59º North Skipper School | Annapolis

Learn what it takes to be a skipper in the highest-stakes environment offshore. This unique workshop was born when we started working on the Staff Training outline for both 59º North Skippers & Mates and the WOODWIND sailing staff. When we started looking at what was the most important knowledge we wanted to impart to incoming staff, it occurred to us that this applies to anyone wanting to skipper their own boat on the high seas. So we've adapted our in-house Staff Training to this new limited-attendance in-person workshop. 

59º North is unique in that our educational workshops are drawn from real-world scenarios the 25,000-miles+ our boats sail each year. We've got real skin-in-the-game out there living and breathing this stuff and are teaching from a professional standpoint - your average cruiser giving a talk at a boat show is speaking from trial-and-error experience. We're teaching based on professional knowledge we've learned through our training, and that we've earned on the high seas through our passages. 

Note that this workshop will take place on the two days immediately following Sailboat Show in Annapolis, so it's a great way to end your staff if you're coming to town for the show!

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This Workshop is for You!

If you're a boat owner or an aspiring boat owner, or an aspiring professional skipper, this workshop is for you. We've said for a long time that 59º North is not a sailing school, and this isn't either - previous workshop attendees have said it best. They go to their local sailing school to get the certificates & "tick the box"; they come to 59º North to truly learn. While we won't be covering celestial nav (that's a different workshop!), the rest of this workshop covers everything else you'd need to know for the Yachtmaster Oceans exam.

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Topics We'll Cover

There will be some high-level learning in this workshop that will imply a lot of pre-requisite knowledge and understanding. But don't worry, we'll offer a quick refresher on everything from the concept of latitude and paper chart plotting to basic weather to get everyone on the same page. Specifically we'll cover:

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Practical Weather Forecasting & Routing

This is THE most important aspect of successful ocean sailing, and probably the least understood from a practical standpoint. We'll spend the most amount of time of the entire two-days on this topic, and discuss weather from big-picture global weather patterns right on down to finding a good weather window for your specific chunk of ocean. We'll talk about how we plan the larger passage calendar at 59º North and what stringing together multiple passage legs into 'safe' seasons entails. We'll discuss in great detail how to interpret GRIBs and then use that information to develop strategies once you're at sea, using real-world examples from our over 170,000-miles of offshore passages we've completed.

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Passage Planning

We'll look at other aspects of passing planning beyond weather. Watch rotations, provisioning best practices, maintenance routines, prioritizing refit lists and more. We'll teach you how to make and use checklists & what systems we use to manage the boats and the people.

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Leadership

Managing stress, fear and anxiety before & during a passage as the person in charge. How to make decisions based on our "anticipate & adapt" philosophy of seam'nship. Managing the expectations of yourself and the crew. Most importantly, we'll teach you how to brief and debrief all aspects of an ocean passage with your crew.

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Seam'nship Scenarios

Lessons learned from real-life "when-the-shit-hits-the-fan" moments that we've encountered offshore. What we did in the moment, what went right and wrong, and what we'd do differently next time. Big focus on safety at sea and systems to prevent injuries, MOBs and breakages, then what to do if something does happen anyway.

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Provisional Schedule

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Sunday, Oct. 18

Last day of Sailboat Show! We'll have an optional meetup inside the boat show (your participation in the workshop includes a ticket into the show) on the day before the workshop starts to get to know everyone. This will either be at the 59º North booth or at the WOODWIND. Time and exact location TBD.

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Monday, Oct. 19

First full workshop day, 0830-1700. We'll break for lunch for an hour around 12noon, but otherwise we'll be learning all-day.

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Tuesday, Oct. 20

Second full-day workshop. 0830-1700. Followed by a cookout at J/World in the lawn with the fire pit! If it's lousy weather, we'll stay in the J/World lounge and order food in. Hangout until about 2000.

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What's Included

You'll only need to bring yourself plus a notebook and writing materials if you want to take notes. Here's what you'll get from us:

• Extended 1-year free trial on The Quarterdeck, where we'll discuss a lot of things in the lead-up to and after the workshop, and which offers tons of resources online.
• Ticket to the boat show, valid on any single day.
• Access to all of our customizable checklists and resources we use on our boats.
• Food & drink at the optional Sunday meetup & the Tuesday cookout (including beer, wine & soft drinks).
• Sample printed copy plus digital template of our Ship's Manuals for FALKEN & ISBJORN to inspire you to make your own!