Best Way To Learn, Given Circumstances

[StoneCrab]

I learned to sail in a sailing club. Best move ever.

They offered winter dryland classes and summertime on the water lessons. They were awesome for skill development and networking.

Being a low budget club, working on the boats was a requirements. Membership was less than $200 per year. I learned quite a bit working on the boats, made good friends that I could later sail with and found that I could fix most things that came up on the boats when using them.

The club was very thorough and formal requiring signed check lists before and after every sail. the lists enforces standardization, eliminates memory lapses and is a record for accountability.

Their training assumed no prior knowledge and required constant communication while underway. This sets expectations and reduces the stress that newbies sometimes feel since you know what to expect and what is happening.

I found it better than just buying a boat, since I had all the benefits of owning a boat without the expense plus I benefited from the knowledge of all the seasoned sailors who "required" me to use best practices. On my own, I'm afraid my ego would have allowed me to cut corners, make assumptions, and look for the occasional "easy button". It was good training and a great experience.

I did eventually buy my own boat. I leveraged everything that I learned from the club, made my own checklists and knew what to say to crew coming on board due to the club's format and style.

I also appreciated the training that they gave me sailing on and off the mooring can. I don't think I would have tried that with my own boat, on my own, but under the tutelage of other club skippers, it was learned and used every day on some of their sailboats. Lesson being that if your motor quits in a harbor, you are still a sailboat, with options. Ditto man overboard drills. You can do it under sail.

[barnakiel]

Imho, the best thing you can do, if you want to taste the offshore thing, is go crewing on a long offshore passage. If you are in the US, then try to go to Hawaii or cross the Pacific and go to say Australia. Many US cruisers sail that way every year.


I would not take ANY courses. Courses give you licenses. Passages give you experience, skills and adventure.


If you can settle on lesser but not less noble goals, go to a Carib spa, live for a time in a beach bungalow and sail a beach boat every day. It does not have to be long, half a year should do. This will give you sailing skills, joy of life and ! glorious suntan.


I would only take courses if I were landlocked or forced to live a dark long winter in an icy country. Such courses are great pass-time, social life and everything. But should not be confused with sailing.


Cheers,
b.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by StoneCrab

I learned to sail in a sailing club. Best move ever.

They offered winter dryland classes and summertime on the water lessons. They were awesome for skill development and networking.

Being a low budget club, working on the boats was a requirements. Membership was less than $200 per year. I learned quite a bit working on the boats, made good friends that I could later sail with and found that I could fix most things that came up on the boats when using them.

The club was very thorough and formal requiring signed check lists before and after every sail. the lists enforces standardization, eliminates memory lapses and is a record for accountability.

Their training assumed no prior knowledge and required constant communication while underway. This sets expectations and reduces the stress that newbies sometimes feel since you know what to expect and what is happening.

I found it better than just buying a boat, since I had all the benefits of owning a boat without the expense plus I benefited from the knowledge of all the seasoned sailors who "required" me to use best practices. On my own, I'm afraid my ego would have allowed me to cut corners, make assumptions, and look for the occasional "easy button". It was good training and a great experience.

I did eventually buy my own boat. I leveraged everything that I learned from the club, made my own checklists and knew what to say to crew coming on board due to the club's format and style.

I also appreciated the training that they gave me sailing on and off the mooring can. I don't think I would have tried that with my own boat, on my own, but under the tutelage of other club skippers, it was learned and used every day on some of their sailboats. Lesson being that if your motor quits in a harbor, you are still a sailboat, with options. Ditto man overboard drills. You can do it under sail.

Just goes to show you one size doesn't fit all.

I learned sailing on my own and through racing beach cats.

I bought an old Hobie 16 and started racing it as soon as I could make it move forward, tack, and gybe. (I'd learn how to sail in reverse later)

As far as sailing on and off a mooring, racing small boats teaches you this in the starts.

The starts are count downs so if you get to the start line too early or you are up close to get a good position, you must hold your boat in position without fouling the boat on either side of you or going over early and being called back for an OCS penalty

[bertusg]

What a great set of responses and quality experienced advice - i'll keep this thread handy as I go through my years of learning.

