Ocean Sailing Academy |
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| Reviewers Male / Female | Recommend Yes / No | Number of Reviews | Classes & Instruction | School Facilities | Boats & Courses | Cost | Total Average Rating |
| 10 / 3 | 13 / 0 | 13 | 9.85 | 9.70 | 9.46 | 8.47 | 9.37 |
| Date Submitted: | September 1, 2010 |
| Sailing School: | Ocean Sailing Academy |
| Location: | SC - Charleston, United States |
| Classes & Instruction: | 10 out of 10 |
| School Facilities: | 10 out of 10 |
| Boats & Courses: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 10 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | US Sailing Coastal Nav Review This is simply a great sailing school! This is the 3rd course I've taken from the US Sailing series with OSA, and so I've had the pleasure of learning from several of their instructors, each of which was extremely knowledgeable and experienced in all aspects of blue-water sailing. All of them had deep professional and personal sailing experience, and easily shared their experience, which is the kind of training supplement that you just don't get anywhere else but from modern, seasoned sailors. They were all fun to be with as well, which made the overall learning experience as fun as any other vacation I've taken. As I was driving down to Charleston to take this course, the Registrar called me and told me that the other student signed up had to back out at the last minute, and asked if I could possibly schedule their next session instead. I could not back out of my current arrangements, and so OSA proceeded with the class, even though it was probably not profitable for them to teach me 1 on 1 for the class price. I am grateful to the school for allowing me to take the course as planned, and I wanted to share this as example of how fair and customer-oriented OSA is in it's business affairs. These days it is refreshing to see s small business still willing to go to this length to retain and satisfy student customers! On the 4th day of the course, I was pleased that my instructor accepted the sail plan I developed the night before, taking us through a gap in the Jetty called Dynamite Hole, using the skills I had just learned in the lecture portion. We had a narrow zone between danger bearings coming south out of Dynamite Hole, and after steering the course for about 25 min. I took 3 visual fixes and plotted our position dead-on the course line we were steering. One of the greatest new abilities I've taken away from this course is the ability to sail knowing exactly where good water is around me at all times, based on my new charting, plotting, planning skills. That evening, around dusk, we were approached by a large, dark line of thunder clouds (that's cumulus nimbus tu us) while entering the inlet to North Edisto R. My instinct was to reef the main and be ready to reduce the genoa as needed. My instructor's instinct was to start the engine and furl sails completey. And when the squall hit us, the rain was thick and horizontal, blowing right into our eyes as we strained to see markers which would guide us into the inlet safely. Our mast head read wind gusts of 30 kts! Lightning struck all around our area, with one or two strikes surprising us with no warning between flash and boom! And when it passed 25 min. later, leaving behind calm, foggy water in the waning light, I realized that it may have been unmanageable for 2 people to navigate, steer and line-handle; and I saw the wisdom in my instructor's call: eliminate line-handling so we can focus on steering and seeing while entering a channel in horizontal rain. I could not have asked for more than this from a sailing course! A "training" squall! How cool! I'll definitely be back here in the following summers to learn and qualify for US Sailing's Passage-Making courses. Thanks again to OSA Instructors Sterling, Mallery, Scott and Frank for the fine instruction and friendship you have given me. Thanks to you I sail today with much greater confidence and range; and each hour I've spent with you has brought my retirement dream of sailing cruiser ownership and blue-water sailing closer to reality. Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | KurtF 46 year-old :: Male Reviewer :: Oxford, NC |
| Date Submitted: | July 1, 2010 |
| Sailing School: | Ocean Sailing Academy |
| Location: | SC - Charleston, United States |
| Classes & Instruction: | 10 out of 10 |
| School Facilities: | 10 out of 10 |
| Boats & Courses: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 8 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | Six days learning to sail Let me take a minute out of my too busy life to tell you about my experience at your school. We learned a great deal without question and enjoyed ourselves in the most meaningful way, learning something valuable. Our instructor in basic keelboat I provided the kind of hard core training that got us fully trained very quickly on all aspects of the fundamentals of sailing. While he was very serious , thorough and effective he was also very nice and even took us on his own boat in a race Wednesday night which we enjoyed immensely. I think our instructor in basic keelboat II will attest to the fact that we were well trained when we began this second course (we took the two courses consecutively over a 6 day period). Our keelboat II instructor was simply a gem. He was so natural at sailing and teaching that it was as if he has sailed from birth. He was so intuitively connected with all aspects of sailing. I have taught medicine in Med School for more than 40 years and know something about teaching and the