ASA has selected the Outstanding Instructors of the Year for 2017. Of the ASA instructors who were active and eligible in 2017, the top 32 are listed below, representing 31 different locations across 13 states, and 3 countries. The process by which these instructors were determined was completely objective, derived by a formula that weighs the number of student surveys generated, the number of completed surveys actually submitted, and the average instructor score across all submitted surveys with 4.00 as the highest possible average score.

ASA is extremely proud of its certified instructors who are committed to provide excellence in sailing instruction, and we extend our congratulations to the 32 instructors on this list who have achieved an outstanding commendation for 2017. Very well done, and we thank you. Keep up the great work!

In future, ASA plans to attach the student survey to the electronic version of each ASA examination to increase the yield of respondents to a much higher level.

ASA has decided to make the ASA 108 Offshore Passagemaking Certification more accessible by changing the required prerequisites to ASA 106 and either ASA 107 or ASA 117. The ASA 117 Basic Celestial Endorsement is more popular because it teaches only the sextant, the Sun, and Polaris, leaving the Moon, the planets, and all other stars still under the purview of the traditional full bore ASA 107 Celestial Navigation Certification of the Main Progression. In other words, the ASA 117 endorsement is a subset of the ASA 107 certification.

Sailors have crossed oceans by obtaining their latitude and longitude with LAN Local Apparent Noon sightings of the Sun and their latitude (and estimated position) with nautical twilight sightings of Polaris. This reality, combined with the fact that traditional celestial navigation today is mostly a backup to electronic satellite navigation prompted this change. The ultimate goal is that by lowering slightly the prerequisite hurdle to ASA 108, students might be more inclined to benefit from all the offerings of the Offshore Passagemaking Certification.

The Gulf Islands of British Columbia are the undiscovered Canadian version of the American San Juan Islands on the other side of the Haro Strait in the waters between Vancouver Island and the Canadian mainland. The islands to the southeast have drawn summer vacationers since the 1880s. Most of the area is too rocky for farming, but as a summer retreat they have proven to be irresistible.

For many of your students and clients, achieving the ASA 104 Bareboat Cruising Certification means that they have accomplished the most important goal that they have set for themselves in learning to sail. It means that they have been certified as capable of skippering their own moderately-sized keelboat on a multi-day sailing adventure a little further along the coast or across a bay, channel, sound, or strait to achieve a new destination by nightfall. For many, it will be the first time they have experienced the approach into an unknown harbor and all that awaits them there. This is a tremendous source of pride for most, and it marks an important milestone in their sail cruising career.

This accomplishment can now be celebrated and proudly displayed by wearing a new ASA 104 Certified shirt. This shirt, designed by ASA and manufactured by Pirates Lair, features the ASA logo with the words “Bareboat Certified” emblazoned on the sleeves. It will be available in a variety of styles and colors. 

ASA will be emailing affiliates shortly with more information including how you can purchase these shirts at wholesale prices so that you can offer them to your ASA 104 graduates as a way to mark their achievement as an ASA 104 bareboat-certified skipper.

As ASA’s Representative, I attended this Summit in Lexington, Kentucky, on March 4-7, 2018. The following is a summary of the summit.

The IBWSS is hosted by the National Safe Boating Council (NSBC), the National Water Safety Congress (NWSc), and the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA). 

There were approximately twenty exhibitors and two hundred attendees from federal and state government, non-profit industry, and academic organizations.

The conference consisted of a series of general sessions as well as a number of breakout presentations. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Office of Recreational Boating Safety's Verne Gifford, Chief, CG-BSX-2, provided an update during the general session. Among the safety concerns was the improving, but still low, percentage of boaters wearing PFDs.

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