In this article, we look at a very important aspect of the American Sailing Association’s infrastructure: The Sailing Standards.

What is a standard?

‘Standard’ is defined as something considered by an authority or general consent as a basis of comparison; an approved model; a level of quality or achievement that is considered acceptable or desirable.

From the time of the founding of ASA in 1983, our sailing education Standards have been at the foundation of our success. The Standards provide a framework upon which essentially everything is built, including culture, textbooks, written exams, practical skills checklists, and the ASA Logbook. The Standards are used by schools and instructors to create education materials such as course curricula or lesson plans, as well as to assess the competency of students and certification candidates. Students can use the Standards to understand expectations prior to attending a sailing course, and also to measure their own level of proficiency and achievement.

What does a well-designed sailing education standard look like?

A standard is one document, or one set of requirements for a particular competency level. Each ASA Certification level (101, 103, 104, etc.) is associated with a single ASA Standard. At the beginning of each Standard are Prerequisites – items that must be completed beforehand – and a Description statement, which is a summary of the desired ‘outcome’ of proficiencies including, if applicable, approximate boat sizes and wind conditions.

The specific ‘requirements’ for what must be demonstrated by the student (or certification candidate) are called standard Elements. Each element within the Standard has a unique number for convenient reference.

The grammatical construction of a standard element is important. Each element begins with an action verb (e.g., ‘describe,’ ‘list,’ demonstrate,’ ‘hoist,’ etc.) and is written as a statement of outcome, describing a competency of either knowledge or skills. When written properly, the element will complete the stem phrase: “The student (or candidate, or operator) will be able to…”

Using outcome-based language allows the widest possible application of the Standard, toward a goal of environment and platform independence. Thus, the Standard does not include course-specific information such as location (classroom or boat) or minimum duration (number of hours or days). Those decisions are to be made by the course provider (schools and instructors). As long as the student satisfies all elements in the Standard, it does not matter where it happens or how long it takes.

To illustrate this, imagine you are talking with someone about sailing. As an experienced instructor, you are probably able to assess with reasonable accuracy how knowledgeable that person is about sailing, just by having a conversation. The more familiar you are with the knowledge section of a particular Standard, the better you are able to assess that person’s knowledge competencies. The ‘official’ knowledge assessment would be performed through the written examination associated with a particular Standard.

Likewise in the skills area, your observations of student behaviors during an on-water practical exam are reinforced through the elements in the skills section of a Standard. The skills elements describe an outcome that you should be able to readily observe and evaluate.

What is the brief history and status of ASA’s Standards?

The ASA Standards were originally based, with permission, on the Canadian Yachting Association (CYA) Standards. For a long time, the ASA Standards remained unchanged, serving us very well over the years. As the overall boating industry evolved in the new millennium, it was determined that the existing standards should be reviewed for potential enhancements. This was also driven in part by the need for updated education materials, such as new textbooks and revised written exams. In 2007-2008, two initiatives got underway, as a follow-on to discussions at several regional ASA meetings led by Charlie Nobles. One initiative was the idea for a new type of certification called Endorsements, which augment the regular sailing standards. Another was the formulation of the ASA Standards Committee, whose purpose initially was to find ways to improve the quality of ASA’s offerings across the board.

As the Standards Committee progressed over the course of a year or so, it was determined that ASA 101 should be reviewed for possible revision. A project team was formulated and began deliberating on the qualities of the existing ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing Standard and how it could be enhanced. A draft was created and subsequently reviewed by the Standards Committee. Eventually the ASA 101 Standard was refreshed and released in conjunction with the writing of a new textbook, Sailing Made Easy. In the years following, the ASA 103 and ASA 104 Standards were reviewed and enhanced, again in conjunction with new textbooks, Coastal Cruising Made Easy, and Bareboat Cruising Made Easy.

The most recent Standards to be refreshed are ASA 110 Basic Small Boat Sailing (to include multihulls) and ASA 114 Cruising Catamaran, with new textbooks being written to complement each. This should help position ASA sailing schools very well for these two fast-growing market segments.

The next publication of the ASA Logbook will also include some minor adjustments to the language and structure of all the Standards, to increase the level of consistency between them. The goal is for the Standards to be of the highest possible quality, thereby setting the tone for all we do as sailing education professionals.

All affiliates and instructors are encouraged to review the Standards, either on the asa.com website or in the newly published ASA Logbook. We ask you to think about how the Standards serve us so well as the foundation of our success, and how they can help you achieve your highest level of quality in all that you do for the advancement of safe and enjoyable sailing.

by Jeff Riecks, ASA Standards Coordinator