NORTH TEXAS SAILING SCHOOL AT HEATH, TEXAS
ASA APPROVED TRAINING SCHOOL AT RUSH LAKE RAY HUBBARD IN HEATH, TX
The North Texas Sailing School has been in continuous service since its founding in 1975. NTSS utilizes 24 boats in the service of sailing instruction, junior sailing, and support vessels. The school currently has 12 certified sailing instructors on staff, along with professional teaching staff that assist in the summer programs.
The North Texas Sailing School is located at the Rush Creek Yacht Club on the east shore of Lake Ray Hubbard, renowned in the Dallas area for ideal sailing conditions. Lake Ray Hubbard is about 20 miles northeast of downtown Dallas and is conveniently accessed via Interstate 30. It covers approximately 23,000 acres and 111 miles of shoreline at an average depth of 30 feet.
Very competent in content and structure, NTSS programs have strong emphasis on classroom instruction before each on-water experience. The curriculum is a rich blend of technical skill, confidence building, and plain old common sense.
Training Programs
North Texas Sailing School Location
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- Discover Sailing Confidence Building Class: This 3-hour introductory course will help you find whether you want to learn sailing. No prior sailing knowledge is needed and you will experience the basic concepts of sailing in a comfortable no pressure learning environment. After a 30 minute on-board briefing, you will spend approximately 2.5 hours on the water sailing the J22's using small, cruising and training sails.
- Beginning Sailing ASA 101 Basic Keelboat (Part I): This 12-hour course gives a novice a solid foundation in the basics of sailing. No prior sailing experience is required. After a 3-hour classroom session, you will spend 9 hours on the water in the J-22's using small, cruising and training sails.
- Intermediate Sailing - ASA 101 Basic Keelboat (Part II): 12 additional hours of instruction, evaluation, and testing using the J-22's will increase your boat handling skills and confidence in handling the J-22. Upon completion of the written and on-the-water testing required for ASA Basic Keelboat certification, you will be ready to handle a boat in protected waters and to crew on larger boats.
- Advanced Sailing: This six-hour course is designed to provide sailors with basic introduction to the rigging, use and handling of spinnakers. Upwind boat handling skills will be developed during the upwind sail. Topics Include: Advanced sail trim, Sail shape and mast control, Spinnaker set, jibe and douse, Advanced upwind steering, Spinnaker rigging, and Spinnaker problems and solutions.
- ASA 103 Basic Coastal Cruising: This course introduces sailors to the additional skills required to skipper a larger sailboat on Lake Ray Hubbard and protected coastal waters. After a classroom seminar, two days will be spent aboard a medium size, live aboard cruising boat.
- ASA 104 Intermediate Coastal Cruising: This class builds on basic seamanship skills and introduces the additional skills required to skipper a larger sailboat, 35-40 feet, on large inland lakes or open coastal waters. After a 3 hour classroom seminar, 2 days, including overnight, will be spent aboard a larger, fully-equipped cruising boat. Students in the class will actually plan and execute a complete trip itinerary.
- ASA 105 Coastal Navigation: This 18-hour classroom course is taught in January – March each year. Topics Include: Reading nautical charts, Taking bearings and fixes, Fog navigation, Tides and tidal currents, Intro to rules of the road, Dead reckoning navigation, and Correcting course for leeway and drift.
- ASA 106 Advanced Coastal Cruising: Further builds on the sailor's seamanship skills and introduces the additional skills required to skipper a larger sailboat, 40-50 feet, on large inland lakes or open coastal waters in various conditions. Students in the class will actually plan and execute a complete trip itinerary. The cruise will include one navigation leg out of sight of land. Maximum class size is 4 students, passports may be needed.