SAN DIEGO SAILING FIELD GUIDE
Four Days Afloat: Advanced Coastal Cruising — San Diego to Catalina as a Liveaboard Classroom
An intensive four-day liveaboard course that refines skippering and navigation skills through on-the-water instruction and practical exams.
Four Days Afloat: Advanced Coastal Cruising — San Diego to Catalina as a Liveaboard Classroom.
This advanced coastal cruising course is built around four days of concentrated, on-water instruction conducted from a 39′ (or larger) yacht. Students live aboard, share meals they help provision, and spend nearly all class time practicing seamanship, skippering, and navigation under the guidance of a single instructor.
Highlights
Outing Highlights
Near-Continuous On‑Water Instruction
About 95% of class time takes place on the water across the four-day program, so the classroom is the helm and the horizon—every maneuver, nav fix, and watch turnover is taught in real conditions.
Focused Skippering and Navigation
The course is designed to refine the practical skills of experienced sailors, concentrating on advanced skippering and navigation techniques through hands-on drills and real‑time decision making at sea.
Small Liveaboard Cohort
Instruction is delivered in a small-team format aboard yachts 39′ or larger, with three to five students and one instructor—an arrangement that blends individual coaching with shared provisioning and shipboard life.
What the day feels like
What Four Days at Sea Feels Like
Expect a compact, practical itinerary: students meet at Harbor Island, embark a yacht and, by noon on day one, set sail for Catalina and the next anchorage. Over the course of four days and overnight stays aboard a 39′ (or larger) vessel, nearly all instruction happens underway, punctuated by shared meals the students help provision and practical assessments run both during the voyage and after return to San Diego.
Suitability
Who it's for
Who this course suits — and who should look elsewhere.
Practical planner
Details to review before reserving
The course spans four days with overnight stays aboard a 39′ (or larger) yacht; most instruction is conducted on the water.
Participants are required to complete reading and homework from the Annapolis Book of Seamanship prior to the course as preparation for the written exam.
Before departure the instructor assigns provisioning responsibilities for all meals to the students, who then provide food for the liveaboard period.
Review cancellation policies before reserving.
Frequently asked questions
Planning Your Outing
Where do we meet to start the course?
Students meet at Harbor Island to embark the course yacht.
How long is the course?
The Advanced Coastal Cruising course spans four days with overnight stays aboard a 39′ or larger yacht.
How much time is spent on the water?
Approximately 95% of class time is spent on the water.
What preparatory work is required?
Participants are required to complete reading and homework from the Annapolis Book of Seamanship before the course as preparation for the written exam.
Who provisions the meals?
Before departure, the instructor delegates provisioning responsibilities for all meals to the students.
What is the student-to-instructor ratio?
Classes run with three to five students and one instructor aboard the yacht.
When are practical exams conducted?
Practical exams are conducted during the sailing expedition and again upon return to San Diego.
When does the course sail for Catalina?
On the first day, by noon, the group sails for Catalina, CA and proceeds to the next anchorage.
What size boat is used for instruction?
Instruction takes place aboard yachts that are 39′ or larger.