ASA Certs. for a Beginner - Opinions ?

[virginia boy]

I have been reading everything I can on sailing and livingaboard etc. with the dream of buying a boat and taking off around the world. Well, last week I finished a basic sailing course and loved it! The wake up call came this weekend when i sailed with my friend on a 35 foot O-Day and tacked for 4 hours. Up near annapolis. That was reeaally hard work and I'm thinking maybe I'm too old for full time sailing ya know? i'm not giving up but I can see that my idea of getting a big boat is gonna change. Maybe 30 ft. That was waay too much work for me thank you very much! LOL! Eric

[jackdale]

There are lots of ways to make work much easier. Years ago, I read Sailing for Non-Macho Sailors. It had some great advice.

Get bigger winches - most are under sized.
Get longer winch handles - much better mechanical advantage.
Head up and let the jib luff - makes it easier to harden
Larger diameter sheets are easier and the hands

If all else fails - there are always electric winches.

Also coastal and bay sailing is much harder that open ocean sailing. On a passage from Bermuda to St Barthe's, we tacked twice.

Jack

[teartags]

Thank you all for the helpful insight. Upon researching the very limited schools in our area and seeing the cost (ouch), we've decided that I will take the courses and, if need be, my wife will take them later. We're pretty limited on what we can learn to sail on around here, but I think 101 & 103 on 18's will be fine and then the 104 course on a vacation will be our plan.
Thanks again everyone for the advice!

[sck5]

The most important thing to do is GO SAILING. I first did that by taking ASA 101 103 and 104. I found the instructors to be gold mines of information and willing to answer questions all day long. Yes, it was tiring since they purposely put us through the paces non-stop but sailing is very much a learning-by-doing sort of thing. And there is so much to learn about the various systems on a large boat it is a very good idea to have someone show you how to do it the first time out.

And as for a lot of work, it really depends how you want to do it. If you are tired of tacking back and forth all day when you have your own boat you can just motor for a while. Some people are very macho about sailing every inch of the way but the fact is, it is supposed to be FUN. And when I am out cruising between islands there is no reason I have to go ANYWHERE on any given day.

A note on the hard work - My sister and brother in law came with my wife and me on a Moorings charter after taking a one week vacation/course on a keelboat in the Bahamas. They were very happily surprised at the fact that self tailing winches are so much easier to use than the old fashioned kind. Lazy jacks were news also. Just goes to show that the boat you were on doesnt necessarily have the various modern conveniences that make sailing easier. You can be downright lazy and still sail around just fine. Guess how I know this.