The Keys · Key West
Key West ASA school sailing from Stock Island since 2014, in classes of two to four on the calm Gulf side of the island. Veterans train at no charge one weekend a month through the winter season.
Captain Brad Lockwood founded the school in 2014 and still runs every class: thirty-plus years on the water, more than a thousand sailors trained, “70 years young” by his own count, and a veteran himself. Classes are two to four students, nine to four, hands-on from the first hour.
The teaching water is a deliberate choice. The school sails the Gulf side of Key West, where the island blocks the Atlantic swell, so beginners learn in flat water instead of fighting four-foot chop; Basic Keelboat (101) runs in two days, with Basic Coastal Cruising (103), Bareboat Cruising (104), and the docking endorsement (118) behind it. Booking two or more courses knocks two hundred dollars off.
The veterans program is the standout: the second weekend of every month from November through May, up to four veterans train at no charge. For everyone else the school is the certification answer at the bottom of the island chain, based at Sunset Marina on Stock Island, a mile and a half from the airport.
The Keys · Key Largo
ASA school on Buttonwood Sound, teaching from the Key Lime Sailing Club cottages at mile marker 99. Courses run on demand 363 days a year; stay in a cottage, learn on Florida Bay, and keep sailing the club's Catalina 22s free after you certify.
The Keys · Marathon
Middle-Keys ASA school running the full coastal-cruising pathway from Basic Keelboat through Advanced Coastal Cruising out of Marathon.
The Keys · Key West
Catamaran charter operation at Stock Island Marina Village with an ASA school built in, teaching Basic Keelboat through catamaran cruising on multi-day training cruises. Courses run as customized liveaboards toward the Dry Tortugas, the Marquesas, or the Bahamas.