I live in New England and am due to visit the Dalmatian coast this
spring. I have been instructed to get an international certificate of
competency or some such thing in coastal sailing and motoring. However,
I was told to do this by someone in the UK, so they can't advise me on
what I should look for here. I've tried my luck with Google but the
results seem bewildering; from correspondence courses to hands-on
lessons. I can't find anything local. Does anyone have an idea what I
should be looking for?

I've been teaching sailing and USCG license prep classes for a while now,
and as far as I know, there aren't any "international certifications" per se
here in the US (of course, now that I've written that, someone will probably
jump in and correct me ;-) ).

The only certifications I know of that come close are the courses offered by
the American Sailing Association (and perhaps US Sailing, I don't know their
program very well) which -may- be accepted at -some- charter companies
overseas. Here's a link to their site:

http://www.american-sailing.com/index.php

Also, the last time I checked there was a school in Florida that was
offering a series of courses that were modeled after the "Yachtmaster"
certification program in the UK. I don't know if their certificate is
accepted overseas, but you might want to talk to them as well. I did a
quick Google and found them he

http://www.yachtmaster.com/

If I were in your position, I'd contact a charter company in the area you
plan on visiting and ask them what sort of certificate they will require of
you.

No matter what certificate you have, Chances are likely that they'll still
require you to take at least a "check out" sail with one of their people
aboard to make sure you're comfortable with the boat before they let you
take it on your own.

If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

--
Paul

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