Click here to download the Sailing Participation Agreement
Keel Boat or cruising catamaran Sailing Lessons
Boat Handling Skills and Safety Drills
Coastal Piloting & Charting – Instruction in Navigation
Navigation Rules of the Road – Memorization Made Easy
Boat Deliveries
Scout Badge Activities
Educational Cruising
Group Team Building Activities
Women Only Cruises
Sunset Cruises
Coastal Sailing Experience
Fees: Multi-day Cruising
Lessons
Boat Delivery
Day Trips
What to wear & bring along
Note
Keel Boat or cruising catamaran Sailing Lessons
Learn to sail a cruising sailboat. Instruction will take place on board the boat and newly acquired skills will be put to practice on the water.
Boat Handling Skills and Safety Drills
Practice docking, maneuvering in tight quarters, line handling, anchoring, overboard recovery drills, picking up a mooring, and reefing. Rehearse using safety and rescue equipment including PFDs, tethers and harnesses, jacklines, ring buoys and heaving lines, and emergency signaling equipment. Learn to use a VHF radio, personal locator beacon, and EPIRB to summon help.
Coastal Piloting & Charting – Instruction in Navigation
Do you depend on modern navigational technology like GPS and computer navigation systems to find your way on the water? Many of today’s boaters either never learned or have forgotten how to use a paper chart and coastal piloting skills. Learn to plot a position on a paper chart, lay out a course, measure distance, compensate for variation and deviation in order to correct or uncorrect the compass, solve speed, time and distance problems; determine speed or course made good, estimate time of arrival, determine position by bearings, deviation from a range, set and drift, and course to steer for a known set and drift. Know what to do if your electronic navigation systems fail.
Many people who regularly depend on a calculator or computer to solve simple mathematical calculations, cannot perform even simple, let alone complex, arithmetic computations without an electronic aid. Although you may have learned to do so in elementary school, when’s the last time you figured out a square root problem without the aid of a calculator? Similarly, many of today’s boaters only learn to navigate using electronic aids to navigation, and are lost when the systems inevitably fail. Participants will leave this workshop having learned several valuable, and possibly life saving skills.
Workshop participants will learn fundamental skills needed for coastal piloting of a boat. The workshop will include some hands on practice of charting and dead reckoning skills. Basic navigational concepts and navigational tools will be introduced. Participants will gain the confidence needed to perform routine piloting tasks in the event of electronic navigation systems failure.
Navigation Rules of the Road – Memorization Made Easy
If, like most recreational boaters, you find it impossible to memorize the 38 rules of the road and annexes included in 
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security / United States Coast Guard Navigation Rules International – Inland you are not alone. If two sailboats are on a collision course, do you know which one of them has the right of way? No idea if a fishing vessel has the right of way over a vessel restricted in her ability to maneuver? Do you know what signal you must sound if you run aground? Would you recognize the identifying light signal of a submarine running on the surface at night? Participants in this workshop will leave with an understanding and knowledge of the rules of the road that will impress a professional mariner.
Although automobile drivers assume other licensed drivers know the rules of the road and understand the meaning of highway sign and traffic signals, boaters do not have the same reassurance. Most states do not require boaters to be licensed. In many areas of the country, anyone, regardless of age or previous boating experience can rent a boat and take it out onto the crowded waterways. Due to the difficulty in memorizing the myriad of complicated international and inland water boating rules, even many experienced boaters never attempt to learn the rules. Whether the goal is personal knowledge and safety, or whether you are responsible for teaching units in boating safety, you will gain a sense of confidence in your understanding of Navigation Rules.
Boat Deliveries
Need help getting your boat from point A to point B? Feel more comfortable having someone with local knowledge, familiar with the cruising grounds, and more experience aboard as you begin the first leg of your cruising adventure? Please call to determine availability.
Scout Badge Activities
Is your troop working on a badge that involves navigation, water safety or boating skills? We can help you complete many of the required activities.
Educational Cruising
• Sea of Cortez
• Pacific Ocean cruises off Southern California and to the Channel Islands
Educational cruises lasting from 2 to 14 days can be customized to meet your desires and goals. Trips can be ambitious covering lengthy legs of sailing, night crossings and visits to a half dozen islands, or more relaxed with days spent anchored or ashore in more leisurely pursuits. We can anchor in remote, isolated anchorages and explore semi-deserted islands and caves, or moor in crowed harbors near shops and restaurants.
Search for whales as they make their annual migration south to the warm Baja lagoons. Snorkel with a sea lion colony or a school of tropical fish. Make eye contact with a pod of playful dolphins as they swim near the bow of the boat. Explore hidden coves by dinghy. Hike on shore. Spend a day reading, playing games, learning to play the ukulele in a picture perfect cove. Grill just-caught fish for dinner. Watch the perfect sunrise and sunset over the horizon. Stargaze away from city lights. Please call to schedule in advance.
Group Team Building Activities
Come join your colleagues for an afternoon of active ocean sailing. Assist with sail handling, drills and steering. Limited to 6 participants. Call for reservations
Women Only Cruises – Mermaid Adventure
Tired of being First Mate, but you don’t have the experience or confidence to be Captain? Need to spend some quality time with your mother or daughter? Just want to get away with “the girls”? Daysails, weekend cruises, island hopping in the Sea of Cortez, or one to two week long all-women voyages can be arranged. Limited to 6 participants. Beginner sailors welcome.
