New Sea Legs!

[rgscpat]

Welcome,

There's a huge amount of info on-line; shoveling through it all for what you need is the challenge. Crewing on race boats can be good, as can volunteering to help with running races. Also, I'll make a pitch for basic boating classroom classes offered by groups such as the Coast Guard Auxiliary, US Power Squadrons, and individual states; while these are not sailing-specific, they are very cheap and cover a lot of useful general boating info, such as rules of the road, basics of reading charts and understanding navigation aids, boating responsibilities and equipment, avoiding and responding to hazards and emergencies, etc. Some areas also have sailing clubs/co-ops that bring the cost of sailing down quite a bit.

[Steve Olson]

Check out the Seattle Sailing Club at Shilshole (www.seattlesailing.com) and also the Puget Sound Sailing Group. The club will give you great lessons and you can sail and learn on other great people's boats w/ the PSSG. And welcome to Seattle!! =)

[iancoombe]

welcome NDLADY
you already have all you need to become an excellent sailor enthusiasm!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here posting on the forum. You've got a great place to sail and it appears you've hooked up as a regular crew on a good boat.
Just do a little reading at the public library then ask questions the next time you go out. You'll learn a lot. "Start Sailing Right!" is a great basic sailing guide and if you ask about what you read there you'll be well on your way to good sail handling.
"Going about" is not quite the same as "Coming about" which is the same as tacking. You'll learn the difference. The Captain may should "Ready about" or any other command that he has discussed with the crew to make certain everyone knows to get ready for whatever task they are assigned.
kind regards,