Re. Any training tips for a newbie

[cruiser19]

This is an open question addressed to anyone.
We are a family of three who have figured that we want to try living on a boat in the future. We are Canadians and we live in Ottawa.
We are aware that it will take a long time, a lot of money and a lot of toil and sweat before we do that.
Can anyone give us training tips concerning sailing, preparing for living on a boat, etc etc etc?

Please and thanks.

PS I am sorry if I am not very specific in my query but it is a novel idea and so far my wife was against it and I did not contemplate it coming to fruition without her support. Now that we are of the same mindset, I can come before this forum with these questions...

Thankee.

Georges, Anca and little Anna

[Stu Jackson]

Learn to sail and read, a LOT. None of us were born sailors, we all had to learn. Every one of us did it differently. Some suggest small boats to learn on, to learn the wind and its effects. Others say buy a boat and learn on it. Others say find a club. Other say get an instructor. Everyone learns differently. Many suggest husband and wife split up 'cuz men & women learn differently. Sailing for Dummies is really a good book. Learning to sail is a lifelong endeavor. It is also a process, unlike learning to drive one learns how to work with the use of the available, in a sailboat that's the wind. Start somewhere and keep at it. Good luck.

[Lizzy Belle]

Welcome to CF!

Originally Posted by cruiser19

we want to try living on a boat in the future. We are aware that it will take a long time, a lot of money and a lot of toil and sweat before we do that.

Actually - living on a boat is easy.

1. Sell / give away most of your stuff
2. Buy boat
3. Move personal belongings to boat, sell / give away all the stuff you brought but don't really need and have no room for
5. Live on boat

As to sailing - provided you've got common sense you can probably learn by taking your boat out with an instructor on board a couple of times, and take it from there. How easy / hard it is depends on you guys, the area, the boat ...

Just make sure you both learn how to sail and handle the boat. If you fall ill (or overboard!) or something, your wife needs to be able to take over.

[dlymn]

Practice lab at home. Mark out a space 15-20 square metre about 3.5 metres wide and pointy at one end. Put kitchen toilet bathroom bedrooms table chairs inside this space. Cardboard cutouts will do. Spend a day living in that space then multiply by say 5000. That's live aboard life. Actually it's not too bad if you can cope with the lack of space and privacy

[Lizzy Belle]

Originally Posted by dlymn

Practice lab at home.

Complete guide here: How to liveaboard a boat – The Cygnus III Sailing Website.

(Site is low to load. Be patient - it's just like internet on a boat )

[Mirage35]

You should get a few hundred different responses to this one.

I second the suggestion to read extensively, but that's how I learn. I have friends who will tell you that's crazy - just get on a boat and do it.

There is a lot of local sailing in the Ottawa area, and plenty of places to learn between Ottawa - Kingston - Montréal. I personally am a member of Boréalis Sailing Centre in Gatineau and have taken courses with Wavelength Sailing School in Kingston. But those are just the two I'm most familiar with - others will likely have other ideas.

And, as has been pointed out, you have the choice of starting on other people's boats or getting one yourself and going for the real immersion (preferably not literally speaking). Depends on your risk tolerance among other things.

Go for it, and ask questions and read lots on this forum - it's a wealth of knowledge and experience.

[Mirage35]

Lizzy Belle, I think Baudelaire is a bad influence on you.

[Lizzy Belle]

"Mais de quoi? De vin, de poésie, ou de vertu, à votre guise."

[barnakiel]

If you want sailing to be part of your boat dream, then my standing advice is sail, sail, sail and only then sail even more. Nothing beats hands on experience except more hands on experience.

And by sailing I understand also rowing, paddling, motoring and all other aspects of getting from a to b in any water craft.

Training, courses, licenses, etc. are nice to haves. As is reading, watching, thinking and participating in forums.

There are bits and pieces of maritime know-how everywhere. But actually doing it rates very high on my personal 'how-to' list.

Cheers,
b.

[Scaramanga F25]

Go to Nepean Sailing Club on Carling west of Britannia and join,
take lessons, make friends, go sailing on different boats.

[jrbogie]

you didn't state your budget but i always suggest to people wanting to sail and own a boat with no previous experience with either that they travel to a place that has an organization that will teach you to sail and then make their boats available to you for less than a couple hundred bucks a month. one such place is here in channel islands harbor, oxnard, ca. fairwinds sailing club will train you to sail for a few hundred dollars and then make their boats available to you, up to 40' catalinas, anytime you want for about a hundred fifty a month. the expense for a few months visit learning about boats and sailing will be well worth it when you consider you won't be paying slip fees, insurance, etc., while learning on your own boat. especially if your wife isn't completely sold on the idea an extended sailing vacation costing a few thousand might be money well spent. good luck.

[akprb]

Race............as far as the actual sailing part goes you'll learn and observe more in one season racing than almost anything else.

Lots of other good advice above :-)

[boatman61]

Charter a small Bene or similar in the BVI's and arrange a skipper for the first couple of days for a couple off 6hr course's on boat handling then go out and play in sheltered waters with lots of folk around to help.. and a lot of others who are also 'getting their hands in'..
Apart from learning how to sail you'll also learn who pukes and cannot stop and if the relatively small area is something you can live with..
Real life aint Captain Ron and Gimballed Tables...

[seasick]

Stand in a cold shower and tear up $100 bills.

[redhead]

I was in the same position as you are many years ago and I'll tell you what I did first. It may not be the best way, just the very first thing I did.

I read "Annapolis Book of Seamanship". I had only been a passenger on a sailboat and wanted to know more. I worked midnights at the time and had many slow hours. I read it and if I didn't get it, I read it again. When I finally found someone to take me out on the water I was surprised at how much had "sunk in".

Just a thought until the weather improves. Good luck!