The American Sailing Association was founded in 1983 with a simply stated mission: to teach people to sail safely and confidently. To achieve that goal, the ASA set out to establish standards against which to measure a sailor’s level of knowledge and skill, the first such unified standards in the U.S. to apply to sailors in keelboats.
Today, the ASA is an association of sailing schools, charter companies, professional sailing instructors, and sailors, with over 400 affiliated sailing schools located throughout the U.S., as well as in Europe, Japan, Central America, Taiwan, China, and other far eastern countries. These accredited schools offer ASA certification to individuals who meet the requirements for a given level. To date ASA schools have certified over half a million sailors!
The ASA system has eight primary levels of student certification from Basic Keelboat all the way to Offshore Passagemaking. Whether your goal is to skipper a bareboat charter in the Caribbean or to crew confidently on a short weekend sail, the ASA’s sailing-education system will guide you as you learn the theory behind sailing, practice the skills needed to handle a sailboat, and build the foundation of knowledge that will enable you to navigate a vessel safely and within the law.
By establishing national standards for sailing education, the ASA has provided a way for more people to take part in the sport safely, with the proper training and respect for their responsibilities as boaters, ensuring that sailing will be safer, smarter, and more fun for everybody.
ASA’S Sailing Challenge is a cutting-edge gaming app designed as a fun learning aid to help illustrate the principles of sailing in a rich interactive and entertaining format. Whether you want to sail on your iPhone while waiting in line at the post office, or on your Android tablet on the commuter train, or on your Windows laptop while flying somewhere exotic, or even just your iMac at home – Sailing Challenge is available for your enjoyment in all these places and more! The latest version also lets you take the helm of a cruising monohull or a beach catamaran and there are lots more features and improvements to enjoy!
The importance of ASA Sailing Certification
ASA Sailing Certification was born out of a clear need for a nationally accepted system of sailing instruction with a uniform curriculum, based on an agreed upon set of standards of sailing proficiency for students and instructors.
ASA Sailing Certification gives you the knowledge and experience to be confident and safe on all your sailing adventures – whether you charter a boat from a local harbor, go on an exotic sailing vacation, or even buy your own boat. Learn More
ASA Textbooks
ASA’s textbooks are considered “best in class”. They are the most comprehensive education and boating safety learn-to-sail guide and are also the official textbooks for the ASA Certifications. Incorporated in the textbooks are useful illustrations and exceptional photographs of complex sailing concepts. The text’s most distinguishing feature is its user friendly “spreads” in which instructional topics are self-contained on opposing pages throughout the books. Buy Now
Instructional Videos
ASA’s online instructional videos teach you how to trim sails, heave-to, use winches, return to the dock, tie knots, and more.
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