challenges it presents and I have never known a person more able or attuned to the teaching of his subject than this young gentleman Both my son (19) and I (67) loved working with him and learning from him. My son has fallen in love with sailing and your instructors had a lot to do with it. I had sailed as a child and only came back to it after more than 40 years but your instructors showed me the FUN of sailing while teaching me the fine points that made everything I had learned much more doable. For example, because of my age, old sports injuries and second degree burns on my knees (sun burned to the extreme on our first day in spite of SPF 50 sun screen) it was extremely difficult and painful for me to get from one side of the boat to the other fast and efficiently enough to tack or especially jib a boat. My instructor in keelboat II watched my suffering for just a few minutes before showing me how I could bring each tack or jib to the midpoint, then get up slowly, keep looking forward and get to the other side reasonably comfortably. This made a big difference for me and made what was real physical difficulty into good fun. All in all it was a wonderful experience and both my son and I enjoyed immersing ourselves completely in sailing by living on board the Sugaree and sailing all week. It was a terribly hot week and presented a lot of challenging situations but was true fun. I hope to return for a cruising class when it is cooler, maybe this fall and also do the bareboat class after that. Our family works too hard. I have grown children who are busy professionals and my youngest son is a college student with a difficult work load. My goal is to be able to get everybody together, do a bareboat rental somewhere exotic and all sail together removed from our hectic lives. This is a dream that your school can help me accomplish. Thank you for offering this opportunity and I would not only recommend but encourage anyone interested in learning to sail to seek out your remarkable school and try to learn there. Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Tom Wagner 67 year-old :: Male Reviewer :: Greenville, SC |
| Date Submitted: | May 26, 2010 |
| Sailing School: | Ocean Sailing Academy |
| Location: | SC - Charleston, United States |
| Classes & Instruction: | 10 out of 10 |
| School Facilities: | 10 out of 10 |
| Boats & Courses: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 9 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | Old Salt Sails Again My 85 year old father recieved as a surprise birthday present a 1/2 day sail on OSA's "Moon Shot". He has Alzheimers and veritgo, and we didnt know how he would fare. In the company of family and our great skipper Jay, we all had a fabulous sail, and Dad had tears. Every minute, and communication, with OSA has been top quality, and we were able to organize this from Tulsa, Ok.! We want to sail again, of course! Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Nancy Brian 54 year-old :: Female Reviewer :: Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Date Submitted: | March 22, 2010 |
| Sailing School: | Ocean Sailing Academy |
| Location: | SC - Charleston, United States |
| Classes & Instruction: | 10 out of 10 |
| School Facilities: | 10 out of 10 |
| Boats & Courses: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 8 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | Ocean Sailing Academy - Charleston BKB 1 & 2 I can't say enough good things about the quality of OSA. I think their instructors (I had two between basic keelboat 1 and 2) are top-notch. I also have a small boat certification with ASA and regularly sail an 18 ft dinghy, so I have some basis for comparison. We had absolutely perfect weather for the experience I was looking for- windy (15-25 mph winds) and a bit of cool rain- both of which tested the Colgate 26's ability to respond to all manner of sail controls, and produced very noticeable effects in the way the boat handled. I don't think in lighter air that would have been as obvious. Those boats have to be some of the most nimble, yet very safe- almost impossible to tip over and capsize (unlike my current boat). If time allows, they are able to adjust the course material for students who may need a little more advanced instruction beyond the basics. In our small (3 students) class we had sufficient on-water time to easily exhaust all of the required material and actually got to the point where "we'd had enough sailing" for a while. Short of embarking on an overnight passage beyond Charleston Harbor and delving into navigation and charting, I can't imagine getting much more than what was presented to us. It was a great experience and I look forward to taking some of their more advanced courses. Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Ray 49 year-old :: Male Reviewer :: Charleson, SC |
| Date Submitted: | October 19, 2009 |
| Sailing School: | Ocean Sailing Academy |
| Location: | SC - Charleston, United States |
| Classes & Instruction: | 10 out of 10 |
| School Facilities: | 9 out of 10 |
| Boats & Courses: | 10 out of 10 |
| Cost: | 8 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | Yes |
| Review: | Great instructors I have sailed a few times a year for 20 years, never enough to feel confident handling a boat. That has all changed after taking the basic keelboat classes with their experienced sailing instructors. They really live up to their motto of "Sail Calm, Sail Confident, Sail for Fun". Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Scott 41 year-old :: Male Reviewer :: SC |
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