The ASA 103 is the more advanced class to the ASA 101 as you get to sail on larger sailboat.
The Program
The class consists of two 8 hours days on a Saturday and Sunday.
The Book
ASA 103 Coastal Cruising Made Easy
Some of the schools do not provide the book and you will need to purchase them online through Amazon or Google Books. You may also get them used from ebay.com.
You will need this book to prepare yourself for the class and also to help you answer the questions for the examination.
The Boat
For the class, we got to use a fairly Beneteau Oceanis 31 sailboat on the first class
On the Second Day, we were on the Beneteau Oceanis 38.1
The Students
My class had three students and an instructor.
The Instructor
We had a great instructor by the name of Mark and based on what he told me that he has been teaching for a while.
THE CLASS – DAY 1 of 2
Next stage to this class is to improve on maneuvering the sailboat and learning more advanced technique
THE CLASS – DAY 2 of 2
We learned how to dock on a mooring ball and also how to anchor. Learn also how to fine tune sailing techniques.
The Certification Exam
- What do I need to study?
Most of the exam questions are actually available at the end of each chapter in the Coastal Cruising Made Easy book. - How many questions?
There are about 100 multiple choice questions and you need only 80 to pass the exam - How long is the exam?
It’s about 1 hour long but the instructor will give you more time if needed.
Examination Study Help
- ASA has provided some study help guide which you can review on https://asa.com/certifications/asa-103-basic-coastal-cruising/
What’s Next
- The next course in this series is to take the ASA 104, Bareboat Cruising. In my case, I wanted to also check out about Catamaran and I signed up for the ASA 114, Cruising Catamaran Certification. Check out my ASA 104/114 Blog