This is a real story with some details left out to protect the not so innocent. But it serves as a great sailing lesson to all of us and could save your boat from sinking. Read on!
A sinking boat taking down another
It was a regular weekend yacht club regatta – that turned out to be not so regular. One of the J22′s collided with another boat. The hole that was created was big enough to cause the boat to start taking on water. The club bought over their committee boat to tow the sinking sailboat back to the club house. The sailboat, instead of using a dock line for towing, gave the tow boat the anchor rode chain. Both boats cleated the chain part of the anchor rode to their boats and began the tow. The towed sailboat began taking on more and more water until it began to slowly slip under. Neither of the captains could untie the chain due to the tension and certainly did not have a set of bolt cutters onboard. The weight of the sailboat pulled the tow boat stern under the water and down they both went.
The ultimate irony was that upon diving the wreckage, the sailboat actually was sitting on top of the tow boat.
A few lessons to be heeded:
(1) Don’t tow a sinking boat
(2) Never use the chain
(3) In all circumstances make sure there is a knife readily available on both boats
(4) Don’t have a collision in the first place.
These kinds of tips are loaded through out the NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course. Just one tip like the above could save your boat, save a life, or spare some serious embarrassment.
Take the NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course today! And now, as of today, the Skipper Sailing Course is available in a PDF downloadable format.
NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course Now Available in PDF format
How to Heave To
The books simply say to tack the boat and leave the head sail cleated to windward and turn the wheel all the way to windward (tiller to lee). While that’s correct, there are a lot more things to think about to pull it off correctly. This article is part of the training in the Skipper Sailing Course and is written by Grant Headifen, the Educational Director.
There are a few reasons you might want to heave to.
Lunch, simply taking a rest, or instructor debriefing
Storm Tactics and Reefing
Man over board recovery
Boarding by another vessel (ie, crew change during a race, or law enforcement safety inspection)
A Cool Trick about Heaving to!
The first thing to think about is (if you can) lie in a heave-to position so that your boom is on the port side. Why? So that you’re technically sailing “on starboard tack”, putting you in a more advantageous stand-on position with regard to the Navigation Rules vis-a-vis other sailboats “on port” tack. Wouldn’t want to disturb our lunch now would we? It’s not a big deal but just something most people may not have thought about.
What is Heaving To?
When you are successfully hove-to, your sailboat will be in a stable situation with the mainsail and headsail still up. Your forward speed will be minimal and you’ll be sliding downwind slightly. This makes it an ideal strategy for the situations above. Essentially you’re under full sail but nearly stopped! Cool eh?
How Heaving to works
The mechanics of the heave-to situation is that the forward speed of the boat has dropped to a minimum because the head sail is back winded (aback) and the main sail has been eased out far enough to reduce nearly all of the forward driving lift on the sail. The backwinded head sail creates a large turning moment on the boat to turn it downwind. As the boat turns downwind however the boat tends to pick up a little speed. As the boat picks up a little speed, the windward locked wheel causes the rudder to turn the boat back upwind, killing off the speed. It creates a little see-saw action. You can adjust the see-saw action by adjusting the set of the headsail, the mainsail, and the rudder angle. Each boat will see-saw a little differently in differing wind conditions and due to the distances of the rudder and the headsail center of pressure positions around the hydrodynamic pivot point of the vessel. Once the boat is settled, by making small adjustments to the angle of the rudder, the amount the mainsail is eased, and by the “depth” or flatness of the headsail, a skilled operator can make very useful adjustments to the exact way in which the boat is lying to the wind and seas. Practice practice practice! When that storm comes, you’ll be glad.
How to Heave To
Once you’ve got it down, you’ll enjoy having this little skill under your belt but you’ve got to practice it a few times. To enter into a hove-to position, if practical, start out on a on a port tack with the headsail sheeted in tight. Tack the boat slowly onto a starboard tack (bleeding off some speed while head-to-wind) but leave the headsail cleated (ie don’t tack the headsail). Turn the boat so that you’re on a close reach (60 degrees off the wind) and let out the mainsail most of the way out so that it is luffing. Now wait until the rest of the boat’s headway speed bleeds off. That’s the key part. If you turn the rudder to windward (the wheel to windward or the tiller to leeward) before the speed bleeds off, the momentum of the boat may carry it through another tack. Once the speed has bled off, turn the rudder all the way to windward (wheel to windward or tiller to leeward) and lock it in that position (lashing the tiller).
