These outfits offer distinct routes to a bareboat cruising certificate, which is what most charter companies require before letting you captain a boat. They also offer training in more advanced skills, like celestial navigation and offshore passage making, that you won't learn in your bareboat course.

OFFSHORE SAILING SCHOOL
Tortola, BVI, and nine other locations throughout the U.S. and Caribbean
The ten-day Fast Track to Cruising, in Tortola, runs $4,860 from December to July, $3,996 July–October, and $4,117 October–December; includes on-boat meals and private accommodations (on-boat and off); offshoresailing.com

CLUB NAUTIQUE
Alameda and Sausalito, California
Club Nautique recently won U.S. Sailing's Prosser award for outstanding instruction, especially impressive considering the challenges of operating in San Francisco Bay. Its cumulative eight-day Skipper's Course and four-day bareboat-certification course teach you how to navigate fog, busy shipping lanes, strong currents, and 25-knot winds. Both courses, $2,590, including on-boat accommodations; clubnautique.net

ANNAPOLIS SAILING SCHOOL
Annapolis, Maryland
America's oldest sailing school offers a progression of three five-day courses, affording apprentice skippers time to explore Chesapeake Bay. All three, $3,240 (April–October only), including accommodations; annapolissailing.com