Sailing Schools

[OldFrog75]

In Southern California take a look at Marina Sailing. They offer the ASA classes and certifications.

They have a presence in 6 marinas from San Diego to Oxnard (the Channel Islands) and a fleet of 80 boats for charter.

Worked for me.

Marinasailing.com

[Sailing Cowboy]

Your on the right track by staying clear of Hawaii for sail instruction. Been there many times and sail instruction isnt there strong suit. Scuba Diving Yes. I would suggest San Diego Sailing Academy out of Kona Kai Marina. My son and I are doing 104 & 105 there this summer. Nice drive over from PHX where we are from as well. Week long liveaboard.

here they are San Diego Sailing Academy

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by salmonlv

@settingsun – You are living my dream. Unfortunately BVI isn’t in the budget at this time. LA or maybe Lake Mead are much more likely.
My problem is that my wife isn’t ‘on board’ with my dream. She sees sailing school as an unnecessary expense that we can’t afford. I see it as the first step in allowing us to be able to take sailing vacations over the next 13 years (until I can retire).
@happymdrsailor – We are definitely staying in LV. I work at a place that participates in the state public employee’s retirement system. With as much time as I have in the system, it makes no sense for me to move out of Nevada.

If money is a problem, there is a much easier (and cheaper) method than a sailing school. I bought a book back in the early 90's that had one diagram that really helped me. It showed a boat pointing up the page and the wind going the other way.

Then there were different pictures of the boat around the clock so to speak. As the boat went off from pointing up the page, the sails came out more and more. That's it! That's the basics.

I used this and then bought a Hobie 16 and ended up racing and beating some of the best sailors in the Memphis and the Pensacola area. Of course, in Florida we did sail sometimes 10 months out of the year almost every weekend (usually 5 windward/leeward races each time) but the basis of my understanding at first was that diagram. (I did go thru 4 catamarans in the process and did have a bridge or too jump out in front of me plus a submerged piling that caused me to pitchpole the boat) It does get tough sailing under a bridge into the wind thru the channel gap.

Some expert monohull cruising sailors still cannot hold their boat still on the starting line for 2 minutes like some beginner catamaran racers which shows you the other side of sailing. There's so much more to it than just steering and sheeting.

(but) If you were to buy a small Sunfish Sailboat ($500-$1500) or something like that (even a dinghy sailboat) and go to the nearest body of water, you would learn.........

Btw, if you do try this method, don't forget to install some cassette tape or some type of wind indicator on your vessel whatever it is. It does take some time to learn to "feel" the direction of the wind.