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Afloat Curriculum
Five days, liveaboard, Eastern Lake Ontario
Order subject to change. While all of this content will be covered during your course, the sequence of activities on any given day may shift based on location, weather, and conditions. Sailing is dynamic — your instructor will adapt the plan to make the most of what the lake gives us.
This is your afloat curriculum. Use your Intermediate Cruising Notes to fill in your knowledge gaps before the course. The more theory you bring aboard, the more you'll get out of the on-water time.
Pre
Before You Arrive
Pre-Course Zoom Session
A single online session takes place two weeks before your course start date. This keeps the time afloat focused entirely on sailing, not logistics.
Two weeks before course start
Preliminaries & Meal Planning
- Introductions and crew meet
- Course overview and daily expectations
- Gear for all weather conditions
- Documents and border crossing considerations
- Meal planning and provisioning
- Vessel overview — layout, fuel and water capacities
- Sea sickness planning and alcohol policy
- Assigned reading from Intermediate Cruising Notes
Five Days Afloat
Days 1–4: arrive by 0800, depart by 0900, at anchor by 1600–1700. Day 5: written exam, then return passage to Picton.
01
Day One
Vessel Orientation & First Sail
Safety Systems Sail handling Anchoring
- Safety briefing and orientation — stowage, tools, first-aid, spares
- Below deck inspection — through hulls, seacocks, plumbing, water tanks
- Above deck inspection — rigging, windlass, electronics, helm controls
- Sail handling systems — sheets, halyards, clutches, winch handles
- Marine diesel engine — battery bank, cooling system, fuel system
- Weather, voyage plan and sailing plan — COLREGS 1–5
- Getting underway, manoeuvring under power
- Sailing practice — circles, points of sail, sail trim, telltales
- Anchoring — depth, scope, tidal range, set and hold
- Galley orientation — stove, valves, safety procedures
02
Day Two
Navigation & Crew Overboard
Charts Dead reckoning COB Reefing
- Nautical chart overview
- 2 and 3 bearing fix — plot on chart
- Dead reckoning — plot a course and DR
- GPS fix underway — plot DR and create ETA for arrival
- Weigh anchor — crew assignments and process
- Sailing — tacking and gybing practice, COLREGS 7 & 8
- Heave-to for lunch
- COB: triangle method — practice and debrief
- Sailing — hold compass course, reefing under sail
- Take a mooring — helm process, retrieval, redundancy, COLREG 19
- Evening activity: Knots
03
Day Three
Pilotage & Harbour Entry
TVMDC VHF radio Close-hauled Docking
- TVMDC — voyage plan with variation and deviation corrections, build ETA
- VHF radio calls — Securité, Pan Pan, Mayday practice
- Depth and chart datum exercise
- Dinghy handling — outboard, submersion protocol
- Sailing — close-hauled, foresail cars, mainsail traveller
- Emergency action review while underway
- COB: heave-to and falling leaf — practice and lunch hove-to
- Sailing continuation — rotation, holding course, commands
- Weather discussion — local heating and cooling, fog, wind against current
- Harbour entry and docking — COLREGS 9 & 10
- Evening activity: COLREGS flashcard game
04
Day Four
Docking & Boat Handling
Rafting Spring lines Stern-to Free sail
- Rafting procedures and hazards — simulated raft-up at dock
- Preparing a vessel for extended leave — procedures and precautions
- Spring-line departures — spring the vessel off and on to a dock
- Stern-to docking — discussion and practice
- Standing turn exercises
- Free sail — candidates take vessel to next anchorage, self-led
- Evening: COLREGS 40 & 45, courtesies, customs and obligations
- Evening: candidates independently prepare and brief their Day 5 return passage plan to Picton
05
Day Five
Written Exam & Return Passage
Written exam Return passage Certification
- Written theory examination — Sail Canada Intermediate standard
- Return passage brief — candidates present their prepared plan to the instructor
- Depart for Picton — candidates navigate independently using their plan
- Instructor is observer only — aboard as safety crew, no instruction given
- All Sail Canada performance objectives assessed throughout the passage
- Dock and secure the vessel at Picton
- Individual debrief and evaluation discussion
- Certification issued on successful completion
The exam starts the morning — the passage ends it. No new instruction on Day 5. The instructor is aboard as safety crew only.
Questions about the curriculum? Bring them to your pre-course Zoom session or reach out to evan@happysailing.ca.