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Costs,  curriculum, benefits, schedules

        Camano Sail and Power is a US SAILING-certified sailing school and as such uses the national standards established for basic keelboat certification in all of our instruction.  The Basic Keelboat (BK) Skipper certification program uses the popular J-24 sloop and requires 24 hours of combined classroom and on-the-water training in order to teach a sailor the fundamental, basic skills neccesary to skipper a  tiller-steered keelboat, possibly with auxiliary outboard power, of up to approximately 26-feet in length** during daylight hours in local waters in winds generally not exceeding 15 knots.  In the Saratoga Passage area where we teach, 15 knots of wind is a whitecap condition.  All of the skills that are taught, tested and required for certification can be seen by clicking this link.  
        The BK course includes the text, all of the test materials, and a one-year membership in US SAILING which in itself has substantial benefits. And, of course, on successful completion of the course, a nationally-recognized certificate of achievment is issued.   In addition, Camano Sail and Power offers its graduates a 50% reduction in all skippered-keelboat charter fees for the first year and a 25% savings in all subsequent years, provided that the BK skipper has sailed on one of our boats at least once in any previous year.
        Our guarantee to you.  Camano Sail guarantees that you will learn to sail with our instruction.  If you do not pass all of the requirements in the basic course,  Camano Sail will provide up to ten additional hours of instruction at no cost in order that the Student can achieve the completion requirements, provided that the Student was present at all of the normal instructional periods and accomplishing the normal homework in an acceptable fashion.  Instruction beyond the initial ten hours will be at the rate of  $40/hour. 

        The costs of the Basic Keelboat Skipper course are as follows.
24 hours of instruction and, if needed to certify, an additional ten hours of instruction:                 $660.00
Additional members of the same family, to a maximum total in the class of four students, each:     500.00
BK students who previously passed the Camano Sail and Power Small Sailboat full course or Challenge course, and who have sailed at our facility within the past year:                                        class fees discounted 10%

        The costs of the Basic Keelboat Crew course are one-half of the above fees.  If there is a mix of skipper candidates and crew candidates in the same cohesive group (e.g. a family) the crew candidates will be expected to attend the entire 24 hours of the Skipper class, but will only pay for, and be certified at, the Crew level.  Why, you ask?  Because we are pretty certain that you will be sailing together in the future.
        If a group of sailors are only interested in being certified as Crew, then the class length will be 12 hours at one-half of the cost of the Skipper course.                                                                                       $ 330.00
        Additional members of the same family seeking crew certification at the same time (max 4)       275.00
        If a Crew-certified sailor wishes to pursue their Skipper certification at a later date, we will provide the additional 12 hours of training  for the additional one-half of the normal Skipper certification fee.

        Basic Keelboat Challenge class  If you have previously sailed and feel that you have all of the skills necessary to qualify as a US SAILING Basic Keelboat Skipper, Camano Sail and Power has a challenge procedure that is designed for you.  Click the link to learn more about this.  It is $200 and requires about a half-day to complete, including the written examination.  When you certify, you are eligible for the same benefits as the other BK skippers or crew who certify at Camano Sail and Power.
All of our BK classes are custom scheduled to fit our client's diverse schedules.  No class will have more than four students per boat to allow for adequate individiual attention and "tiller time."

     The "TOOFER" special   As is described in detail on the small boat philosophy page,  we have found that the best big boat skippers are the ones who learned in a small sailboat first.  For sailors who agree with this philosophy, we have a special package designed to encourage and reward this approach.  

      After you  certify in our small boat course, either through taking the entire course or by doing the Challenge, we offer the following "toofer" (two for the price of one) package.  Sign up for the Basic Keelboat course and pay only $400 (normally $640 for the KB alone)  for approximately 12-18 additional hours learning to sail our J-24.  The total cost for both is the same as the basic keelboat by itself.  We can do this because by the time you complete the small boat course, you know how to sail, you "speak the language" and you know the names of almost everything.  Big boats are just dinghys that have eaten their veggies and grown up to be bigger.  Not more difficult, just bigger, more expensive and requiring a bit more care and feeding.  So, we do not have to teach you most of the "how to sail" skills, just the skills that are specific to big boats.
      To take advantage of the "toofer" you must sign up for the keelboat course no longer than three (3) months after being certified in the small boat course