Continuing Education Programs
Seattle Sailing Club hosts a number of Continuing Education classroom and on-the-water clinics for our members and students every year. Our goal is to provide further education and help sailors polish their skills and gain confidence.
Hands-on Sailing Practice
Join a Seattle Sailing Club instructor and set sail with our 4-hour on-the-water sailing practice clinics, perfect for newly certified sailors or those needing a refresher. These dynamic sessions are crafted to boost your foundational sailing skills and build your confidence on the water. Our Sailing Practice clinics are designed to reinforce basic sailing maneuvers, safety procedures, and boat handling, ensuring students are well-prepared for more complex sailing conditions and techniques.
Whether you’ve taken lessons with American Sailing Association (ASA), U.S. Sailing, Royal Yachting Association (RYA), International Yacht Training (IYT), Sail Canada, or others, these clinics offer the perfect opportunity to gain the necessary on-the-water experience, making the transition to advanced sailing education smoother and more successful. We invite you to join as many as you like!
Important: this program is designed to build upon a student’s existing Basic Keelboat sailing certifications. It is not an introduction to sailing class nor is it designed for dinghy sailors. If you do not have any sailing certifications, we invite you to join one of our lessons instead!
- Sailing Practice – Keelboat 1 Level (keelboats 20’ – 27’)
- Sailing Practice – Basic Coastal Cruising Level (stay tuned!)
- Sailing Practice – Bareboat Charter Level (stay tuned!)
- 18+ years old
- American Sailing Association certifications of the appropriate level or equivalent:
- Important: this program is designed to build upon a student’s existing Basic Keelboat sailing certifications. It is not an introduction to sailing class nor is it designed for dinghy sailors. If you do not have any sailing certifications, we invite you to join one of our lessons instead!
Clinic Size:
Minimum to run a lesson: 3 students/lesson
Maximum in each lesson: 4 students/lesson
Clinic Duration
4-hours
*Important: Please be punctual; the group will head out on the water 15 minutes into the clinic. We cannot guarantee late arrivals will be accommodated. Please call if you are running late.
Clinic Cancellation & Refund Policy
Clinics are popular events at Seattle Sailing Club. We have a running waitlist for members & students who would like to participate. Please let us know if you would like to cancel as soon as possible.
- All cancellations must be sent directly to info@seattlesailing.com. Do not reply to any of your automatic event emails – we will not receive your cancellation.
- Cancellations are available up to 72 hours in advance for a full refund. Cancellations within 72 hours of the event are non-refundable or transferable.
- Refunds or transfers are not given to no-shows.
Q: How can I prepare for my clinic? Are there any course materials I need before the clinic?
- Review the relevant course material from your sailing lesson. Your confirmation email will contain important links to clinic outlines and further instructions to better prepare for your clinic.
- Student Release Form
In your confirmation email and reminder email, there is a link to complete your Release Form. This must be signed prior to the first day of your course. - Check the Weather & the Tides
The weather conditions on the Puget Sound can get chilly. Check the weather conditions before showing up for your clinic. Seattle Sailing Club uses NOAA Weather Forecast (scroll down to the bottom of the page to view Puget Sound & Hood Canal Forecast) as well as Wunderground Weather. The clinic will continue in rain or shine.
Q: What sailing certifications do you accept?
We accept certifications from:
- American Sailing Association (ASA)
- U.S. Sailing
- Royal Yachting Association (RYA)
- International Yacht Training (IYT)
- Sail Canada
- For all other certifications, please reach out
SSC Member Price
$165
Non-Member Price
$195
Racing the Wind’s Hands-on Weather Course
Taught by Jason Christensen, the visionary behind Racing the Wind, and a dedicated instructor at Seattle Sailing Club. At Racing the Wind, he has passionately focused on providing Weather, Navigation, and Routing tools and invaluable advice tailored specifically for adventurers, racers, and delivery captains.
Offerings:
Hands-on Weather:
- October 5 & 6
- 8:30am – 5pm
- Cost: $450 per student
Hands-on Expedition Navigation Software Course
- October 1, 3, 8, & 10
- 5:30 – 9:30pm
- Cost: $800 per student (includes 2 week Expedition demo license)
Tipping: Tipping your instructor is customary within the industry, typically ranging from 10% to 20% of the course fee, and it is greatly valued and acknowledged!
Hands-on Weather Course:
Course intro:
Not your typical weather class! You’ll work with real-time data and experience the elements firsthand. Gain the skills to interpret weather forecasts, understand sailing conditions, and navigate with precision. Don’t just read about the weather, experience it!
