SoCal Kook wants to learn sailing

[er9]

Originally Posted by anyaJ

Hi everyone,
I'm a wannabe sailor and would love some advice about learning to sail. I started a combination of ASA 101 and 103 last year, but stopped just before taking the exam. I loved being out on the water, but even though the material made sense, I never felt like I had enough practice to trust myself with the tasks we were learning. Pair that with money and time both being tight, and I was continually in a state of worry about what would happen/ what damage I would cause if I messed something up.

I tried again a few months later by joining a local sailing club. In many ways it was great, but I think the vibe of the club was better for people who already knew how to sail and just wanted to socialize.

So: third time's a charm, right? Somewhere in the long-term I would love to be able to charter or own a boat, and take it out on trips with my husband...but in the meantime I need a way to learn that allows me to practice and gain some confidence in my skills. I need to do it on a tight budget, and without too much spare time (lets say I could either schedule a 3-4 day crash-course over a school holiday, or grab an afternoon off once a week.)
Any ideas of options for learning and practicing? I'm located in (landlocked) Pasadena CA, but Marina Del Rey and Long Beach are within reasonable driving distance.
Thanks so much for any ideas or information. My hat's off to all you amazing sailors out there!

Bluewater sailing in marina del rey offers all the ASA classes. I have no affiliation with them except thats where i learned to sail having had zero sailing experience prior.

their classes are two weekends, saturday and sundays each day five hours. within two hours you are on the water and they make everyone do every task in the very busy main channel, including docking, undocking etc...

its been three years since i was there but the instructors were awesome and by the time we were finished with the course we all felt pretty confident sailing the 22ft boats with one other person.

once you are finished the course you can charter the boats you learned on and take them out all afternoon or for half a day. i cant comment on any other schools as i have no experience with them.

unfortunately its not cheap though. i think i remember it being somewhere north of $600 for the course.