Baby Steps

[cooper1991]

I imagine there's the brave way and the sensible way to get used to sailing & liveaboard.

I hope to have a 35ft monohull ready to sail by March 2022. I have little experience but have RYA qualifications. I will not have access to sailing until January 2022.

Seems to me that just launching and hoping for the best is a bit risky, or learn as you go, some may say.

How do I go from zero to competent without having sailing friends or crew, as I want to single hand? Will people at marinas be happy to come and ride shotgun or is there a programme of things to do to build confidence and competence that I can follow?

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by cooper1991

I imagine there's the brave way and the sensible way to get used to sailing & liveaboard.

While there are adjustments, living is pretty much the same wherever you do it. You take care of basic needs. We found in our travels, that our provisioning changed quite a bit, according to what is available where you are.

I hope to have a 35ft monohull ready to sail by March 2022. I have little experience but have RYA qualifications. I will not have access to sailing until January 2022.

So, you're rusty, and feel you'd like to improve your skills.
Easiest thing is to hire a skipper to teach you for a day. Someone who is used to teaching others (essentially helping them think about how to do things.) I'd suggest refreshing your self on the Colregs, before you get to the boats. found the flash cards helpful for learning about how tugs and tows, and fishing boats are lit at night, etc.

Seems to me that just launching and hoping for the best is a bit risky, or learn as you go, some may say.

So, maybe you take a friend with you to help keep watch and handle lines while you build your confidence?

How do I go from zero to competent without having sailing friends or crew, as I want to single hand? Will people at marinas be happy to come and ride shotgun or is there a programme of things to do to build confidence and competence that I can follow?

You have a choice, here: do it on your own, and suck up your fear; do it with someone else aboard. The paid teacher is one way with someone else aboard. You could perhaps invite strangers from a marina, but then you have the responsibility for their well being as well as that of your vessel and yourself. Your boat, your choice. Less competent to more competent really requires sea hours and experience. A singlehander friend of ours felt a great deal more confident after sailing a voyage of ~ 1200 n. mi. and dealing with problems on his own coming along the way. He did not bring crew, but he had daily radio contact with experienced cruisers, and cell phone coverage much of the trip, so he could call friends and talk about weather changes and problem solving.

If you're needing to build confidence with docking, that is something there are threads here on CF about. Use the CF Custom Google search under the Search button and enter "Docking Singlehanded", you'll find a number of threads.

Enjoy. It's supposed to be fun.

By the way, if you fill in your type of boat and your general location and add it to your avatar, and tell us to where you want to singlehand, we'll be able to give you better answers.

Ann

[SeaStory]

If you have a local Power Squadron (now dba America's Boating Club), they may offer a Smart Start program where an experienced member will come aboard and help you figure things out on your boat.

You can also check out americasboatingclub.com for online courses that cover systems that the RYA courses may not, such as propane, plumbing, etc.

[Stellar1970Cat]

Interesting thread as I was in this situation myself a year ago.

Because I am walking paraplegic, many people see me as less able.
So I did not even try crewing on other peoples boat!
Instead I jumped to the deep end and bought myself a 9metre coastal cruising catamaran.
This was only the second boat I looked into and it was just 10km away from where I was staying. How lucky was that and price fitted my low budget.
Now I realise how good match my Stellar is with my current skills and abilities.
I could not have done any better to choose a boat!

First I had a total novice backpacker as a shipmate who made couple mistakes which I had to financially absorb as learners mistakes.
Ship too couple months to get to sailing condition and I acquired Queensland skippers licence.
Then we sailed up north on Queensland Coast.
Later got some more crew and I learned what my boat can do.
Slow boat but I was not in a hurry. My Finnish Army drill sergeant often said that if you end up in a hurry, stop, sit down and wait until hurry goes past you and continue after that. Meaning that rushed decision could be costly.