I didn't realize that dinghy sailing is actually great for forming a basis for offshore, not just toying around. I always perceived the bigger boats to be much more complex and needing a whole wider range of skills - but good to see that you can learn the core of efficient sailing on a relatively cheap little boat.

Given my current circumstances it seems to make more sense for me to invest in other passions (lower $, higher ROI) and continuing to accumulate & grow kitty until one day I have more ready & consistent access to a club, or a dinghy for starters. No doubt that day will come in the next few years, so i'm patient. I say this as I'm reading through the responses that a lot of time on the water is important, not some book knowledge and couple weeks sailing.

Much thanks for the wisdom!! One thing I definitely didn't think of and will investigate is San Carlos, as I'm in the midst of aggressively learning to speak some actual proper Spanish.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by bertusg

What a great set of responses and quality experienced advice - i'll keep this thread handy as I go through my years of learning.

I didn't realize that dinghy sailing is actually great for forming a basis for offshore, not just toying around. I always perceived the bigger boats to be much more complex and needing a whole wider range of skills - but good to see that you can learn the core of efficient sailing on a relatively cheap little boat.

Given my current circumstances it seems to make more sense for me to invest in other passions (lower $, higher ROI) and continuing to accumulate & grow kitty until one day I have more ready & consistent access to a club, or a dinghy for starters. No doubt that day will come in the next few years, so i'm patient. I say this as I'm reading through the responses that a lot of time on the water is important, not some book knowledge and couple weeks sailing.

Much thanks for the wisdom!! One thing I definitely didn't think of and will investigate is San Carlos, as I'm in the midst of aggressively learning to speak some actual proper Spanish.

How far to the nearest lake for you?

[bertusg]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

How far to the nearest lake for you?

I live close to the center of Phoenix (despite not being a city kind of guy at all), so we have Lake Pleasant about 50 miles with a lot of weekend traffic and drinking/wakeboarding, and the closer, we have Tempe Town lake - a small urban creation (800 feet across) where I see what I think are Arizona State University's dinghies moving around at times.

To be honest - I am attracted to the serenity, beauty and vastness of the outdoors. A lake in-between dirt hills with a ton of motorboats (we paddle board there at times) or a city lake in-between a 12 lane highway and a bunch of highrises isn't quite my idea of a fun time that'll have me excited and coming back - despite being able to learn skills there. Hence why i'm opting to wait until we find our way back to Florida or the like, where the reward is much more inherent to the act of learning longer term. Anything further can be a long traffic filled drive that is also quite demotivating to a long term commitment. (As I mentioned, i see from the responses, a few weeks of cruising won't count as solid experience/learning).

Not to sound like a pessimist! Just providing color to my perspective on when to invest & learn - at the time there are other things that also bring joy (athletic pursuits, etc.) that aren't as expensive and more immediately available, but I KNOW that at some point in the next few years i'll take those saved dollars and make the investment when it makes more sense.

[Tayana42]

From Phoenix you can sail on Lake Pleasant and Saguaro Lake but you are correct that they can be dominated by beer fueled young speedboaters. And the surrounding cliffs make challenging wind shift or block the wind entirely. Some people sail Lasers on Scottsdale town lake (pond).

You could look into a sailing club in San Diego like Harbor Sailing or in Long Beach like Marina Sailing. With a quick flight from PHX you can sail any number of boat sizes from 20’ to 40’+ and take lessons if you want to. A big advantage is you have no maintenance to do, nothing to worry about when you are home. No costs for dockage or insurance.

[belizesailor]

While Lake Pleasant may not be the ideal environment for you, it is an opportunity to learn. If you wait, you delay learning. Why not start now and be better prepared when you move to Florida?

There is plenty you can learn now from self-study, formal training (there are 2 ASA schools on Lake Pleasant), and small boat sailing (buy a laser or similar as has been suggested).

Some view the modes of learning above as mutually exclusive ("I dont need no stinking training"). However, they are in fact complementary and if you take advantage of all of them concurrently you will dramatically shorten your learning curve versus just using one approach.

Given the precence of 2 ASA schools, I suspect there are some sailing clubs there too...another great way to learn.

Take advantage of all thats available to you and by the time you get to Florida you will be better prepared to enjoy it...rather than just starting the learning process.