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J World = Joke World
In February 2007, I purchased a 5-day "Live-aboard Coastal and Offshore Cruising Instruction" sailing class at the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, location of J World Sailing School, 1070 Marina Village Parkway, Suite 203, Alameda, CA 94501 (1-800-910-1101; www.sailing-jworld.com. Total cost for this class was $2294.25, not including travel to Mexico.
The class was a disaster, with poor planning, poor instruction, and poor sailboat maintenance leading to a broken transmission and an instructor with a head injury on the third day, necessitating a middle-of-the-night passage back to the harbor by motor. Fortunately, the injury was not life threatening, but easily could have been. Before the injury, when returning to the boat at its exposed mooring, the instructor requested that the students make a dangerous shore entry through high surf in a tiny dinghy, which they refused. We did make a safe and successful entry from a nearby dock. Later, in the middle of the night, an adjoining boat was bashing into ours in the high and rolling seas; the instructor requested that a student enter the water in dangerous sea conditions to examine the propeller, because she feared going in at night. The student refused. She then went in, and was subsequently hit on the head by the boat's hull in the rolling seas. The class was subsequently canceled. I was offered a three-day "make-up" class through J World's facility in Alameda, "space available." Because I was specifically looking for tropical Mexico sailing instruction and experience, and because I want no more of J World's type and quality of instruction, this was unacceptable.
The J-World website lists at least nine topics that the course was advertised to cover "in great detail." On our "5-day Liveaboard Course" we sailed the cruising boat for perhaps 9 hours. None of the topics mentioned in the attached course description ("Advanced sail trim, Advanced electronic navigation... Seamanship skills") was covered "in great detail," as promised. In reality, most of the topics were not covered at all.
The US Sailing Association is the organization that publishes standards for sailing schools and certifies their classes and instructors. The US Sailing Association's "Safety Recommendations for Cruising Sailboats" that deals with the use of personal flotation devices (PFDs) include: "Individuals should be encouraged to wear adequate personal flotation..." Our instructor routinely violated those recommendations, and admitted that in Mexico she becomes very lax about safety and rarely wears or requires students to wear a PFD.
The Student Certification Standards put out by the US Sailing Association lists the various skills and knowledge that a student should possess (i.e., be taught in a class) to earn the appropriate certification. I did pass a written test after the class, but few of the skills and little of the knowledge were practiced, imparted, or discussed during our class, and the certification I was given is a sham. I passed the test largely because I took a similar class at the San Carlos Sailing School, Guaymas, Mexico, in December 2006.
I contacted J World and explained the reasons for my dissatisfaction. I received no response from them. I telephoned J World and was told that they received and read my letter, but no refund of the cost of the course was possible.
J World touts itself as "The best sailing school in America." I have taken sailing classes from two other schools in the Bay Area (Olympic Circle Sailing School in Berkeley and Club Nautique in Sausalito), and one in Mexico (the San Carlos Sailing School), and what I experienced at J World was distinctly second rate. The organization, planning, and attention to safety exhibited by J World were very poor. Their expansion into Mexico is recent (I think this was their second year) and perhaps they are still learning how to operate a 5-day offshore course there. Whatever the reason, I did not get what I paid for, and requested my money back. They staunchly refused, but did not contest a charge of less than $700 that my credit card company did not pay.
“J World” must stand for “Joke World.” Don’t fall for their self promotion. You can do better.
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