Patti Moore and Carol Cuddyer, founders of Sea Sense, the Women’s Sailing and Powerboating School, have spent a lifetime boating. With years of professional teaching and boating experience on their side, Patti and Carol will share with you the principles, techniques, and application of proper and safe navigation. This two-day course will cover rules of the road, navigation terminology and theory, identification of navigation aids, chart reading and course plotting, and the practical application of navigation within a controlled setting. You’ll spend time with paper charts learning what all the symbols, colors, and numbers mean and how to get from point to point with the chart and compass.

You will spend a day mastering these concepts in the classroom and then time at the helm on day two with an experienced captain and instructor will help you combine all of the theory and navigation techniques introduced throughout the course. This hands-on class offers you the opportunity to try different things, make mistakes, learn from your peers, and ask questions, all the while gaining confidence and an understanding of the boats and aids around you.

Classes will run 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for two full days of instruction. All learning materials will be provided, as will lunch each day. However, if you have charts of the Patuxent River and Solomons Island area, please bring them with you. Class size is limited to 16, so you must register in advance by phone. Call Trawler Fest toll free at 888.487.2953. Your cost for the class is $450.

Bob Smith, developer of Lehman Ford diesel engines, will present this two-day, hands-on diesel engine course during PassageMaker University in Solomons. Bob will bring with him a complete engine and all the tools needed for the class. All of the components of the Lehman Ford engine that Bob uses for the course are easily visible, which makes class demonstrations clear and understandable.

On the morning of the first day of the course, Bob will introduce theory. You will get your hands dirty in the afternoon with basic engine maintenance procedures. On day two, you will run the engine you have worked on and will spend some more time on troubleshooting, repairs, and preventive and regular maintenance procedures.

This University course is one of the most popular and it always fills up quickly! Class will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for the two full days of instruction. Lunch will be provided each day. All tools will also be provided.

Class size is limited to 16, so registration must be done in advance by phone—call early to make your reservation! Call Trawler Fest toll free at 888.487.2953. Your cost for the class is $450.

Join Dr. Michael Jacobs, author of A Comprehensive Guide to Marine Medicine and director of Vineyard Medical Services in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, for two days of comprehensive medical awareness, prevention, treatment, and health maintenance that will prepare you (and your medicine cabinets) for safer cruising. This two day course is a combination of lecture and practical application in the classroom. Dr. Jacobs will cover how to complete an initial survey of the “big three:” respiratory, circulatory, and nervous systems; the art of listening to the patient; recognizing vital signs; and how to give a physical exam (look, listen, feel—you can do it!) He will discuss how to recognize a medical emergency, critical body systems, when to worry, medical communication, telemedicine services, CPR, and how to properly stock a marine medical kit. You will learn some basics of marine and environmental medicine including seafood toxins, sun injury and heat exhaustion, hypothermia, and cold-water immersion, hazardous marine life, and seasickness. You will leave the course with an understanding of wound management, musculoskeletal injuries, how to prevent and treat common medical problems at sea, and how to create a standard operating procedure aboard your boat for medical assistance. Classes will run 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for two full days of instruction. All learning materials will be provided, as will lunch each day. Call Trawler Fest toll free at 888.487.2953. Your cost for the class is $450.

Lee Chesneau is a recently retired NOAA/NWS Ocean Prediction Center meteorologist who has been educating boaters on the science, practical application, and forecasting of weather for years. He presently owns his own company Lee Chesneau's Marine Weather (www.marineweatherbylee.com). Lee will provide an in-depth look into weather that will allow you to make smart cruising decisions and help you to better understand your immediate area as well as the cruising areas in which you plan to venture.

This course specifically includes introduction to weather terminologies as you learn about the components of the atmosphere and how it interacts and affects the weather around us. You will be introduced to cloud types and what they mean to a mariner. This logically leads to discussion on precipitation and visibility, pressure, and wind concepts. Like fitting pieces of a puzzle, Lee will tie in the aforementioned basics of weather into the details of surface pressure map interpretation, which includes both frontal and non-frontal systems. He will also introduce you to upper-air 500 Mb charts and their importance to surface weather. Combining lecture with hands-on practice with upper-air 500 Mb and surface maps provides a foundation to make you a weather-wise mariner, enabling you to confidently identify your weather windows and make the "go or no-go" decision that can make or break your cruise!

Classes will run 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for two full days of instruction. All learning materials will be provided, as will lunch each day. Call Trawler Fest toll free at 888.487.2953. Your cost for the class is $450.

Steve D’Antonio, PMM’s technical editor, will lead this in-depth course that will help you get to know your boat’s systems. Go beyond the basics of your diesel engine and gain the knowledge and skills to have a more comprehensive understanding of what is in your Holy Place. Steve will cover the components of your engine room and how they operate, showing you what to check and what to troubleshoot, maintain, and service. He also will discuss generators, running gear, AC/DC systems, and, of course, the diesel engine, providing you with the necessary tools to make your next cruising adventure a more confident, successful, and self-sufficient experience.

Those taking the course also will spend time in the engine room of a trawler at the event, allowing you to translate what you’ve learned in the classroom into in-person identification. You will identify the many components you’ve learned about and associate what you see with the systems on your own trawler.

Class will run 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for two full days of instruction. All learning materials will be provided, as will lunch each day. Class size is limited to 24, so registration must be done in advance by phone. Call Trawler Fest toll free at 888.487.2953. Your cost for the class is $450.

On day two, you will run the engine you have worked on and will spend some more time on troubleshooting, repairs, and preventive and regular maintenance procedures.

This is a continuation of learning from Day One.

This is a continuation of learning from Day One and will include visiting the engine room of an Outer Reef 65, an exhibitor boat, for a "guided tour" with Steve.

This is a continuation of learning from Day One and will involve spending a day on board an Island Pilot 435 provided by Island Pilot and a Kadey-Krogen 48 provided by Kadey-Krogen owners James and Meg McLane, with your instructors navigating a course that you will have plotted on Day One.

This is a continuation of learning from Day One.