ASA Japan Hosts 5th Annual Instructor Meeting and Conducts Safety at Sea Demonstration in Osaka

Featured in ASA Bearings Affiliates Newsletter, Spring 2011

           

Aoki Yacht School Crew

            Since founding in 1999, Aoki Yachts American Sailing Association affiliate sailing school has been actively promoting the sport of sailing throughout Japan. Over the weekend of February 5-6, 2011 Aoki Yachts hosted the 5th annual ASA Japan instructor meeting in Osaka. Yoh Aoki, President of ASA Japan met with his staff and network of ASA certified sailing instructors to discuss instructor techniques and how to best practice the ASA system of sailing instruction in Japan. Instructors and staff discussed techniques and the format in Japan for the Basic Keelboat 101 course and the Safe Boating and Docking endorsement and conducted instructor demonstration lessons. The group also became familiar with Aoki Yacht School’s new web-based student and instructor communication tools and devoted some time interpreting changes in Japanese safety equipment requirements, which differ slightly from the standards in the United States.

MOB Recovery

            Aoki-san also reviewed with his staff and instructors lessons learned from a Safety at Sea demonstration, which was also held in Osaka in August. This demonstration was similar to a Safety At Sea Seminar which many American sailors are familiar with, and was conducted by Aoki Yachts ASA instructors for the public. The demonstration topics included water survival and a practical evaluation of the different crew recovery techniques, in which a swimmer was rescued and hoisted aboard a yacht doing the Figure eight and quick stop methods of recovery. Aoki Yacht School’s Safety At Sea demonstration was featured prominently in the popular Kazi Japanese yachting magazine.

            Aoki Yacht Schools’ ASA instructors came to the annual instructor meeting in Osaka from all over Japan. The meeting was also an opportunity for the two new instructors who joined the team or participated in one of Aoki Sensei’s two IQCs in the past year to meet with the rest of the team. Yoh Aoki is also an ASA Instructor Evaluator and has conducted eleven IQCs in Japan, certifying 41 instructors since 1999. IQCs are held regularly in Osaka and Yokosuka in Japanese and in English for foreigners living or working in Japan.

Instructor's Meeting at Aoki Yacht School

            Aoki Yachts ASA Sailing school is the largest recreational sailing school in Japan and has issued over 2500 sailing certificates since it became an ASA affiliated sailing school in 1998. The complete range of ASA courses are regularly taught in Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama and Okinawa in Japanese and English. Aoki Sensei has translated all ASA course materials into Japanese and even wrote the sailing textbooks, Inner Sailing 1, 2 and 3 as the Japanese version of ASA’s sailing textbooks. Sailing courses are taught on a variety of types of sailing craft, including the new Aoki- designed Zen 24 auxiliary electric sailboat. Aoki Yachts is also a Japanese government boat licensing school and full service boat brokerage.  

            As an island nation, Japanese culture has always been intimately tied to the sea. As a recreational activity, the sport of sailing has been steadily gaining in popularity in Japan in recent years. If you are looking for a truly unique and unforgettable sailing vacation or if your sailing cruise takes you in the direction of this part of the globe, please visit www.aoki.us and Yoh Aoki and his dedicated ASA instructors would be happy to go sailing with you and show you the beautiful sites of Japan.