by Brad –

So you want to be a sailor? That’s great, welcome! Sailing is a wonderful hobby, sport and lifestyle; it’s something that we love and want to grow and share with everyone we can, which is why we built this website. If you’re coming into sailing brand new, the first question is “where to start?”. You’ll get so many different answers, depending on who you ask.

Some people feel strongly that every beginner should learn to sail with lessons through a formal school, like those certified by US Sailing and the American Sailing Association. There are many upsides to these courses, they’re structured to provide a thorough overview of sailing and boat handling, they’re hands-on, and students have access to experienced instructors to get their questions answered. Records of classes taken and certifications earned can be useful if you’re looking to charter a sailboat or insure your sailboat in the future.

There can be downsides to the formal sailing school route as well, depending on where you live it may be difficult to access one of these programs, or the schedule may not fit with your needs. Some people may not like the structure and rigidity of a set curriculum, preferring a process driven more by self-discovery. 

Within this camp there are divisions between those who say the best way to learn is on a small boat, and those who say the best way is to learn on the kind of boat you want to own. The small boat partisans will say dinghies are best because you get more immediate feedback how sail trim, rudder inputs and weight distribution affect the boat, thereby improving the student’s understanding of what makes boats go, and there is truth to this. Big boat partisans would say that this broad understanding, facilitated by the greater ‘feel’ afforded by dinghies, isn’t what is important. More important is the understanding of how to use the systems of a larger boat, how to counter prop-walk when maneuvering in a harbor, properly set an anchor or navigate a channel at night.

Others feel that you should just dive straight in – buy the boat and learn by doing. There are certainly aspects of learning to sail that you must learn by doing. In some cases buying a cheap sailboat to learn on can be more cost effective than taking lessons. With this route you get the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them on your own boat, at your own pace. You can go sailing when it fits your schedule, wherever is convenient for you. Some people would say the best way to learn is by buying a cheap sailboat, one that is small and basic to learn on and beat up, before moving up to the boat you really want. There are definite benefits to this approach – larger, more complex boats cost more to buy, insure, maintain and store, and the cost of damaging one are far more than if you had done similar damage to a smaller, cheaper boat. On the flipside, sailboats generally aren’t good investments, so planning to buy and sell your way up in size and complexity until you get your ‘forever boat’ could end up costing more than going straight to the boat you want. This doesn’t have to be the case, but it certainly can be. 

A significant downside to this approach, whether you go small-and-cheap or straight to the one you want, is that anytime you begin something new, you don’t know what you don’t know. The biggest pitfall to this approach is that, if you’re coming to sailing as an absolute beginner you probably aren’t even aware of all the things you need to learn. Usually the learning and the awareness of what you didn’t know come at the same time, immediately after making a mistake. Often these mistakes are relatively minor, and you can dust yourself off, take the lesson and move on. Sometimes they’re major, and this is an area in which sailing differs from some other hobbies. A sailboat offers almost unparalleled freedom – if you learn how to sail your boat can take you anywhere. This freedom is one of the great things about sailing, and it also allows us to move outside the guardrails that exist in the rest of the world to keep us from hurting ourselves. 

The third common response to the question “how do I learn to sail?” is to suggest volunteering to crew on someone else’s boat. This can be a great option that affords a new sailor the opportunity to learn from an experienced sailor without having to pay for lessons, and get a first-hand look at how to run a boat without having to invest in purchasing their own boat. Many yacht clubs have crew finder sites that allow would-be crew members to connect with skippers looking for crew. A willingness to show up regularly and/or help out with some of the boat work are often sufficient to secure a spot on a boat whenever they’re going out. This can be a great way to gain experience and skill while also growing your network within the sailing community (making friends!). 

Like the others, this approach has it’s downsides. The skill of skippers as sailors and teachers varies widely; some are knowledgeable and patient, others are modestly competent themselves and like to yell. 

In summary, there are lots of ways to learn to sail. None of them are perfect for all the people all the time. We dearly love this sport (hobby, lifestyle), and would love to help you get started sailing. And get started in a way that will work for you, where you live, within the time and money you’re looking to spend. Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page what is your biggest worry about learning to sail. Or, if you’re already a sailor, what was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome to get where you are today?