Sunset Cruises
Sunset cruises depart approximately 2 hours prior to sunset and return with the afterglow within an hour of sunset. You can join in, raise sails, take a turn at the helm, handle lines, or just sit back and enjoy the ocean breezes and watch the sun sink below the horizon.
Coastal Sailing Experience
Have you always wanted to learn to sail, but live a thousand miles away from the ocean? Does your previous sailing experience consist of floating around in a tippy Sunfish on a calm, flatwater lake? Whether a landlubber or experienced sailor, come enjoy a day of sailing with a licensed captain on a cruising sailboat on the Pacific Ocean or in the Sea of Cortez
Learn the basics of ocean sailing: sailboat terminology, boat handling skills, boating safety, docking, and wind awareness. After a brief overview of the boat and a safety orientation, we will set sail. Limit: 6 participants. No previous sailing experience necessary.
Fees:
Multi-day Cruising
Multi-day cruising fees aboard “MermaidQOTS” are $360.00 per person per day, and a minimum of 2 and maximum of 6 paying passengers are required for a trip to fill. Fees include the cost of the trip, the captain, instruction, 1 – 2 meals per day served on board, all dock and mooring fees, landing permits, and fuel costs. Meals and activities ashore, national park or conservancy permits, and fishing licenses are not included in the base price. Unless other arrangements are made, passengers will be sleeping on board the boat. Since the trips are educational in nature, passengers are expected to share duties including steering, sail handling, watch standing, meal preparation and clean-up, and must agree to comply with and sign a participation agreement (PDF format, 21KB). A gear list will be sent upon receipt of your registration. Payment is by cash, check or credit card payable to Aquatic Consulting Services, or by Zelle ® (Alison Osinski 619-602-4435).
Cancellation fees for multi-day cruises:
15% if cancelled more than 30 days before the start of the trip
25% if cancelled more than 21 days, but less than 30 days before the start of the trip
50% if cancelled more than 14 days, but less than 21 days before the start of the trip
75% if cancelled more than 7 days, but less than 14 days before the start of the trip
No refund if cancelled less than 7 days before the start of the trip.
Sailing lessons and boat handling skills / safety drills can be scheduled for a minimum of 2 hours.
Private lessons: $150.00 per person per hour
2 – 6 students $90.00 per person per hour
Plus expenses
Boat Delivery
$500.00 per day (Captain)
$200.00 per day (Crew)
Transportation costs from San Diego / Orange / Los Angeles counties to the point of departure, and to San Diego / Orange / Los Angeles counties from the point of delivery will be added to the delivery charge.
Daily fees will be charged for days spent in port for provisioning, repairs, stop overs at the request of the owner, or due to inclement weather.
Day Trips
$500.00
Half day trips, including ocean sailing experience, sunset cruises, group team building activities, and whale watching trips typically last 3 – 4 hours, and one to 6 passengers may participate. Additional hours on the water may be scheduled at $150.00 per hour.
For all other services, please call Aquatic Consulting Services for a price quote.
Alison Osinski, Ph.D.
Aquatic Consulting Services
P.O. Box 1418, 356 Sumner Ave.
Avalon, CA 90704
(619) 602-4435
USCG License / Merchant Mariner Credential Ref. # 2574253
What to wear & bring along for a day of sailing on the ocean:
• Wear comfortable clothes
• Foul weather gear or waterproof windbreaker in case of rain or heavy weather (unlikely)
• White soled or non marking sneakers, or deck shoes (Please do not wear sandals, flip flops, black soled running shoes, high heels, or boots)
• Jacket
• Hat
• Camera
• Dramamine (or whatever keeps you from getting seasick)
• Sunglasses and sunscreen
• CA fishing license if you want to do some fishing
• You must be in moderate physical condition, have good balance and be able to climb on and off a boat unassisted
Mexican Fishing Licenses
Follow this link to buy a license online from FONMAR: https://www.sportfishingbcs.gob.mx/ They’ve issued over 500,000 Mexican fishing licenses online with their easy-to-use system. Print it out and bring it with you.
Note:
You are welcome to bring children as part of your group, unless the activity is advertised for adults only. However, you will need to provide properly sized PFDs for the children, and per California law, the children must wear the PFDs at all times while aboard the boat.
All groups are limited to a maximum of 6 participants. A licensed captain, and depending on the activity, a crew member will also be aboard.
For all other services, please call Aquatic Consulting Services for a price quote.
Alison Osinski, Ph.D.
Aquatic Consulting Services
P.O. Box 1418,
356 Sumner Ave.
Avalon, CA 90704
Santa Catalina Island (619) 602-4435
www.alisonosinski.com
alison@alisonosinski.com
Marina CostaBaja
Capt. Alison Osinski
Mermaid QOTS, Slip H 15-16
Km 7.5 Carretera a Pichilingue
Lomas De Palmira
LaPaz, BCS 23010
Mexico