Hot Off the Press – “How-to” Guide for Recreational Sailboat Instruction
Calling all recreational boating safety education providers! Large or small, national or local, all are invited and encouraged to use the recently-released 160-page comprehensive “How-to” Guide for Recreational Sailboat instruction, the most complete set of information and tools available. The SAIL Standard Technical Support Document (SAIL TSD) was developed by the U.S. Coast Guard’s National On-Water Standards (NOWS) Program grant management team and the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC), to assist education providers, course developers and instructors in designing and implementing skills-based instruction and assessment in recreational boating that meet the American National Standard (ANS) for sailboat operation.
“The SAIL TSD is important to recreational boaters for three reasons,” explains Brian Dorval, NOWS facilitator. “First, it helps ensure the courses they choose to attend are designed to deliver the fundamental skills associated with safely and effectively operating a sailboat. It does this by giving education providers across the country the key information and tools they need to design their instructional programs to meet or exceed the same level of quality identified by the national standard. Secondly, it puts recreational boaters in a position to make better and more informed decisions about what beginner-level sailing course to attend by checking to see if the program they are considering meets the national standard for sailboat instruction. Third and finally, it also provides recreational boaters interested in teaching others to sail with fundamental information and tools they can use to help design instruction that complies with the national standard for sailing.”
The SAIL TSD is freely available for download from the NOWS Program website (www.onwaterstandards.org) and the ABYC Online Store (www.abycinc.org).
Carol Bareuther has written for ALL AT SEA since 2004.
