The best way to learn how to sail

[BluePeter]

Just to nit pick. The chart (post#3) is correct to a point. When a boat is "into the wind", it is not necessarily "in irons". Irons is a whole different ballgame. Also, 'running' as expressed in the chart does not reflect "dead downwind" or a 'true' run. However, a chart like this is an invaluable teaching aid.

My father, a Comet champ, made a dangerous attempt to teach me sailing by sending me out into the Hudson River in a Penguin dinghy by myself--on a chilly October day. I had no idea what to do. The boat swamped and I was heading quickly downriver with the tide toward the Tappan Zee bridge--scared to death. A barge crew rescued me in a service skiff. I was 12.

Around that time I was recruited by a National champ Thistle sailor at the Nyack boat club. Through the next decade and several national, regional, sectional and invitational regattas across the northeast, I learned total confidence. Having since owned Finns and competing in many one-design classes, I can control a raging sailing craft in most any conditions. This confidence came from competition sailing. Someone else mentioned cup racing as a teaching means, and I have to agree it is among the best methods. And it won't take ten years!

[Carl-T705]

Look around for a ComPac 16 sailboat for $1000 - $1800. This boat has the absolute best record for people learning how to sail and to continue with sailing. they are small enough to pull behind a KIA , can be rigged in about 15 minutes at the ramp, sails like a much larger boat and can fit a small outboard. It has a very small cabin you can camp in or at 18 inches of draft can almost be run up on a beach. Your slip will be the trailer and the marina, your backyard. Why this model is not being built any more is sad. When your ready to move up you can get every dollar you spent buying and maintaining it back.... well ....less the beer money . Not too many other boats you can say that about. You can do it. Cheers Mate

[Rohan]

6 years ago I was a total novice. 4 years ago I bought my first boat - so I'm an experienced novice, I guess.

I recommend a mixture of techniques. Learning on your own is valuable, but you should have at least the most basic instructions first. I took ASA 101 which is great, I hired a private instructor which was even better (but more expensive, of course), and of course after buying my first boat I learned a heck of a lot more. YouTube is also your friend - ASA lessons don't include things like engine maintenance.

I don't learn well from books, but I keep one in the boat when I need to reference a certain question (and out of range of internet)

[JMaav]

Although I learned on the water as a child, and have now sailed all my life.. I have heard from several younger AND older individuals in the last ten years that they learned how to sail in a Sim game called SecondLife.
Apparently, they use an Avi in the game and learn realistic on the water sailing techniques from other instructors at yacht clubs, and as sailing groups in the game. They apparently have sailing events almost every day of the week which run about one hour. some of these same game yacht clubs also host formal sailing lessons I believe one of them is run by FIYC, fishers Island yacht club. It is in what they call sailors Cove in the game. A sim community.
In my discussions, I would jokingly say it can’t be very realistic… And everyone responded that I was wrong. The only thing they felt was missing was the waves. Everything else is quite true to real life sailing, wind, speed, wind shift, wind changes, tacking, and other important sailing lessons.
Sounded very interesting, but I have not checked it out myself yet. Might be worth a shot.

[Simi 60]

We started club racing on someone else's boat
Then decided to get our own

For us it was jump in at the deep end - trial by fire.
Performance boat racing
Cassette tape telltales and plenty of them
No wind gear required
Wind on face and observation.

Inspired by Saltash II and her Brisbane to Gladstone race success wining in 1985, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 we started out in a YW Diamond - the cheapest rocketship available at the time but well sailed could monster the big end of town due to their ability to plane.
Got ours in original configuration for $2500 including a trolley to pull her out on
Plenty of sails and plenty of strings

Lots of relatively cheap sports boats of varying breeds getting around now.

[thomm225]

Learn on a Hobie 16 then racing within a month or two of learning to sail is one of the best and fastest ways to learn.

One mistake and you are in the water or hitting another boat which the owner of that boat will let you know about.

Sailing a monohull is easy by comparison because things happen very fast on a Hobie 16 or any small catamaran during a race

Hobie 16's are capable of hitting speeds of around 26 knots.

That's fast for a beginner sailor......

Plus there is no motor to rely on. You sail out and to get back, you have to sail in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLiqcsbjJpc

[thomm225]

Plus these days Hobie 16's have spinnakers and can be fun just day sailing

Plus if you get too bored or hot you can capsize the boat to cool off or for fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIZhNviIar4

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

We started club racing on someone else's boat
Then decided to get our own

For us it was jump in at the deep end - trial by fire.
Performance boat racing
Cassette tape telltales and plenty of them
No wind gear required
Wind on face and observation.