Heaving to in a Storm
It’s really important to realize that this is a completely wise thing to do in a storm. With a huge caveat, make sure you have plenty of sea-room distance to leeward on the track of your hove-to reckoning, avoiding shoals, or the other hard stuff (like land!). Heaving-to in a storm gives you and your crew a rest from the elements. And it can be a safer means of riding out a storm rather than trying to sail it out. The boat is in a completely stable position. You should probably lower or deeply reef the main or raise a storm trisail (very small mainsail) as well as a small headsail to reduce loads on the rig. Here’s the kicker that is really cool – since the boat will be slipping sideways, a wake is left to windward. Any breaking waves hit this “slick” and flatten out, thus reducing the wave action on your vessel. Now that’s really cool.
Heaving To in a Sailboat in a Storm
A Heave To Must
When you’re settled down into the heave to position and every thing is balanced, use a preventer line to “prevent” the boom. This will prevent the boom from slapping around wildly with sudden variable gusts, save wear on the rig, prevent an accidental gybe or worse yet a bonk on the head if you need to go forward.
Using Heaving to in a Man Overboard Situation
Heaving to can be a very effective crew over-board recovery technique. The very moment the victim goes over the side you can crash tack the boat and go into a heave-to position. You must be sure that the victim is able to swim, that they did not sustain injury whist falling. It’s your call on this one but it’s a technique not often taught and so isn’t considered in the panic but, it will keep you from getting too far away from your friend in the water which is clearly the biggest danger. Me? I’d still get the engines on. On that topic, the biggest danger they say from turning on the engines is not chopping your friend up, you’re smart enough not to do that, it’s from getting a line wrapped around the prop in all the panic. So just make that’s part of your “engines-on” routine in crew over-board practice. Next time you’re out practice man (or woman) over board.
There you have it, you’re now a heave to expert. NOT! You haven’t practiced it enough yet! And while you’re out there practicing it, have fun. Or should it be the other way around???
The information contained in this explanation of what is propeller walk comes directly from the NauticEd Maneuvering and docking a sailboat under power sailing course which forms part of the requirement for the NauticEd Sailing Certification rank of Skipper.
You’ve learned to sail, sailed for a few years, and now you’ve upgraded to a bigger boat with an inboard engine. How frustrating! You want your new sailboat to go backwards but you keep going sideways. Welcome to propwalk. GRRRRR. This is not something that you probably got taught at your local sailing school because you learned on a smaller boat with maybe an outboard. Now you’ve got a much bigger and heavier boat and there are more expensive mistakes that can be made. Propwalk can be frustrating or you can understand it and use it to your advantage.
Let’s Understand Propwalk.
Imagine you’re walking up a spiral staircase. Each step is the same height and requires the same amount of energy to go up the next step.
Spiral stair case
Now imagine if the spiral stair case was tilted over 20 degrees. You’d find that as you went around the stairs they would be steeper on one side and flatter on the other. Or the stepper side cuts through more vertical space than the flatter side.
Stair case tilted
As we look at a propeller and the water flowing through it, the arc that the tips of the propeller follow relative to the moving water pushed by the propeller is a spiral shape, much like a spiral staircase.
Propeller Spiral
Or another way to see it, is to observe the sweep of each blade as it passes through the water.
Propeller moving water through the water
Now if we tilt the shaft of the propeller down, the spiral also tilts down.
Tilted Propeller Shaft
But we have to put put a few prefaces on this. There must be no boat hull above to affect the initial flow of water, the water must be deep and the propeller can not be moving horizontally through the water – that’s a lot of prefaces and not reality. But here is what that would look like anyway.
Propeller tilted down and moving forward
Now let’s put the propeller in close proximity to the hull of the boat where the water tends to move horizontally. This is represented here by the imaginary sweep lines. Here then you can see that the up swinging reversing blade (green -starboard) cuts more of the flowing water similar to the tilting staircase example above.
Propeller tilted with water moving horizontal
In much the same way as the tilting staircase, the down sweeping blade cuts through less flowing water than the upsweeping blade. This creates more force on the up swinging side of the propeller than the down swinging side and thus a torque is produced on the prop shaft.
This results in the following forces and thus a resultant clockwise torque on the boat.
Resultant torque on propeller
In a similar fashion, imagine yourself treading water in a swimming pool and your right arm swings in big circles while your left swings in smaller circles. Your body would move backwards but the action would also turn your face to the right and consequently your back to the left. The boat turns in exactly the same way.
