There are absolutely no education requirements to join SUS.  You do not have to know how to sail.  It is not necessary to ever have been on a sailboat, or any other boat.  But having a smile always helps.

However, in order to promote well being, comfort and, especially, safety for you and your shipmates, we do require that you take some education within the first twelve months of your joining.

In summary, you will be required to take:

1) a one-hour member orientation, held several times during the year immediately before a Thursday night social meeting;

2) approximately four hours of a Mariners Workshop, an introduction to sail-boating and safety, held on a dock alongside a member’s sailboat (and is often followed by an afternoon sail);

3) eight hours of an approved boating course usually given by the US Coast Guard or The Sail and Power squadron, usually given on a Saturday and, by passing the end-of-day test, you can obtain a state safe boating certificate (which, depending on your residency and other criteria, may be required by a state to operate a boat but the certificate is not required by SUS).

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