Inspired by Saltash II and her Brisbane to Gladstone race success wining in 1985, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 we started out in a YW Diamond - the cheapest rocketship available at the time but well sailed could monster the big end of town due to their ability to plane.
Got ours in original configuration for $2500 including a trolley to pull her out on
Plenty of sails and plenty of strings

Lots of relatively cheap sports boats of varying breeds getting around now.

Calling that monohull a rocket ship is pretty ridiculous don't you think.

The Nacra 17 on lifting daggerboards is reported to be able to hit speed over 40 knots.

Now that's a rocket ship!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQDt7svQIxM

[wholybee]

The "best" way is to use different methods for the different things you need to learn.

Most of this thread will either teach you to sail(get a friend and go sailing, you tube, etc.), or teach you to get the most our of your boat. (get on a bear can racing boat)

Do not overlook learning to sail SAFELY! For this, there are things you will learn in a sailing class or school that you will find it very difficult to learn any other way.

It isn't impossible, but very seldom will you have an opportunity to throw a fender in the water and turn the boat around and sail to it for an MOB recover, again and again, all day long, with someone experienced enough to nail that maneuver every single time critiquing you and giving you advise. Even experienced sailors usually require a few attempts and couldn't tell you why they missed.

Or having an experienced sailor ask you 50 times in day "which vessel is the stand on vessel and why?"

Or drill you on emergency situations that might come up and don't give you much time to think.

So yes, watch the YouTube videos, get on a race boat, do all of those things. Those are the fastest ways to learn to sail. But you will probably get comfortable sailing pretty quickly, and you need to know that does NOT make you a SAFE sailor.

That fastest way to get the skills that make you safe are with a formal education.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Calling that monohull a rocket ship is pretty ridiculous don't you think.

Potential 20 + knot boat for $2500 in the 80's sounded pretty rocket ship to me.
Especially when the 40+ ft competition was flat out getting 10 knots on a good day.
And I could sleep in it and cruise it - not doing that realistically on a nacra

Sure, a multi is always a better thing but to get a multi I could sleep in and cruise that was comparable in performance took me 3 years of building and $30,000 in materials.
Or $100,000 + to buy.

The Nacra 17 on lifting daggerboards

Was not available in the 80's so I'd need a time machine
And an extra $20k

[Ixium]

Originally Posted by wholybee

The "best" way is to use different methods for the different things you need to learn.

Most of this thread will either teach you to sail(get a friend and go sailing, you tube, etc.), or teach you to get the most our of your boat. (get on a bear can racing boat)

Do not overlook learning to sail SAFELY! For this, there are things you will learn in a sailing class or school that you will find it very difficult to learn any other way.

It isn't impossible, but very seldom will you have an opportunity to throw a fender in the water and turn the boat around and sail to it for an MOB recover, again and again, all day long, with someone experienced enough to nail that maneuver every single time critiquing you and giving you advise. Even experienced sailors usually require a few attempts and couldn't tell you why they missed.

Or having an experienced sailor ask you 50 times in day "which vessel is the stand on vessel and why?"

Or drill you on emergency situations that might come up and don't give you much time to think.

So yes, watch the YouTube videos, get on a race boat, do all of those things. Those are the fastest ways to learn to sail. But you will probably get comfortable sailing pretty quickly, and you need to know that does NOT make you a SAFE sailor.

That fastest way to get the skills that make you safe are with a formal education.

Am an aircraft mechanic. Depending on what needs fixing, we have to do engine runs at high power to test if it’s working properly. Basically 99.9% of the time nothing bad ever happens but unless we did it the day before, there is a high chance an assessor is in the back seat asking questions about emergency procedures while we’re starting and running engines. To the point of annoyance but we have the procedures memorized.

Just like the army, drills are done over and over again so you don’t think, you just do. And it’s a very good way to learn and teach.