In forward gear, the exact same phenomenon occurs, just in the opposite direction. However, we notice it much less because the water from the propeller is being pushed over the rudder which creates far greater forces and thus counteracts any tilt induced torque.
So in summary, a boat which has a counter rotating shaft, when in reverse, yaws clockwise (stern to the left) because the shaft is tilting downwards. Factors to reduce the effect include having a smaller diameter propeller or reducing the pitch (twist) of the blade or lengthening the shaft so that the water flow is further from the boat which would tend to allow the water flow to be more in line with the shaft. The effect is also reduced by a slower turning propeller IE less engine RPM.
An alternative way of mounting the propeller is called a saildrive and these are widely accepted in Europe. Saildrive systems have a horizontally mounted propeller shaft and therefore they do not create prop walk.
A sail drive unit does not experience prop walk
But there is no need to run out and go to the expense of converting your boat to a saildrive unit if you are experiencing frustration with prop walk. Because now that you understand the theory of propwalk, (more than 90% of sailors) all you have to do is practice the exercises in the NauticEd Maneuvering under power course a few times and you’ll have it licked.
So there you have it – now you’re 1 in a thousand sailors who understand how propwalk originates.
The boating rules and NauticEd’s Maneuvering and docking a sailboat under Power sailing course shows students how to take advantage of propwalk. Just imagine you’re trapped in an EXTREMELY tight marina. Exercise number 8 wil show you how to get out. Turn the boat one way and you’re in trouble, turn it the other way and use a combination of wheel and throttle and you’re out of there with out a scratch.
Maneuvering and Docking a Sailboat Under Power Sailing Course
Take Maneuvering and docking a sailboat under Power course from one of the best sailing schools online – NauticEd.
NauticEd’s online sailing school recent growth spurt has been due to our students telling other students about us. So we have implemented a reward system for that awesome behavior.
Introducing NauticEd’s Social Expansion Loop Program. Watch the video here.
Essentially – you can now set up your own NauticEd Promocode and give it out to as many friends as you want. When your friends use your promocode they get $15 off any one NauticEd Sailing Course and you get big time kudo’s for that. Then you get to accumulate $10 credit for every friend that uses your code. Refer 2 friends – get $20 credit and thus any NauticEd clinic for half price. Refer 4 friends and get a NauticEd clinic for free. etc. etc. There is no limit to the credit you can accumulate.
To set this up – login to your NauticEd account and click on the new “Referrals” tab and follow the instructions. After your friends use the code, you’ll notice your credit starting to accumulate.
We wanted to implement this because it is rewarding what people were doing anyway but with out the reward – so thanks to everyone for being such great stewards for NauticEd. Much appreciated. Please enjoy the new reward program.
So now – if there is anyone you know of who wants to learn to sail, get a sailing certification or just brush up on their sailing skills, make sure you send to them your personalized NauticEd promocode.
But the only one catch is that people can only use an introductory promocode once, meaning that if some one else gives them their code before you do – you won’t get the credit – the other referring person will. So act fast – add the promocode to your facebook or twitter feeds and email anybody who is even thinking about sailing.
No – it’s not a typo – it’s definitely “Harbour” as opposed to “Harbor”. That’s because its in Auckland, New Zealand and down here the blue of the ocean is a colour not color. The extra “u” is something to do with the direction of bath water spinning the opposite way down the drain. (See the NauticEd Weather Course to learn about Coriolis spin effect and why a cyclone spins clockwise down here). But … I digress…
I sailed in a little wednesday night local regatta (about 40 boats) this week in Auckland New Zealand Harbour. And what a pleasure it was to get out on the water racing again. I hooked up with an old University buddy, Dave Berry, on a Young 88 (8.8 meter New Zealand design and built racing sailboat).
The Young 88 Courtesy of young88.org.nz
The Young 88 Class has quite an active fleet and typically about 12 boats race in the one design fleet race on any given Wednesday. This week half of New Zealand was still on vacation so the fleet size was down a little. Our motley crew assembled at about 5:50pm for a 6:20 start. I use the term “motley” because it’s an excuse to say that since we had not raced as a team together before, we didn’t do so well at the finish line.
Our spinaker launches and take downs were flawless but we got our butts kicked on the long upwind leg. With out knowing the Young 88 sailing profile and best practices, I’m guessing that our speed slowed due to being over powered and thus over healing (I think).
Over healing slows the boat down in several ways. The main ones are:
Due to the angle, you have less keel vertically presented to the water and so your side slip increases.
