Australian Sailing would like to thank all accredited Discover Sailing and Safety & Sea Survival Centres across Australia for enduring and delivering another successful year of Sailing, Powerboat, Windsurfing and Safety & Sea Survival courses despite the COVID pandemic.

The 2021/22 Centre accreditation process has been streamlined by removing the Centre application form. Currently accredited Centres are only required to pay the annual accreditation fee issued in revSPORT on 1^st July 2021 (see table below) to be accredited pending all pre-requisites are fulfilled (last centre review action items have been resolved and no outstanding Centre invoices). Payment of the accreditation invoice represents the Centre’s acknowledgment to agree and abide by the Australian Sailing Operating Standards & Guidelines.

Centres wanting to become Discover Sailing accredited centres for the first time need to contact their local Club Services Officer who will provide all relevant accreditation details and schedule a Centre review (see more information below). Pending a positive review outcome, the Centre will be invoiced the yearly accreditation fee that once paid will make the Centre officially accredited.

Centres that want to become a Safety and Sea Survival accredited Centre for the first time need to contact training@sailing.org.au and further accreditation information and steps will be provided.

All Centre Principals, centre administrators and instructors are encouraged to read the new accreditation documents below to ensure they are across all expectations associated with being an accredited Centre delivering accredited courses.

• 2021/22 Discover Sailing Centre – Operating Standards & Guidelines
• 2021/22 Discover Sailing Centre – Agreement
• 2021/22 Safety and Sea Survival Centre – Operating Standards & Guidelines
• 2021/22 Safety and Sea Survival Centre – Agreement

Discover Sailing Centre Review

A self-review form has been created for Discover Sailing centres, which is aligned with the online reviewing tool and can be found here.

This self-review form is a fillable form and can be completed on a computer or portable device.
Centres are encouraged to use this form to complete a self-review prior to an Australian Sailing Club Services Officer visiting the centre and conducting the review.

Throughout the Centre visit the Club Services Officer will check items as either Yes, No or N/A and assign action items, if required, based on observation. All action items will be assigned a due date. It will be the Centre Principal’s responsibility to resolve all action items by their deadline in order to maintain the Centre accreditation.
 

For further information about the Centre accreditation and review process please contact your local Club Services Officer.

Changes in Focus

Two major changes are to be highlighted in the 2021/22 Discover Sailing Centre Operating Standards & Guidelines. Firstly, the program logbook and the Dinghy and Keelboat textbooks will be provided as soft-copy free of charge to all participants via the revSPORT course confirmation email. The other program textbooks are not owned by Australian Sailing hence can only be purchased by Centres via the Australian Sailing online shop. In addition to the soft-copy material, Centres have the choice to still buy hard-copy logbooks and textbooks via the Australian Sailing online shop.

In addition, similarly to the Tackers program the OutThere Sailing (OTS) instructors must complete the OTS Instructor Induction online course in order to deliver any OTS experience/course. If OTS Centres deliver the OTS program by using Windsurfing and Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) crafts then their instructors must complete the OTS Windsurfing and SUP Endorsement online courses too. The OTS e-learning courses were created to provide instructors with the tools and knowledge to effectively deliver the OTS program. The courses also focus on common teenager traits and link that to the method of delivery behind OTS based on different craft used. Each course is free of charge and requires roughly 1.5 hours to complete. It is the Centre Principal’s responsibility to ensure the above criteria are fulfilled.

Australian Sailing online courses can be found HERE.