At one stage I was left on my own as I sacked this first guy and the Italian couple started looking for work at Airlie Beach.
So I was planning to head further north to Cairns on my own. I sailed to Bowen which was my first single handed sail.
I was proud of myself but also a bit anxious about what may lie ahead?
Long stretches of sailing legs single handed on my slow 50 year old catamaran felt like too hard task at this stage so I turned back to Whitsundays. Cyclone season was also approaching so I made a decision to turn back.
It was easy to get volunteer crews to share trips to Whitsunday Islands as it is a favorite cruising destination in Australia.
But getting crew to go south from Airlie Beach was hard.
So I felt it was time to make longer single handed trip to next destination which was Gladsone Marina. Cheapest coastal marina Iknew so staying there a few days did not break my budget.
A week from Shute Harbour to Gladstone stopping at islands to anchor was a huge confidence booster.
I do have previous experience on watersports, skills at mechanical repairs, electronics and communications chareer so I was not starting from scratch but applying my complementary skills.
It has been mainly fun, exiting and sometimes scary with myself and various crews.
All good this stage. I am fitter than I have been for years, my boat is in best condition it has ever been with new sails and I am enjoying life.

So my advice is to trust your instincts, take those baby steps, then a few bigger jumps when time is right.
Keep yourself immersed to sailing books, Youtube videos and go talk to boat owners with all kinds of boats.

[sail sfbay]

Originally Posted by cooper1991

......... W

How do I go from zero to competent without having sailing friends or crew, as I want to single hand? With 5 months (August - January) from your original post until you have access to sailing you have plenty of time to read/study and take in classes and on-line courses on navigation rules, boating safety, docking and sailing skills. The resourses for this step are endless. Then 2 months (February - March) take on-the-water docking and sailing classes.

Will people at marinas be happy to come and ride shotgun or is there a programme of things to do to build confidence and competence that I can follow? This will depend on a lot of factors..........how fast you have climb the learning curve on navigation rules, boating safety, docking and sailing skills, marina docking conditions and sailing conditions, etc.

[TrentePieds]

Cooper:

Over the last year you've talked about a diversity of boats. As I remember it, you've been interested in a Jeanneau Sunrise 35 and in a Voyager 35. To wit:

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/sunrise-35

and

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/voyager-35-primrose

But you have not told us what you've plumped for. Given the vast difference in concept of these two boats (if indeed they are the ones you have referred to) the way to learn on your own, which you can very well do, will differ significantly, and we cannot really guide you unless you get more specific about the boat you now have.

Do be good enough to find it here:

https://sailboatdata.com/

and post the write up for us so we will know what we are talking about :-)

However, the task of learning on your own can, as most things can, be broken down systematically and dealt with one bit at a time. Firstly, I would advise you to forget that the vessel is a sailboat. For a few days or a week, just consider her a motor vessel and learn to take her out of the marina where she lies, and back in again. Half a hundred departures and arrivals will not be too many at all. Don't consider the time so spent "yachting". It is "work time"! You simply have a job to do, so just get on with it :-). We can talk you through the evolutions required once you commit to this modus operandi. The evolutions, while the same in every kind of boat, differ in their particular execution depending on the particular boat, which is why we need to know what it is you have.

When you have departures and arrivals solidly under your belt, you can go to open water and begin to learn sail management. Again there are differences from boat to boat, and to help you, we need to know what boat you have. A couple of weeks of applying yourself seriously to the task of learning sail management will get you to the point where you can begin to think about putting the polish on it. Do not be distracted, at this time, by advice given by people with vast experience handling sail during races. You are not, in this initial period, striving for perfection. What you are striving for is ADEQUACY!

Having completed these two tasks: a) boat handling under power and b) boat handling under sail, you can begin to think about becoming a seafarer, and we can come back to what is involved in that when you get that far. I recall from your previous posts that your aspirations are commendably great:-)!

I think, thinking back on what I recall of your posts, that your greatest immediate task is overcoming a certain hesitancy, a certain lack of confidence, in regard to what you've set out to do. I think also that the surest, fastest way to gain confidence is to do the two things I have suggested above.

All the best to you :-)!

TrentePieds