Places in Mexico for sailing courses?

[sgwright67]

Hello all,

I've been looking into some sailing courses, either locally or somewhere a little warmer right now. Most local courses don't start until May, and I don't want to wait that long. I could also use a break from winter, so we're looking at Mexico for a week or two... Cabo and Cancun both have reasonably priced flights from Victoria.

Does anyone have experience with sailing courses in Mexico? It seems like there are a few places in La Paz and Cabo that offer charters and such. I'm not that concerned with ASA certification, but would prefer they were more than just a cocktail hour type cruise, and offer some actual hands-on sailing.

Thanks

 

[toddster]

Oh come on, there are usually some very nice sailing days in February! Oh wait... I guess those were Feb 1 and Feb 2 this year

I do not know anything about sailing schools in Mexico, but you might consider farther south as well. The last time I took a vacation, I did a surf "camp" in Costa Rica and it was very inexpensive. It did take a whole day of traveling, each way, but so does going to Florida from here! But I suppose that, for anyplace warm, "high season" prices would be in effect right now. I went in November.

 

[Christian Williams]

Agree. Cabo not warm enough for me. I'd head to Caribbean.

 

[sgwright67]

Yes, Feb has been a bit of bust so far - finally got out of our street for the first time since Sunday, before the next wave passes through... snowing again now.

We still don't have a boat, and I'm a bit reluctant to head off and miss the spring market, but *if* this E29 turns out to be the one (if the snow stops long enough to view it), I'd be prepared to just buy it, then take off for a week or two, get some rest and a sailing lesson or two for my wife, and then return to work on the boat in earnest. Once the spring weather comes, I won't want to do anything but be working on the boat, or sailing...

I will check out Costa Rica, but my impression when we were there in Oct/Nov was that it was mostly surfing, and fishing charters along the Pacific coast, but we didn't see all of it by any means. Very few sailboats in the big marina at Manuel Antonio, and the two we saw on the water didn't even have sails on them; just used for party charters. I wanted to go on the 50' Gulfstar ketch, but we ended up settling for a sunset cruise on a 50' double decker cat instead. It was fun, but actually sailing a 36' cat in Belize was way more fun - we had the boat to ourselves, so they let me sail it a little. That was actually what convinced me that I need a sailboat; it has been a missing piece in my life for too long.

Florida or California would also be ok, but Mexico seems to offer the most bang for the buck right now for travel options.

Thanks!

 

[sgwright67]

Comparing one site I found in La Paz, with this one in California shows similar prices, but quite a big difference in what the course includes. The Baja school offers the 101 course in just two days for the same price, or combines 101&103 into 4 days. These courses are actually a lot less here at home, so maybe we'll just soak up some sun instead, and see about a day cruise or two.

http://www.bluewatersailing.com/courses.php#basic_cruising
ASA 101- [FONT=&quot]Classroom and ( mostly ) On The Water.

[/FONT]http://gobajasailing.com/courses/non-liveaboard-courses/descriptions-prices/[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]ASA 101 and ASA 103 each consist of two eight hour (8am to 4pm) sessions conducted on consecutive days, weather permitting, on the boat; at the dock and at sea.
[FONT=&quot]20 hours over 3 - 4 days.


[/FONT]

 

[toddster]

Sometimes the pricing reflects the number of students in a session. If you are getting 8 hours of one-on-one (or two) instruction, your experience will be a lot different than if there are eight students on the boat. And its unavoidable that the experience will depend in part on the weather, which nobody can control. If you cram it all into one day, then the outcome is very dependent on how the weather turns out on that one day.