[GrowleyMonster]

Sailing is FUN! But like all fun things, there are some non-fun, work type, serious things to do that will help you to keep it fun, and most importantly, safe, for you, your crew and guests, your boat, and other boats, shoreside property, public property, and people. In all boating, the most important of these not so always fun but absolutely necessary things is learning the Rules of the Road, also known as COLREGS (the international rules) and US Inland Rules. You can't learn this in a week or a month, so get cracking right now. Immerse yourself in it, and let it be your obsession. Without a good knowledge of the Rules and how to apply them, you are literally a menace to property, as well as life and limb. People DIE because they or some other clueless idiot either didn't know the rules or just plain didn't feel like following them. There is no excuse morally nor legally to not know Rules. You are just as much obligated to follow them as the watch officer on a 1000 foot bulk carrier. You can download Rules from the USCG website and many other places. You can buy a hard copy, which I recommend, on Amazon or at Worst Marine. Vessels over 12 meters are required to have a copy onboard. You are required to know them. It's the LAW, even if you don't have to take a test and get a license.


There. My pet peeve is out of the way and I know you will be a prudent mariner and always follow the Rules, and understand them thoroughly before you ever take charge of any vessel, big, bigger, biggest, or teeny weeny. Right? Right.


There is more than one way to skin a cat. Sucks for the cat, regardless, I know, but they all can work with your due diligence. My personal recommendation is start out dinghy sailing. A used dink in good condition doesn't cost much, requires almost zero maintenance, lives out of the water so you don't have to pay for a slip, is easy for one person to handle, and teaches you the basic mechanics and physics of sailing faster than any other method. A capsize makes for a lesson not soon forgotten, especially if the water is cold or you really suck at swimming and stuff. So first thing to learn after learning how to rig your dinghy for sailing, is how to right a capsized dinghy and get back in it. You won't need this knowledge so much in cruising boats. Or... will you? But anyway so this is a cheap way to get your feet and every other part of you wet. There are organized dinghy races at every yacht club or sailing club in the world, I expect, and it's kinda fun. When you are ready to upgrade, your dinghy will probably sell for about what you paid for it.


The next stage is a trailer sailer. A day sailer that is easily hauled out or launched from a trailer that a pickup or a mid sized car can tow easily. It lives in your driveway, where you can keep an eye on it and do your maintenance casily and cheaply. Such a boat won't dunk you very often if at all, and can take you out into more open water, and in spite of the name, give you overnight inland cruising opportunities. Most have a little cuddy cabin where you can get in out of the rain and wind and skeeters and catch a few winks. Still fairly cheap, and you can still get most of your money back when you sell it. this can also be a good starting point, skipping the dinghy racing business, but you would be missing out.


A small cruiser will let the world be your oyster, sort of. You can go out on the big blue sea and with some boats, if you are well prepared for it, you can conceivably cross oceans. Some boats in this size range can be had for a couple thousand or less, but with a running diesel you can expect to pay $4k or more. A well found boat in good order that is maybe a little old but well kept might cost you $12k up to about $30k. Or more. This is a serious purchase and you need to have a surveyor look her over before you write that check. A report from a proper surveyor paid for by the seller is satisfactory in the under $10k category, if it is recent and if you feel lucky. Otherwise figure on paying for it yourself. Maybe split it with the seller or have it deducted if the sale goes through. A boat can be pretty as a petunia and start costing you thousands right off the bat. If you know what to look for and your marina and insurance carrier don't care if it has a recent survey, you could blow it off if paying under $5k. YMMV on all that. Depends on your level of risk aversion. But this all brings up the next part of the equation, which is a slip, and insurance. You can't, for all practical purposes, get a slip without being insured for liability and for salvage and removal. They don't usually care if you have hull coverage or not, but it's up to you. Insurance for a new or wannabe skipper can be expensive, and it goes up for bigger or older boats. My 28 tonner costs me the princely sum of I think $360-something per year but I am a retired professional and past holder of USCG licenses and certificates, as well as a lifelong yacht owner. You can expect to pay 3x as much to insure your 28 FOOT boat.



A 40 to 50 year old under 30 foot boat will teach you a lot about fixing boats. We used to call a $100 bill a "boat buck" because almost anything took multiples of that to fix or upgrade. Now, a boat buck is $1000. Wait til your diesel needs an overhaul, or a complete rebuld! An old boat, first thing, if you will be taking it out of sight of land, you will want to replace all the stays and shrouds. The problem is these days they are usually stainless, and you can't see the crevice corrosion or any evidence of it. Most serious cruisers figure new rigging every 5 to 10 years. Yours is probably original! Mast and boom can get eaten up from the inside. Spongy deck needs to be repaired. Haulout. Bottom job. Prop work. Rudder work. New anchor chain and windlass, if so equipped. Anchor and spare. Navigation lights and other electrics. Batteries. Gaskets and plugs and filters and belts and pumps and wood and screws and marine grade hose clamps and hoses and pipes and bolts and cushions and a billion other things that are chimp change on an RV but third mortgage territory on a boat. And that's with you doing the work. Even if she ends up being your dock queen, you will be working on your boat all the time. Like to hunt? fish? golf, Maybe you can but probably you can't take time off from your boat TLC. May aw well get those cushions and bedding squared away first, so you can sleep on the boat and get an early start!


