Before you can entertain the idea of chartering a bareboat yacht from anyone to enjoy a quiet vacation on the water, you need to know how to sail a yacht properly. Most companies that charter yachts are brokers for private owners who rent their yachts out during the months that they are not using them as a way to pay for them or as a business in itself, which can be quite profitable. In order to be sure that those who wish to sail alone know what they are doing the charter companies require proof that you have attended a licensed school or taken an approved course like the ASA sailing course. There are of course many ways to get the training and the knowledge that you need to be able to handle a sailing yacht, you can attends schools that offer an ASA sailing course and then follow up with plenty of practice in a sailing club. Or you can buy yourself a sailing yacht and have someone come on board to teach you how to sail it.

The most important part is that you learn to sail properly and can prove it to the charter company or they will not let you take a yacht out without at least an experienced captain on board. By taking an ASA sailing course you gain all of the skills necessary to captain your own yacht or a rental as safely as possible. The courses are progressive allowing you to learn as little or as much as you want to depending on your needs and desires. The ASA program offer two separate progressive sailing certification programs, there is a seven step Keelboat Sailing Certification Program and a two stage Small Boat Sailing Program. On the other hand if you think you already posses the skills necessary you can challenge any of these steps to bypass the training and receive the certificate instead. While most people are satisfied to use the ASA sailing course to simply learn how to safely sail and navigate a yacht there are further endorsements available to help you learn how to captain even the largest luxury yachts both engine and sail powered.

Once you receive your basic standards levels there are courses that can teach you everything you need to know to skipper or crew a boat in the 30 to 50 range as used by the charter companies. You can then captain a boat when there are paying passengers aboard, which can make for a great career if you are ready for a change of pace. Once you have the training and experience offered by an ASA sailing course, you should be more than ready for that bareboat cruise you have been waiting to take. Now all you need is a yacht to take sailing into the waters around the Bahamas. If you go to 360 Yachting you will find a company that has many different sizes of yacht at your disposal. Before long you will be skippering your family into some of the most beautiful waters in the Caribbean for a well earned vacation in the sun.