Drag is increased because the hull is not optimally designed for these kinds of angles
It’s difficult for high speed wind to stay attached to the lee side of a large sail and thus more turbulence spins off the back of the sail reducing the effectiveness of the sail.
Please comment on other reasons if you’d like to add.
So in high winds, you’re sometimes better off going with a smaller sail. In the middle of a regatta however, the time it takes to change out a sail is very costly so you’ve got to do your best guess at the sail vs the conditions prior to the start.This comes from experience in operating your boat. IE you’ve got to loose a lot of races before you start to gain some placements.
Another factor which we had to be cognizant of was that the tide was ebbing out of the harbour. This meant we needed to keep out of the main channel when going back up the harbour to keep out of the highest current flow. This is part of local knowledge and you can bet that the old hands in a local area will be doing better than newbys.
Here’s a pic of some the fleet coming out from under the Auckland Harbour Bridge on the way to the finish line.
All this brings us to the conclussion that this year we’ll release a regatta racing sailing course so stay tuned. Become a fan of NauticEd on facebook and we’ll let you know as soon as we launch that course.
A quick final point for this entry is that if you really want to learn to sail – get your self on a race boat in a regatta. It’s the way I learned years ago. You instantly pick up best practices and those practices are drilled in many times over. There’s no space for learning bad sailing practices in a race. The results are immediately presented to you. Almost every sailing location has a yacht club. All you have to do is to put you name and ph number on the board and you’ll get a call or stand on the dock looking lost on any race day and every short handed boat will be bidding over you.
Now, want some REAL FUN?
Want to learn from the best?
Want to get out of the cold?
Come on NauticEd’s 80 foot Maxi Yacht in the Rolex Regatta in March 2011 in St. Thomas or if you’re female join NauticEd’s 51 ft Swan all female crew in the same Rolex Regatta.
“A sailboat!” yelped Alex with glee as he uncovered his eyes and gazed upon a shiny dinghy sailboat sitting proud on a trailer in the garage.
Alex’s dad was happily standing next to him with his arm over his shoulder. “Happy Birthday, Son,” he said, “he’s all yours now.”
That’s the opening two paragraphs in NauticEd’s new educational and interactive sailing book called Alex Learns to Sail. The world’s first of its type ebook has been written especially for kids and is the latest invention of Grant Headifen, NauticEd’s Educational Director. “It’s an invention because no where have a I found such a book. It’s an educational, entertaining and interactive approach to teaching kids to sail” says Headifen.
Alex Learns to Sail a Dinghy
Readers are introduced in a step by step manner to the concepts of dinghy sailing using a fun fictional storyline and by utilizing progressive micro interactive applications through out the ebook. At the end of the book Alex, the main character, races in a club regatta with an edge of the seat finish. Readers can then electronically build and paint their own dinghy then race the same regatta course in a game that incorporates all the skills they have learned through out the ebook.
The micro applications teach the reader the how to assemble a dinghy, how to steer a dinghy with a tiller, adjust the mainsail for optimum speed, understand the telltales and to feel the heel of the boat. The dinghy sailing game at the end then allows the reader to compile all their new found skills learned in the ebook.
Headifen developed all the mathematics for the game using his knowledge of sailing and his engineering background. He then outsourced the flash programming but first, he says, he had to teach the programmer to sail via Skype chat. Probably a first as well he says.
Headifen came up with the idea while watching kids sailing on Waiake Beach in New Zealand earlier this year. “I had been approached many times to develop an online kids dinghy sailing course similar to the NauticEd big boat courses. I just didn’t think a factual online course could hold a kids attention for long enough and so the idea of an exciting fiction story developed. It’s got a really cool twist in the ebook that kids are going to love and the interactive elements will keep them captivated”.
NauticEd is expecting that kids sailing programs worldwide will pick up on the ebook due to it’s educational value. Instructors will be able to ask the kids to complete the ebook in their own time and show up with the certificate of completion before the first practical teaching session starts or they can use the ebook for rain out days.
Those wanting to post a message on their notice board at their yacht club etc regarding the dinghy sailing lessons can download this PDF file.
Today, NauticEd Online Sailing School announced its release of the NauticEd Captain’s Rank. This coincides with the posting of the NauticEd Safety at Sea Clinic which is the final required course to attain the Sailing Certification Rank. The NauticEd Captain’s Rank focuses entirely on sailboat operations both near shore and offshore and is directed specifically towards the recreational sailboater.
