Requirements prior to acquiring this standard:
- Basic Cruising
- Basic Coastal Navigation
- ROC(M) Marine VHF license (or equivalent), recommended
- Pleasure Craft Operator's Card - PCOC - a basic boating license (or equivalent), recommended

This course is a natural step forward for students with Basic Cruising Standard (level I) and some practical experience applying the knowledge from the basic course. However, with Basic course envisioned to last 27 hours, and the Intermediate to last 4 nights liveaboard, you can still apply for this course even if you haven't formally completed Basic level. This is because our course lasts full 7 days aboard plus 10 hours of classroom teaching, combining both levels in one package. If you do have Basic done, you will simply skip taking Basic exam, and only take the Intermedite. Many of our students learned to sail from a friend or crewed on charter boats thus being prepared to quickly challenge Basic level. But if you have never been on a sailboat, please contact us for a brief before applying.

You can complete Coastal Navigation course before or after practical Intermediate. In later case, you will have to wait for your Intermediate certificate until you pass Coastal Navigation. PCOC and Marine VHF licenses can be from some other national organization, i.e. RYA Short Range Certificate.

Intermediate Cruising Standard is Sail Canada second level skipper course. It will prepare you for extended coastal cruising in moderare conditions. This level of certification is normally required for bareboat chartering, thus dubbed as "bareboat charter level".

The boat handling skills thought at basic level are now brought to reflex level, with addition of some cruising elements. Thus, some items from the lists of objectives for these two level are the same, but the difference is in skill level. Being proficient in boat handling is important condition for efficient and safe skippering. As a captain you must be able not only to sail, but also to handle all aspects of boat life: safety of your crew, navigation in unfamiliar waters, weather watch, provisioning, maintenance work, etc.

The week before embarcation in Kavala, Greece, there will be 8 hours of classroom lessons in Belgrade. It can be arranged as two evenings after work, or one whole weekend day (i.e. Saturday), whichever format better suits the crew. Students can attended these lessons over video link or simply receive a video record.
The classroom lessons are there to prepare studens for imidiate on-water practice. On water training starts right after our meeting at the dock and the embarcation, and lasts till the very end. Pleas read next paragraph: "During the course".

The course starts from Kavala, on Saturday early afternoon with a thorough boat check. Departure is the same day toward the island of Thasos. The route during the following days changes depending on weather. Generaly, the area to the east and south of Thasos, near Samothraki and Limnos, is more windy (Meltemi), and less so to the north and west (thermal winds). We try to be in the area of lighter and moderate winds during the first half of the course, and search for stronger winds toward the end of the course. Six Beauforts is the limit in a standard bareboat charter contract and our limit too.
Although on average we cover about 200 NM, milage is not the imperative. It is the number of tacks, gybes and other maneuvers, with entering unknown harbours and anchorages. Sometimes we will sail several hours straight to reach our destination, practice steering by the compass and navigation, but will not sail for 10 hours non-stop, every day, barely touching the sails just to log miles. During our normal day we spend about 6-7 hours sailing and 2 hours anchoring, docking or dockside teaching. Preparing (and consuming) food also takes some time. The rest of the day is for you to read the books and material that will be given to you. Finally, there are moments to enjoy greek beaches and tavernas. However, this is not a vacation but a very intensive course. The day starts with a good breakfast, snack / lunch is in the afternoon, aboard, mostly underway. Dinners aboard at the dock, or if not at anchor we may visit local tavernas. Preparing food is part of the curriculum, so everyone will be preparing a few (edible) meals.
The boat has three cabins with double berths and main salon with foldable berths. Everybody will have his/her berth, but we will need to share cabins and heads.

Important!
During our classroom sesion we will cover only a portion of ashore lessons. It is imperative to read provided printed material before coming to the boat. Then, we will discuss various topics along the way, durign longer passages or in the evenings. Please arrive prepared.

On top of the 'Basic Cruising' skills, this course covers:
- Cruise planning: provisioning, clothing, spare parts, tools, border crossing procedure.
- Living aboard: galey, marine head, plumbing and electrical systems, cooking.
- Weather: understanding forcast, local conditions observation.
- Safety on-board: prevention and common emergency situations handling.
- Navigation: compass, charts, position finding.
- Rules of the road: common marine traffic situations.
- Courtesies
- Boat handling: upwind and downwind sailing, tacking, gybing, reefing, heaving to - all at reflex level.
- Steering compass course.
- Maneuvering the boat under power in tight quarters.
- Advanced anchoring techniques.
- Entering unknwon harbour.

For more details visit Sail Canada Intermediate Cruising Standard web pages
https://www.sailing.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Intermediate-Cruise-February-28-2024.pdf

To get the certificate you must pass both ashore and afloat tests. Ashore knowledge test consists of set of questions and you must achieve 70%. Midway through the course, candidates without Basic Standard will get chance to challenge it. The Intermediate exam is held tha last day in the evening. The afloat skills are evaluated on the on-going basis. You should be able to routinely operate the boat in various situations and show leadership skills to get the 'skipper' license. Those less sucessfull may get 'crew' standard.

Schedule:
Please refer to the season news page for dates.

The price for the course is 900€
Included:
- Instructions, exam and Sail Canada registration fees
- Food and non-alcoholic drinks
- Seven days (7 nights) on-board accomodation
- "Intermedite Cruising Student Notes" in PDF from Sail Canada and our own printed material in PDF

The course starts from Kavala, Greece. Meeting point is at the dock the first day (Saturday) at 13:00 local time. The course ends the following Saturday around 11:00.