Eventually you will sell your first cruising boat and get either a bigger one, or a nicer, newer one. You will lose money on the deal. Nobody cares how much money you spent keeping it up. It's simply expected, that the boat will be seaworthy. You don't get extra for selling a boat that runs and sails and has all the required equipment aboard. You don't get anything back on that. And if you go for a bigger boat, everything costs more. maybe 3x more. so here, make sure you are gettins something that you will enjoy owning enough to be worth it.


There are a lot of great books to read and vids to watch. Nigel Calder is a favorite author of mine. He has written a lot of fix-your-boat-yourself books. Brian Toss wrote a couple of good books on rigging and sails and stuff. There are also youtubes worth watching. But a little semiformal education is effort well spent. You can start with the USCG Power Squadron basic boating class. It is basically free except you have to buy the book. ASA has some more serious courses and if you complete the first four, most charter companies will give you a bareboat charter, i.e. you can be your own skipper instead of hiring a pro. You can learn a lot by crewing for others, too, both on cruises and in races. Make your mistakes on somebody else's boat, and under somebody elses watchful supervision.

[Chotu]

“ and a billion other things that are chimp change on an RV but third mortgage territory on a boat. And that's with you doing the work. Even if she ends up being your dock queen, you will be working on your boat all the time. Like to hunt? fish? golf, Maybe you can but probably you can't take time off from your boat TLC. May aw well get those cushions and bedding squared away first, so you can sleep on the boat and get an early start!”

Has to be the best thing I have read in a long time! Ha ha ha

I would also like to add “don’t ever leave your boat!”

Every bit of damage to my boat was done when I was not there.

Mice destroying electrical system? Yes.
Marina being destroyed and boat smashing into the seawall with others while they sank around it? Yes.
Hired Hands ruining the boat because you couldn’t be there with epoxy work going on? Yes.
Wasps getting in and setting up one of the biggest nests I have seen so I had to buy a bee suit in order to get rid of it? Yes.
Boat not being properly tied up to a mooring when it was moved, so it went on a approximately 10 mile journey banging into bridges with no one aboard? Yes.
Boat put out to anchor with no seizing wire on the shackle? Yes.
Bicycle,dinghy, Outboard, kayaks, even the damn anchor off the bow all stolen? Yes.
People breaking in and stealing things from inside the boat? Yes.
There are probably several more.

It’s a good thing I built a good sturdy boat. It Easily survived all of this.

No boat has ever had any damage when I have been aboard. It’s only when you leave the boat or trust others to care for it that these things happen, so it becomes a bit of a trap like Growley said.

[BayouSailing]

Amazing that with all the knowledge here there's only been one reference to the preeminent sail training video of all time:

CAPTAIN RON

Watch it. Study it. Get out there.

I was introduced to sailing as a child, but the family only owned a Catalina 22 for two years (from 8-10 for me). Got to ride along on the Guam to Rota race on a nice big Cheoy Lee. Got my first job sailing at age 15. Bought my first boat at 23, an Islander 36. Relocated professionally at 25, to meet new folks and learn to communicate with landlubbers I enrolled in the USCGA Sailing and Seamanship class. At 25 I had the largest boat in the class, and even more time (since introduction) than the instructor. But it was a great way to learn what others didn't know, which to me was intuitive or experiential. Get out there. Go sailing. And bigger boats are easier, more forgiving, less "tender" than the little ones. But carry bigger bills and more elaborate equipment to break.

[mercater]

Hi underbru-this my story. I too taught myself guitar. It wasn’t till many years later I discovered I’d taught myself all the wrong way which took years to correct. My point is start with correct instruction. I’d advise partaking in a RYA competent crew course then register with a Squdron or Cruise club to volunteer as crew on as many different boats with different skippers as you can. Take it all in and then you would know we’re you want to take it from here.