Until now, many recreational sailboaters have been gaining a commercial boating license to attain the educational equivalence of Captain but with out the intention of operating commercially. Now with NauticEd, students can gain a Captain’s Sailing Certification with out jumping through the significant hoops associated with a commercial operator’s license.
This is very exciting for the sailing industry says Grant Headifen, Educational Director for NauticEd. ‘It means that we can have more educated boaters on the water and the investment cost in the education is well within reach of every sailboater. We’ve lowered the barriers and made the experience fun and interactive with multimedia learning. Now, if anyone wants to learn to sail, gain a sailing certification or just increase their sailing education, doing it online makes it more accessible and thus more likely to be done”. The Educational investment in the Captain’s Rank is less than $US300.
Headifen estimates it will take the average student 60 hours of study over time to complete the theory courses and online tests associated with the NauticEd Captain’s Rank. The NauticEd online Courses required to gain the rank cover a wide breadth of topics listed as follows:
Skipper
Maneuvering Under Power
Coastal Navigation
Bareboat Charter
Sail Trim
Storm Tactics
Weather
Safety at Sea
Captain's Rank bundle of Sailing Courses
In addition, a NauticEd Captain must have logged a minimum amount of real sea time which is denoted by a level associated with the Rank as follows:
Captain Level III - 50 days of sea time;
Captain Level IV – 100 days of sea time
Captain Level V - 200 days of sea time.
Time is logged on NauticEd’s online sailing logbook and can be accessed via iPhone and Android apps or on an internet connected computer.
NauticEd which stands for Nautic Education offers 2 lower level Sailing Certifications; Skipper and Bareboat Charter Master. These are achieved by passing fewer courses than listed above. NauticEd also offers other online courses such as a Catamaran Sailing Confidence, Celestial Navigation, and a Crew Course.
To learn more sailing tips from NauticEd Sailing School visit our website.
SAILING WOMEN INVITED TO RACE IN THE 38TH ANNUAL ST. THOMAS INTERNATIONAL ROLEX REGATTA
Escape the winter blahs and learn how to sail by joining the fun and excitement of participating with an all-woman crew in beautiful St. Thomas, USVI, March 2011!
NauticEd and Safe Passage Sailing, LLC invite you to “sail with the best” in a world class regatta with world class skipper and mentor Suzette Smith, leading an all women’s crew. This will be an experience not to be missed!
Whether it’s the adventure of cruising or the excitement of racing, there’s no place like being on a Safe Passage Sailing Charter. If you’re an intermediate to advanced female sailor, now you have the opportunity to join in on all the fun.
Rolex Regatta All Women Crew
The St. Thomas Yacht Club and title sponsor Rolex are the hosts for this regatta known as the “Crown Jewel” of Caribbean racing that boasts “reliable breezes, warm azure waters and world-renowned Island hospitality.”
SPS Program includes:
Exclusive charter of a Swan 51’ – Northern Child
2 race training days, lay day, 3 race days
Racing pro Suzette Smith, licensed skipper, and 1st mate
All race registration/entry fees
All berthing fees, fuel, and on/off shore support
Race equipment including spinnakers
Breakfast at the St. Thomas YC on race days
Lunch, snacks and beverages each day on the boat
SPS stow bag with shirts, hats, and other gifts for each guest
Event management
Event and crew photographs
Transportation will be provided/arranged from/to airport, marina to YC parties
Register Now!
Program Cost: $3275 per person
Participants: 11
Accommodations and airfare not included. Group hotel accommodations and transportation options TBA.
Suzette Smith Sailing Pro
Racing Pro Suzette Smith International Racing and Cruising Specialist will be onboard Northern Child in the role as coach/mentor. Suzette is a seasoned licensed charter captain with a USCG Masters 100 ton and ASA certified instructor on yachts 38’-70’+.
In 2006 she was named ASA’s “Outstanding National Instructor of the Year.”
Ms Smith has participated in numerous high caliber sailing campaigns such as Team Pegasus, the first and only all-woman America’s Cup team, America 3, which raced in the 1995 America‘s Cup defenders series, as well as other notable regattas around the world.
Additional Crew:
RYA licensed Skipper/Owner Christian Reynolds and First Mate Lucy Jones will be onboard to assist and facilitate during the regatta.
Details of the St. Thomas International Regatta itinerary are available online at
Hi-Res Photos are also available. Please contact us with your specific needs.
For more information regarding SPS “Sailing with the Best” events, or to register for this event, please visit our website at www.safepassagesailing.com. Please feel free to call or e-mail SPS for more information: Tell them NauticEd sent you.
