Do you want to learn how to drive a boat? With the price of gas these days, if you want to learn about boating, why not learn on a sailboat? Sailors are power boaters too, who spend less at the gas pump. In fact, there are a lot of sailboats in Hawaii but too many of them motor around with their sails down because their owners don’t know how to sail. Try it! Sailing is more than just an expensive way to slowly go nowhere, it’s a way to do that in tune with nature and in style.
There are a few ways you can learn to sail in Hawaii. The easiest and cheapest way might be just to join the crew of a boat and learn from your friends. But not everyone has a friend with a boat though so formal instruction could be a great idea. If you are going to pay for formal sailing instruction it should follow a formal program and ideally lead to a recognized certificate. While Hawaii has limited boat rental opportunities, training certificates from recognized programs are accepted at boat rental and charter companies around the world and when the charter company sees that you learned to sail in Hawaii, they’ll definitely be impressed.
A few of the major sailing educational programs have authorized schools and certified instructors in Hawaii. Sail Hawaii, based on O’ahu is the place to take American Sailing Association (ASA) courses from beginner to advanced level certifications. The head instructor is an ASA Instructor Evaluator and can certify up to ASA 107 Celestial Navigation and Instructor level courses. Another great option is to learn all of the theory online from NauticEd. Their complete system of online learning combined with sailing skills practice and assessment with a NauticEd affiliated school leads to the internationally accepted Sailing License and Credential (SLC).