales pitch: Not only does the course prepare you to teach sailing, but it also makes you a better sailor. Course instructor Ray Deppa has taught all of the US Sailing Instructor courses in Phoenix, and he’s a real pro, someone who will leave you knowing more about this game we play. But teaching sailing is actually the best part. Introducing new people to the sport is a lot of fun—seeing them begin to understand how a boat moves through the water by wind alone and seeing the joy they get from figuring it out.
Sign up four weeks or more before the class and it’s $325. If you pass the course and teach for the Arizona Sailing Foundation, ASF will reimburse half your tuition.
I just paged through some of the US Sailing material on the course. You’ll find some information here. And the registration begins here. There’s quite a bit of paperwork involved and you’ll need to be a member of US Sailing (a good thing anyway) and you’ll need to pass a first aid and CPR course (definitely a good thing anyway). The prerequisites are extensive. My advice: don’t let any of that discourage you. The other students and Instructor Ray Deppa will help you through it. If you want to pass, you’ll pass.
For questions on the course, check with George Tingom, who organizing the course and has been involved in every one we’ve held since 2003 (when I took it).