Randee Fowler
SafePassageSailing
415/381-4773 direct
415/637-4051 mobile
rfowler@safepassagesailing.com
SAILING ENTHUSIASTS INVITED TO RACE IN THE 38TH ANNUAL ST. THOMAS INTERNATIONAL ROLEX REGATTA
Escape the winter blahs and join the fun and excitement of participating in this world class event in beautiful St. Thomas, USVI, March 2011!
NauticEd and Safe Passage Sailing, LLC invite you to “sail with the best” in this celebrated international regatta with world class racing pros Brian Thompson and Rich Stearns as your mentors on the racing maxi yacht Frers 80, Kialoa V. This will be an experience not to be missed!
The St. Thomas Yacht Club and title sponsor Rolex are the hosts for this regatta known as the “Crown Jewel” of Caribbean racing that boasts “reliable breezes, warm azure waters and world-renowned Island hospitality.
Program includes:
Exclusive charter of the maxi Frers 80, Kialoa V
Racing pros, licensed skipper, 1st mate and additional racing support crew
2 race training days, lay day, 3 race days
All race registration/entry fees
All berthing fees, fuel, and on/off shore support
Race equipment including spinnakers
Breakfast at the St. Thomas YC on race days
Lunch, snacks and beverages each day on the boat
SPS stow bag with shirts, hats, and other gifts
Event management
Event and crew photographs
Transportation will be provided/arranged from/to airport, marina to YC parties
Hi-Res Photos are also available. Please contact us with you specific needs.
For more information regarding SPS “Sailing with the Best” events, or to register for this event, please visit www.safepassagesailing.com. Please feel free to call or e-mail SPS for more information: Tell them NauticEd sent you!
Randee Fowler
SafePassageSailing
415/381-4773 direct
415/637-4051 mobile
rfowler@safepassagesailing.com
I get this message below all the time from people that I know or meet. Here’s one I got this morning through my Linkedin account.
>>>>>>>
Hey Grant,
Long time no see. Grant, I’m thinking about learning to sail. Your sailing vacations all over the world have inspired me. What do I do, where do I start, can I buy you a beer some time and get some advice from you.
Mark.
>>>>>>>>>>
Here’s my reply this morning
Mark,
Would be good to catch up. In the meantime – here’s my advice. Obviously I’m a little biased here but you should really start with one of my online theory classes. I’d recommend the NauticEd day skipper courses. That will give you a good solid knowledge of what you need to know when starting out on a learn to sail quest.
Skipper Sailing Course
The next thing I would recommend is to spend ¼ million dollars on a boat – nah just kidding. Go join our local yacht club and do some racing. Almost every yacht club is begging for members to be crew on their boats. A note on their pin up board that you want to crew will attract multiple phone calls to you. Also just call their office and ask what you should do. But I guarantee that they will be more than happy to have you out there. Yacht clubs appear old and stodgy on the out side but once you get inside there are dozens of skippers that are keen to help out.
Whether or not you’re into yacht racing, racing is the absolute best way to learn fast through immersion and you can rack up the experience fast. By taking the skipper course you’ll have the theory knowledge to know what you’re doing on the boat. Now you just need to burn it into your brain with the practical sailing skills.
Log all your yacht club time in our free online logbook as it counts towards your sailing certification rank.
Another thing you can do is to go to the local sailing school. In Austin it is the Texas Sailing Academy. They teach a 2 weekend long basic introduction to sailing and will give you hands on training. Just make sure that whatever school you go to that they don’t put too many people on the boat at one time. It waters down your practical experience. Some schools do this to keep the cost down but if you’re there to learn to sail then you’re there to learn to sail not water it down with a cheap course. With Sailing courses you get what you pay for.
The other ways to gain practical sailing experience is to catch up with friends who have a sailboat. Funny enough but sailboat owners are almost desperate to have some one call them and say “would you like to come sailing with me on your boat this weekend”? But people learning to sail are always too embarrassed to ask – so sailboats tend to sit in the slip month after month. So just ask.
If your goal is to take a sailing vacation then I’d also recommend aiming to reach our Bareboat Charter Master Rank and our day skipper theory courses. Most worldwide charter companies accept our certification. Sailing vacations are the way to go. They’re relatively inexpensive and you get to go to some awesome places. As you know, every year we gather our friends and go somewhere. This year we’re chartering three boats with The Moorings South Pacific in Tonga. I was up there a few months back and wow – what an incredible place. By the time we get there next month the place is supposed to be teeming with whales.
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