Important information:
This course will take place outdoors, so please prepare for varying weather conditions. The course will make use of both paper Pacific nautical charts and smartphones. Additionally, students will receive the “Racing the Wind” lesson book and a course outline.
Before the course begins, students are advised to download the following apps:
- Navionics
- Squid Mobile and/or QTVLM
- Windy
Class Structure
Racing the Wind’s courses are hands-on in order to show how weather data and the sailing environment come together. This course allows students to better determine what is happening with the weather, what will happen with their weather, and what factors could change what they see in a forecast. We utilize charts, forecasts, gribs, and observations from the local area and teach the class outside in the elements.
Schedule and pricing:
- October 5 and 6
- 8:30am – 5pm each day
- Cost: $450 per student
- Capacity: 20
- Minimum: 6
The course was created with the following goals/ideas in mind:
- Weather is best taught outside; we use the outdoors as our classroom, and use barometers, our phones for data, an Atlantic (NGA 00120) and Pacific (NOAA 530) nautical charts, and thermometers.
- To observe and monitor pressure and discuss the association between what winds are experienced at any given point given the synoptic pressure, local pressure influences, and local topography.
- To understand directionality and orientation of wind and what that indicates over the course of the next few minutes, or few hours, or few days.
- To provide a deep dive on the interpretation of the current physical environment based on a crisp clear understanding of various data and sources for these data: grib data, synoptic charts, forecasts, observations
- Global Weather Regions and how this regionality plays into weather patterns overall
- Understand currents and their influence on weather and tradeoffs of wind vs currents strategy
- Understand topology and it’s effect on wind and currents
Hands-on Expedition Navigation Software Course:
Course intro:
Expedition Navigation Software is one of the premier routing applications for racers. When used effectively, it can help chart a competitive path across an ocean or for your local out and back race. We will cover everything from installing Expedition to advanced features for those difficult navigation decisions enroute.
Jason has almost 10 years of experience with Expedition for both onboard navigation and remote routing. He has used Expedition to help navigate Pac Cup, Caribbean 600, and other named races and to route racers around Cape Horn, through the Southern Ocean, and across the Eastern and Western Pacific.
Important information:
- Students should plan to bring personal laptops capable of running Expedition, though students may share if needed. Computers/laptops will not be provided. Please note: Expedition does not work on Apple devices.
- Students should be familiar with the material in Hands-on Weather (models vs forecasts vs gribs), and with weather models, weather observations, and forecasts.
Materials:
- For this class we recommend students have a laptop or Windows tablet with one of the Expedition Installers downloaded. Any Windows device that meets the specifications on the Expedition website will work. Please note: Expedition does not work on Apple devices.
- A course outline will be sent to students directly from the instructor (not Seattle Sailing Club) prior to the lesson
- The instructor will reach out prior to the lesson with instructions on how to set up the demo license
Before the course begins, students are advised to download the following apps:
Class Structure
In this class we will cover:
- How to install Expedition and the license file
- How to set up Expedition for your boat and begin routing your boat using the optimize feature.
- Introduce features for adding, validating, and choosing weather model files (gribs) for winds, currents, and weather.
- Deep dive into the optimal routing feature, ensemble routing feature, multi routing feature.
- Introduce how to integrate with your vessel’s existing instrument systems and chart plotters
- For specific configurations additional training/consultation is available.
- Having worked with Expedition over Starlink for the last year, we will also look at some advanced methods that weren’t possible until recently.
Schedule and pricing:
- October 1, 3, 8, & 10 (must be able to attend all sessions)
- 5:30 – 9:30pm
- Cost: $800 per student (includes 2 week Expedition demo license)
- Capacity: 20
- Minimum: 6
About the Instructor
Meet Jason Christensen, the visionary behind racingthewind.com and a dedicated instructor at Seattle Sailing Club. Over the past 6 years, Jason has thrived as an offshore racing navigator and weather router, consistently achieving podium finishes in prestigious events like the Pacific Cup and Nelsons Cup. His expertise extends to supporting ocean adventurers and ensuring their safety.
Jason’s reputation as a weather expert has made him a sought-after consultant for race teams, providing pre-race briefings and tactical analyses for renowned events such as TransPac and the Rolex Big Boat Series. He also collaborates with delivery captains to navigate weather challenges and anomalies during their voyages.
With a background in firefighting and complex computer systems, Jason’s passion for weather began as a child in Tornado Alley and has driven him to merge his experiences into founding Racing the Wind’s training division. His commitment to sharing essential sailing and racing weather knowledge underscores his role as a trailblazer in the sailing community.
Check out our upcoming Continuing Education Programs on the calendar below. Please read carefully in order to choose the appropriate level you’d like to attend.